So if you're like me, every Spring or early Summer, you start seeing stink bugs flying around in your house and buzzing wildly into windows. Each year they show up in two specific areas of my home, the master bathroom and the guest bedroom. Well after a few years of dealing with this stink bug issue, I think I've finally figured out where they are getting into my home after they wake up from their winter slumber.
I believe in both instances, the stink bugs have been finding a way into my house during the Fall from openings in the Soffits / Eaves.
Stink Bugs getting into the Master Bathroom through Bath Fan Vent Duct
In the case of my Master Bathroom, it's become pretty clear that the the Stink Bugs have been getting in from the largest and only opening on the outside that comes into my bathroom, and that's the 4" Bath Vent fan duct opening that is fully open on the underside of the eave of my house. Essentially, the cheap builder grade 4" Vent opening on my houses Eave is wide open without a flapper or screen. A flapper or screen on the vent opening would have prevented the majority of stink bugs making their way into my Master bathroom. This opening also seems to allow the random Carpenter Ant or Wasp to also get through the 4" duct and bypass my bathroom vent fan to get into my master bathroom. My cheap Master Bath Broan / Nutone fan likely has gaps in the fans flapper allowing the stink bugs to get through. So while I could replace the bath fan with a much better Panasonic bath exhaust fan, it's not something I want to take on right now.
So the easy fix is to either put a screen on the Vent duct opening on the underside of my Eave, or replace the 4" vent with one that has a flapper on it that will only open when the fan is running. In my case, the builders aimed the Vent towards my house and towards my soffit vents, so all the humid air coming out my Bath fan is going up into my Soffit vent and back into the roof, which is NOT what you want. So I decided to change out the 4" vent duct with a proper vent for the eave that's aimed away from my house and has a flapper on it to stop Stink Bugs from gaining easy access to the 4" duct. You can get cheaper plastic 4" Vents with a flapper for the eave like this one: Brown Plastic Under Eave Vent, 4-Inch or more expensive Copper ones like this one: Copper Under Eave & Soffit Dryer Vent - Exhaust Vent Duct Size: 4", Flapper - Screen. Some have a screen or flapper, but in my case I'm using the flapper version, as this will help prevent cold air from coming into the duct as well. If your bathroom vent is coming out the side of your house, you can also get copper Vents with flappers like this one: 4" Louvered Copper Dryer Vent
Stink Bugs getting into the Guest Bedroom through Canned Lights
So the stink bugs making their way into my guest bedroom seem to be also getting in through little openings in the Eaves, but in this case they are getting through cracks in the actual soffit vents in the eaves (not the 4" ducts). Essentially, small openings where the soffit vents are slightly misaligned allow the stink bugs to get into the eaves where the then make there way towards the heat escaping from old Canned lighting in the ceiling.The stink bugs then crawl down one of the canned lights in my ceiling and into the Guest Bedroom.
So to solve this problem, I decided to upgrade the canned lights to use sealed LED Retrofit lights (like these: HALO LT 5/6-Inch Recessed LED Retrofit Trim) that connect to the old canned light housing. The old canned light bulbs leave gaps for stink bugs to get into the guest bedroom, while also allowing hot air to escape in the winter, or warm air to enter in the summer. After replacing the old canned light bulbs with the LED Retrofit lights, the next step is to close any and all gaps in the soffit / eaves. In my case, I just used Silicone caulk to seal up any small opening between the soffit openings that were big enough to allow stink bugs to get through.
Hopefully, after learning about the two ways stink bugs have been getting into my home, these tips will help you to figure out where your stink bugs are getting into your house and close up any openings in your home where the stink bugs makin their way in.
NOTE: Don't ever try to crush a stink bug in your home, it's always best to just grab the stink bug with a tissue or toilet paper and flush it down your toilet. Crushing a stink bug will only help attract more stink bugs.