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janestarzAs NoKey is allergic to mosquitobites, and he doesn't like to have fist-sized bumps on his arms and legs from every sting, we're great fans of two things: a klamboe (mosquito net) and Azaron. The former hangs over our bed. The latter is a small stick of light-weight medicine that numbs the skin so the itch disappears and makes sure NoKey doesn't look like a motor cross terrain.
The mosquito net is essential for 8 to 10 months of the year. We love to sleep with our window open and that means that mosquitoes will come into the house. Last year we had a 2-person mosquito net, which hung suspended from a metal circle above the bed. The net had to be fixed between the bed and the wall with bits of cardboard and foam to make sure it wouldn't come loose (which it did anyway) and we'd often sleep with limbs pressed to the net because the net was hanging too close over our bodies.
This year we bought a new mosquito net. It was huge, and could be suspended from five rings: one in the middle and one on each corner. It was tall, square and had two exits. One of them would be, as usual, near the foot of the bed. We have so much junk in our bedroom (mainly arrows and quivers) that I can't get out on my side of the bed anyway. The other opening at the head board would be closed.
NoKey rigged a wood frame to hang the new mosquito net from, and he spent some time getting it right. When it went up, it looked lovely, like a perfect draped bed without the square bedposts. The thing was suspended from a hook at the lamp above our bed. A precarious balance kept the frame horizontally. Small weights at several points made sure the flaps would hang down right.
The dream didn't last very long. For the past two months we've been chasing mosquitoes from inside the net. Every night there's one or more in the net, even if we've closed it perfectly. At first we thought it was the wind. During the hot weeks in May and June we opened the windows and balcony doors, inviting a breeze into our home. We thought the breeze made the net flap in the wind, allowing for mosquitoes to come inside the net. But I knew mosquitoes don't like wind, so I was a little sceptical. From that point we kept the bedroom door closed. It didn't help.
We thought it was because I went to the bathroom at night, but the attacks didn't stop even when I took extra care to slap the opening to chase mosquitoes away before opening the net and taking extra care to make sure I closed the net each time I went in or out.
We started hunting before going to bed. Lying on our backs, fighting the sleep, with an electronic bug zapper on the covers in case we saw one fly. This worked for several nights, until the damned mosquitoes started to wake me in the middle of the night. I wake up when they're buzzing around my ears, and NoKey sometimes wakes up when I turn on the light or climb over him to get to the bug zapper. So the bastards come into the net while we're sleeping.
I'm thinking it might be because the frame is too perfect. The net hardly has any folds, so I think maybe the mosquitoes crawl through the mazes when we're not watching. I wonder if it'll help when I drape the old net over the new one. The net reaches unto to ground, so it's not like they can come up below us. The openings are both closed, and I can only try and sew them shut to make them close better.
We can also make a net for the window. It would mean we'd have to change the window bolt, construct a net, and keep the bedroom door closed at all times.
I'm getting very tired indeed from being woken up by mosquitoes.
The mosquito net is essential for 8 to 10 months of the year. We love to sleep with our window open and that means that mosquitoes will come into the house. Last year we had a 2-person mosquito net, which hung suspended from a metal circle above the bed. The net had to be fixed between the bed and the wall with bits of cardboard and foam to make sure it wouldn't come loose (which it did anyway) and we'd often sleep with limbs pressed to the net because the net was hanging too close over our bodies.
This year we bought a new mosquito net. It was huge, and could be suspended from five rings: one in the middle and one on each corner. It was tall, square and had two exits. One of them would be, as usual, near the foot of the bed. We have so much junk in our bedroom (mainly arrows and quivers) that I can't get out on my side of the bed anyway. The other opening at the head board would be closed.
NoKey rigged a wood frame to hang the new mosquito net from, and he spent some time getting it right. When it went up, it looked lovely, like a perfect draped bed without the square bedposts. The thing was suspended from a hook at the lamp above our bed. A precarious balance kept the frame horizontally. Small weights at several points made sure the flaps would hang down right.
The dream didn't last very long. For the past two months we've been chasing mosquitoes from inside the net. Every night there's one or more in the net, even if we've closed it perfectly. At first we thought it was the wind. During the hot weeks in May and June we opened the windows and balcony doors, inviting a breeze into our home. We thought the breeze made the net flap in the wind, allowing for mosquitoes to come inside the net. But I knew mosquitoes don't like wind, so I was a little sceptical. From that point we kept the bedroom door closed. It didn't help.
We thought it was because I went to the bathroom at night, but the attacks didn't stop even when I took extra care to slap the opening to chase mosquitoes away before opening the net and taking extra care to make sure I closed the net each time I went in or out.
We started hunting before going to bed. Lying on our backs, fighting the sleep, with an electronic bug zapper on the covers in case we saw one fly. This worked for several nights, until the damned mosquitoes started to wake me in the middle of the night. I wake up when they're buzzing around my ears, and NoKey sometimes wakes up when I turn on the light or climb over him to get to the bug zapper. So the bastards come into the net while we're sleeping.
