We seem to have a wasp nest in the wall of our house. I haven't found a single review for an exterminator in the Oakland area. Anyone have any suggestions?

ooh.  Be careful, lady!  

Most exterminators will come out and use a bomb that kills the hive and then they come back later to remove it. . .but sometimes it doesn't reach all the different chambers in the hive - so even though it might seem dormant, don't go poking around it.  

We use Crane at the restaurant and they are very reliable and service oriented.  :)

Can't you smoke the wasps out?

Thanks! Hubbie wanted to tackle it himself, but I figured it was not a good idea, especially because we can't even see the nest.  Plus, we have a small dog, two cats and my pregnant self so want to be sure the right stuff is used.

I wouldn't send out the hubby with a baseball bat and daisy dukes.  Unless you're mad at him or something.

:) Exactly - this hardly seems to be the time to get all DIY'er

Un-uh!!!  I'm hiring a pro and getting outta town.

I suggested smoke because we did that with a crazy beehive that was hidden, and yeah, I was pregnant at the time, so I didn't want those nasty pesticides near me or in our walls. Or our four cats.

Smoking them out does sound ideal. Will an exterminator take this step first if we prefer?

I don't think so; they love their pesticides. Doesn't hurt to ask, though. When bees and wasps "think" the hive is doomed in a fire, they abandon it; they don't go back. They move on and rebuild somewhere else. I hate the smell of pesticides. I'm sure the exterminator will say it's all safe, though.

The beehive near our front door was inside in a wall. There are ventilation holes covered by a wire mesh (to keep critters like squirrels and mice out), and the bees found that extremely attractive (the wire mesh was kind of like built-in protection on the way to the hive).

I've been using Clarks for a couple of years now and they're great -- the products they use are non-toxic and environmentally friendly.  The phone number is easy:  1-800-WE NEED YOU.  

The only thing is, they may want you sign up for an annual contract -- I don't know if they do one-offs.  We used to be inundated with yellow jackets and spiders, and it has really helped.  

I don't recommend you do this yourself.  When we lived in SF, we once had a huge paper wasp nest (I happened to be pregnant at the time too), and we ended up calling a beekeeper who came and took care of it.  The empty nest was gross and smelled bad.

Our entry is a single quarter-sized hole on the side of the house. Is smoking done by a kit we can buy at Home Depot?

*buzzzzzzzz*  yikes.

I'm beginning to think wasps are drawn to houses with pregnant gals inside.

I really appreciate all the advice and references!

People burn their houses down or start house fires a lot more than you might think when attempting to smoke out nests. My dad was a firefighter in TX (see the rant about TX wasps above) and it was a little too common for comfort.

Yikes, that doesn't sound like a good plan for us then. Just training a bush hubby managed to kill it.

Flamethrower!

I'm flagging this thread as RACIST