Matthew Durkin said the following on 23/07/2004 20:32:
Hi All,
I seem to have a large ant population living somewhere under the front of
the house. They are throwing out quite large amounts of sand / soil.
Can they cause structural damage to the house? They ventured into the house
earlier this year, but some ant stop spray stopped them right away. Now I'm
just worried about them damaging the house.
On the front yard (paved) they seem to appear by making holes surrounded by
sand/earth from the edges of the paving.

let me know if there's anything I should do. How much would an exterminator
cost?

Thanks,
Matthew


I've been fighting a loosing battle with ants for 2 years. They have made my lawn look
like a mole colony lives under it and my paving slabs are all uneven from their activity.
I've tried every poison going which at best keeps them at bay for a couple of weeks. One
day last week I came home from work to find seven (yes 7) nests on/under the lawn and a
further six nests in various other places such including under the window boxes and
between gaps in the brickwork and paving slabs.

I sat down with a brew while I considered my options.

I called a one man war cabinet and drew up a highly detailed map of the garden. I decided
a massive assault from several fronts using different weapons was in order. The lawn would
be rescued using insecticide spray bought from the local garden centre armoury which had
already proved itself a worthy weapon in earlier battles. The paving slabs would be
liberated using 'Nippon Powder' obtained from 'Wilkinson's, a general housewares store
that also sells insect extermination weapons from a carefully hidden shelf near to the
hanging basket display area. I also armed myself with a freshly boiled kettle to take care
of any 'runners' then took a deep breath and went into battle.

To be continued...