Rather sounds like a nest of yellow jackets or bald-faced hornets.

If so, the colony is there for just the season. All inhabitants, except the mated queens, will die by the end of the year -- around here, that's often mid-December. The queens will survive the winter elsewhere.

So, because these wasps are beneficial in that they help you limit other insects, the usual guideline is to ignore the nest if possible, then remove it after the residents have died.

While the wasps are present, they won't bother you unless you mess with their nest or otherwise harass them.

Sounds like bald faced hornets to me. They can be real nasty so make sure you know what and how to do or it could be trouble. For some quick info check this out.

Good Luck and be careful

Here is a link that might be useful: Bald faced hornets

The other kind that does this is European hornet. Yellowjackets are the comparatively docile little native ones that nest in the ground. European hornets are also black-and-yellow.

You can't have these making big bags under your eaves as they will eventually begin to attack people coming near. In the defense of the nest mode they fly right to you, land, and begin multiple burning stinging - there is no buzzing around to ward you off beforehand.

The light brown with streaks rather than gray sounds like bald faced hornet to me, but have you seen the wasps coming or going to know size or color?

I know they are beneficial, but they don't get to live anywhere I'm going to live...like my/your patio. I tangled with an unnoticed nest of bald faced hornets when pruning a rhododendron for a neighbor a few years ago (picture down on my knees, wedged in between shrub and fence, happily removing limbs she couldn't easily get to at 80 yrs old) and while not allergic, I felt ill from the stings for about 2 days with swelling and redness at the sting sites (neck), headache...I'd rather not experience that again. They didn't warn me I was too close, just began stinging.

More to the story, the nest was in the rhododendron, we thought rather than call an exterminator (her budget sparse) or risk burning leaves with a heavy dose of homeowner type spray, we would go after dark and cut the nest from the shrub. The plan was to have the nest fall into a 5 gal bucket of hot soapy water (night, flashlights)...but the nest fell, hung up on another branch and missed the bucket completely. If you ever wondered, they will come out at night if disturbed...we did have to use the spray.