RANGE REVIEW: PEST CONTROL P
rofessional pest controllers are trained in the safe use of insecticide, they wear masks and use specialised
targeting equipment when treating wasp nests, but working with insecticidal dust can still be a messy business. Understanding the challenges and dangers faced by householders when tackling wasp nests, and the limited products available to eliminate them safely, James Kerman decided to create his Kerminator Wasp Lance solution. After being successfully shortlisted in this year’s DIY Week Awards and due to the product’s innovative design and excellent build quality, we met with James to learn more about his Kerminator Wasp Lance.
Neil Mead: What are the main issues faced when tackling a wasp nest?
James Kerman: As a professional pest controller, I’ve treated in excess of 500 wasp nests every season. Many of my customers have wasp nests every year but an increasing proportion call me after they have used DIY powders and foams that have not worked.
Most wasp nests in residential
properties are found in elevated positions under roof tiles, soffits, in wall cavities, eaves and roof spaces of sheds and garages. Applying the ‘throw enough mud at the wall, some of it will stick’ approach, DIYers often discharge excessive amounts of insecticide from 300g squeezy bottles to find the entrance to a nest and hopefully penetrate it. Fundamentally, the biggest issue with the bottles of powder which are sold widely online and in garden centres, is the lack of targeting and the need for consumers to get within mere centimetres of a live nest during use, increasing the risk of them getting stung whilst inevitably breathing in some of the insecticide themselves.
NM: What made you decide to develop your own solution? JK: The familiar sight of excessive spillages of insecticidal dust in roof gutters, over tiles and on patio slabs when I arrive at residential properties has bothered me for
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THE KERMINATOR: TAKING THE STING OUT OF WASP CONTROL
DIY Week’s Editor, Neil Mead speaks to James Kerman, owner of Pest Control Solutions and creator of the Kerminator Wasp Lance, to find out more about his invention that was recently shortlisted in the DIY Week Awards, and why it offers an innovative option for eliminating wasp nests for business and homeowners alike.
The Kerminator Wasp Lance is supplied in kit form with pre-filled insecticide cartridges
many years. And with social media increasingly awash with amateur films showing people balancing precariously on ladders to treat their own nests with a variety of homemade application devices, I knew there was a better way. As the general public looked to vacuum cleaner components, sink unblockers, brooms, bin liners, tyre inflators, blowtorches, fireworks and even blowing insecticide through copper tubing to help them kill their wasp nests, I embarked on a five-year product design journey to bring the Kerminator to market.
NM: What makes the Kerminator Wasp Lance stand out from other products on the market? JK: The Kerminator Wasp Lance addresses all of the problems DIYers have with current products available on the market. A one-handed trigger release of compressed air generated manually, delivers a measured dose of insecticide into a wasp nest at speed. In one shot, the insecticide is expelled into the nest before the
James Kerman, owner of Pest Control Solutions and creator of the Kerminator
wasps realise that their nest is under attack, which for the user, allows for a much calmer exit strategy than expected. Extendable carbon fibre poles put a safe, two to three metre distance between the user and nest,
whilst the flexible end tube allows users to target the entrance of a nest from any angle. Pre-filled cartridges of insecticide also ensure that the user does not come into contact with toxic insecticidal dust during assembly
JULY 2025 DIY WEEK 17
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