I'm thinking it might be because the frame is too perfect. The net hardly has any folds, so I think maybe the mosquitoes crawl through the mazes when we're not watching. I wonder if it'll help when I drape the old net over the new one. The net reaches unto to ground, so it's not like they can come up below us. The openings are both closed, and I can only try and sew them shut to make them close better.
We can also make a net for the window. It would mean we'd have to change the window bolt, construct a net, and keep the bedroom door closed at all times.
I'm getting very tired indeed from being woken up by mosquitoes.
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no subject
Date: 2009-07-29 08:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-29 09:03 am (UTC)I'm also pondering better storage bins. Now you've got me thinking!
no subject
Date: 2009-07-29 09:07 am (UTC)At my parents I have a window net that goes on the outside of the window. It works like a charm but its a special design that only fits with our 'kozijnen'.
Musquitos just suck and should go extinct. I wish you and Nokey good luck with the hunts and fixing the klamboe. I dont think they fit trough the mazes of the net as they should be designed to be small enough but you never know with those sneaky bloodsucking bastards.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-29 10:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-29 11:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-29 01:12 pm (UTC)gnawing its own paw off
got sumthing against bloodsuckrs?
no subject
Date: 2009-07-29 02:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-29 11:20 am (UTC)Ik heb daar toen een speciaal horrending voor gekocht. Het ziet eruit als een zak van horrengaas met elastiek rondom. Op de hoeken van het kozijn moest je haakjes plakken (die natuurlijk niet blijven zitten dus heb ik punaises in het kozijn geprikt) en daaromheen span je het gaas. Het elastiek houd de zak strak tegen de muur zodat ze daar niet doorheen kunnen. De zak was groot genoeg om het raam helemaal open te zetten. Het is van Tesa (Teva? het merk van de plakbanddingen, te koop bij in ieder geval de Gamma). Misschien is dat wat?
no subject
Date: 2009-07-29 11:30 am (UTC)gods I hate those flying basterds (mostly because of their noise, they dont seem to think i'm tasty)
no subject
Date: 2009-07-30 08:03 am (UTC)Ik werd laatst ook om 00:30 wakker van de jeuk op mijn arm, het bleek dat er daar eentje al prikkend een rondje had gelopen. Vervolgens spray opgespoten en geen last meer gehad.
Dit werkt overigens alleen als je enkele muggen hebt. Wanneer er een muggenplaag is (zoals in 2007 op Schiermonnikoog) dan zijn ze zo uitgehongerd dat ze volgens mij alles proberen te steken.
Wij hebben ook een klamboe met 1 ophang cirkel, maar dat is ook best wel irritant en hij blijft niet goed dicht zitten. We hebben ook een hor voor het raam, alleen is een van de katten daar laatst met d'r nagels in blijven hangen dus heb ik het provisorisch moeten repareren met naald en draad... ook niet helemaal dicht meer. En de rest van het huis heeft geen horren.
Heel veel sterkte in ieder geval met die nare beesten.
~Brenda~
no subject
Date: 2009-07-30 10:08 am (UTC)For both of you:
Have you been tucking the bottom edges and ends of the Klamboe under the mattress? That's supposed to be more secure than relying on longer-than-floor length to keep mosquitoes out. If possible, try to hold the sides or walls of the klamboe out, away from the outline of the mattress at a height of about 38-45cm above the surface of the mattress, so the mesh isn't touching either of you. As you've already discovered the mosquitoes can bite you through the mesh if it's touching you. You might need to put reinforcing patches of sturdier mesh, or plain calico, inside and outside your mesh (like a sandwich) wherever the guy lines attach. If you want to try this approach and don't have quite enough length (height?) from top to bottom, add a border of a single layer of calico to the bottom of the klamboe.
For your mosquito netting to work effectively, you can't have gaps anywhere, which means significant overlap of the two sides of the exits/entrances. If you don't have so much mesh fabric in your klamboe as to allow you to make this kind of overlap (like a sheet metal workers fold or a German-feld seam [historical reference]) you might then want to consider investing in some sew-in-place type velcro tape to keep the "doors" shut without any little places for little bloodsuckers to enter. The tape *must* be attached from the top to the very bottom of the "door," on both sides of the door, and you do have to seal it up.
A zip (zipper, in the US) closure would work, too, if the mesh of the klamboe is strong enough to support it, but it has to be a continuous zip closure, which means either using a zip such as those used for sleeping bags or buying the zip tape, which can be purchased in any single length you require, and the zip pull at a sewing goods store or a specialty retailer handling sporting fabrics (Goretex [R], Supplex [R], NoSeeUm mesh, ripstop nylon, water resistant taffeta and others of that sort), or whatever retailer in your country carries such things.
Effective mesh has threads that don't shift; often the mesh will have been heat-bonded, but if it hasn't been and the threads *are* able to shift then it's possible for mosquitoes to get through one of the larger holes created by threads which have moved away from each other. This, you may want to check; if you already know the mesh is stable, then the mosquitoes are finding some other way to get in.
I have to agree with the commenters who have suggested a net or screen on the window. Somehow, there has to be a way to do that.
I wish both you and NoKey luck and success with your mosquito challenge.