Cutout under Bathroom floor, Any advice?

[JohnRoss]

I got a phonecall from a lady at the weekend who has had a swarm take up residence in her bathroom floor. They arrived about eight weeks ago so I am told. They are coming and going through a gap between the outlet pipe for the upstairs toilet and the cavity wall. They may also be in the cavity I just don't know. I am told the cavity is insulated so I persume they are not in the cavity. There are no bees in the roofspace anyway. I know that when you knock on the floor beside the upstairs toilet you can hear the roar of bees underneeth. The lady has been informed that i will be able to lift the floor to get the bees but I take no responsibility for fixing the bathroom afterwards.

Does anyone have any advice on this cutout?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Tell her she got the wrong number. or deny ever getting the call

 

[madasafish]

Sounds full of trouble.

I would not do it myself. Too much to go wrong.. bees under pipes etc...

 

[JohnRoss]

What can I say, I am a sucker for a challenge. I also feel sorry for her, If it is not dealt with now this could get an awful lot worse. I am going to build a bee vaccum tonight. I feel it may come in useful.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

I got a phonecall from a lady at the weekend who has had a swarm take up residence in her bathroom floor. They arrived about eight weeks ago so I am told. They are coming and going through a gap between the outlet pipe for the upstairs toilet and the cavity wall. They may also be in the cavity I just don't know. I am told the cavity is insulated so I persume they are not in the cavity. There are no bees in the roofspace anyway. I know that when you knock on the floor beside the upstairs toilet you can hear the roar of bees underneeth. The lady has been informed that i will be able to lift the floor to get the bees but I take no responsibility for fixing the bathroom afterwards.

Does anyone have any advice on this cutout?

Old house with proper floorboards or newer type with chipboard? If you go in from above do you have to remove the toilet and is there another one in the property?
It might be better to attack from below by opening up a ceiling.
Plenty of bee quick on hand

 

[Russel]

What can I say, I am a sucker for a challenge. I also feel sorry for her, If it is not dealt with now this could get an awful lot worse. I am going to build a bee vaccum tonight. I feel it may come in useful.

If you're going ahead with this maybe some sort of written waiver maybe required and if they've been there 8 wks it's going to be messy take a few honey buckets. Don't forget the pics.

 

[JohnRoss]

It is an new house with chip board floor, toilet will have to be removed I think. The seem to be confined between 2 floor joists just from knocking and listening but I won't know untill the floor comes up. Won't be going up from below because knocked on ceiling directly below and heard no response.

I will get the home owner to sign a disclaimer before I start to remove them.

 

[jd101k2000]

As you have ignored JBM's advice... the next best thing it to take some petrol and some matches.
You set fire to the downstairs. By the time the fire gets to the bathroom the bees will have left.

... you did get that waiver signed, didn't you?

 

[ratcatcher]

. I also feel sorry for her,l.

in other words, she's a bit of alright?

 

[user 6228]

Old house with proper floorboards or newer type with chipboard? If you go in from above do you have to remove the toilet and is there another one in the property?
It might be better to attack from below by opening up a ceiling.
Plenty of bee quick on hand

replacing a ceiling is definitely cheaper and quicker than a bathroom..

 

[pargyle]

Only way to get chipboard floors up without breaking them into a million pieces is to cut the tenon off the joint by running a circular saw down the joint set to a depth less than the thickness of the chipboard (usually 18mm) but check where the pipes run with a cable finder before you start cutting ... I cut through a 22mm hot water pipe which was very close to th underside of the floorboards in a notch in the joist ... Very messy. Also by the time you have cut the floorboards out the bees will be in a right old state so I would allow some time for them to settle before you lift the floor. The combs will be attacked to the underside of the chipboard so it might be possible to lift the whole thing out and put the board with the combs hanging from it onto the top of a box ... Have some bee proof mesh to hand to keep over the top and cover the hole in the flood of they will be everywhere ...

Personally ... I'm with JBM !!!

 

[Teemore]

I was speaking to this lady as well but she is a wee bit outside my travel zone.
The bees have taken up residence in a new build house and if I had to guess, I'd say they are a recently married or soon to be married couple and that they are doing a lot of work themselves - anyway - I can empathise with John's position.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

It is an new house with chip board floor, toilet will have to be removed I think. The seem to be confined between 2 floor joists just from knocking and listening but I won't know untill the floor comes up. Won't be going up from below because knocked on ceiling directly below and heard no response.

I will get the home owner to sign a disclaimer before I start to remove them.

I'd definitely go in from below. Combs will be hung from the underside of the floor hence the reaction from knocking the floor and not the ceiling. Plasterboard cuts easily and is cheap. A few plasterboard nails, a bag of thistle board finish plaster and a decent plasterer saves the potential havoc of taking up chipboard and listening to the squeaky floor ever afterwards. Make sure the entrance hole is sealed properly after the removal is done.

 

[Russel]

If you can gain access to an inspection camera, may help?

 

[REDWOOD]

If you can gain access to an inspection camera, may help?

Be careful where you put it

 

[biglongdarren]

if your stuck and need any help give me a shout.

 

[Torq]

If you can gain access to an inspection camera, may help?

I think Lidl or Aldi might still have a few left for around €70

 

[JohnRoss]

Bees successfully removed today. Darren has the photos. All went well. nice big colony of bees now happily located in a national in my apiary. 10lb of capped comb honey in a bucket beside me.

Was quite straight forward in the end. bees all located between two rafters under the chip board. The bee hoover played a great game. Would have been tough without it. we took most of the bees then I returned about three hours later and all the rest were clustering in the window. I would say we hardly left 10 bees!

 

[Bee Bumble]

Bees successfully removed today. Darren has the photos. All went well. nice big colony of bees now happily located in a national in my apiary. 10lb of capped comb honey in a bucket beside me.

Was quite straight forward in the end. bees all located between two rafters under the chip board. The bee hoover played a great game. Would have been tough without it. we took most of the bees then I returned about three hours later and all the rest were clustering in the window. I would say we hardly left 10 bees!

Well done. Did Darren get to keep some honey too?

 

[JohnRoss]

No, Darren didn't take any. He says he has 16 supers of cut comb honey waiting for him at home. He came along out of the goodness of his heart. A real gentleman. I hope to repay the favor someday soon.