Good Morning!

My husband and I live in a 1927 bungalow home. When we moved in April of 2012 the home had sat empty for a long time, so when we noticed a few drain flies we assumed that they were from the house sitting empty for so long. Now, 2 years later, we are STILL dealing with thousands (literally, *thousands*) of these things! The home is a rental, and the property management company says they can't do anything without ripping up the basement. We have open french drains around the perimeter of the basement, ( basement is about 1000 sq ft) We have already fixed several issues with the pluming, like the kitchen drains (including the dishwasher and disposal) pipped directly into the french drain system. We have two sump pumps, they are side by side, but they are not sealed off correctly. They have gravel separating the two, but that's it. With so much area open for these guys to breed in, we have been unable to even phase the problem. I would love to be able to cook and not have to swat at these things to keep them out of my food! We are stuck here until June 2015, and I am going NUTS! Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thank You!
Misty

From your description, you are living in a VERY illegally plumbed house. Open drains are not allowed, even if they don't include toilets. You aren't going to solve this problem of flies until the plumbing is correct. Your choice: tell the owners you are calling the health dept and building inspector, or plan on moving out. You probably will end up moving out anyway, because the owner will be mad and not renew your lease.

Open French drains pretty much make it impossible to eliminate them without major construction, so the management people are likely correct. To mitigate the problem you can go with the timed aerosol dispensers like you see in restaurant bathrooms with insecticide in them or fumigant strips. One brand of fumigant strip available to the public is called "Nuvan." They don't have a detectable odor, at least not to a former smoker like myself, and they can be put up anywhere according to the label. You may have to order them online, as most hardware stores only carry the gluestrips.

Sump pump or ejector pump?