Hi Tracey,

Various insects, including wasps, will invade homes through unsealed gaps. These gaps usually occur along windows, vents, doors, etc. Small cracks can be sealed with caulk, larger voids may require professional attention. 

Wasp colonies do not survive the winter. Eventually, the colony will die (from freezing) and the old nest will not be re-used by future wasps. However, the old colony will produce several queens which will overwinter. Given your proximity to the nest, some of those queens may overwinter in your home. This can lead to further wasp encounters over winter, or worse if any of those queens decides to construct a new nest inside the home. 

That is if we are dealing with social wasps: paper wasps, yellow jackets, bald faced hornets, or, more rarely, aerial yellow jackets. Having a picture of these wasps will help confirm this. 

If we are dealing with solitary wasps (who just happen to be frequenting the same area), winter encounters and a nest being constructed indoors are significantly less of a concern.