Hello all,
Any remedy for the problem of ants eating through brick mortar? I know I should have put down ant powder to stop the ants getting established. But is there something I can treat the existing mortar with so they leave it alone in future, e.g. spray?
At the moment they seem to be nesting in the wall cavity, and if i fill up the holes they just drill a hole through the wet cement. I guess I need to wait until the colony is dead.
Any advice welcome,
Bill.
quick set cement
You can get lots of products in DIY stores for killing ants. No need to ask here, go and look. Think what you would do if you didn't have an internet connection - what would you do?
established. But is
Mix ant powder in with the new mortar?
AWEM
Repoint the brickwork with a fairly strong mix of sand and cement, don't just try to fill in visible holes...and BTW, ants can neither drill holes nor eat mortar, they simply walk in through holes.
Something to look for which I used years ago, but have seen recently (Wilkinsons?) is Deathlac. It is a spray on transparent coating containing insecticide. Ants and other crawling insects apparently pick up enough to kill them when they walk over it. ISRT it was effective when sprayed around a door to stop them getting in through the small gaps. However recently, not having any, I sprayed the wall with ordinary ant powder and enough stuck on in the dry weather to stop them getting in
Malcolm
maybe theyre SDS ants. Evolution in action.
NT
LOL. I think we've got some of those too. Every time I find some I fill the holes. Next day they're back again. I've tried all sorts of Ant killer - never seems to work.
Mark.
Reminds me of beetles I had a while back,put petrol down to try and kill them off...no chance they came out on motorbikes. ;-)
The message from "The3rd Earl Of Derby" contains these words:
I thought that was rockers, not Beatles.
replying to Ian Davies, jeffrey wrote: that was a rude response
Two general elections and one brexit vote later? I doubt anyone will give a f*ck about the ants.
A rude response is when where the poster can't be arsed to say what response he was referring to.
Mint is good for keeping a few insects at bay. A quick look produced several sites giving advice, here is one...
Ray.
replying to Bill, Diligent One wrote: I have the same problem but my ants only come out at night. I covered the brickwork with wood, thinking it was a raccoon tearing up the mortar between bricks, but when I removed the wood, there was a ton of damage. So to those who say ants cannot eat cement/motar, you are wrong.
Even 10 years ago when the question was first posted in a UK DIY group we only had Racoons and nocturnal mortar eating ants in the section of Zoos dedicated to the ex-colonies.
See
replying to Ian Davies, Gurmukh singh wrote: That's rude. This is not a bad idea to ask for any help.
Give the post you're replying to was in 2006, have you assisted the OP in any way, or do you like just hearing your own voice?
Yes but on a similar subject a bit more modern. The ants in my front garden have apparently eaten their way the front window frame, or rather just outside of it. Its wood of course but the material filling up the area to the brick I always thought was some kind of cement, but they still got in. Its been blocked up now, but I never did figure out what they were after. Brian
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