"Paul Anderson" wrote in message
...
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...



Crikey - sounds like you have a real problem! Mine seem to all live in one
place at the front of my house (well under the front wall I think) and march
in a very neat line round the side, under my side gate, along the side path
and to my back garden where they milk the billions of aphids we seem to have
this year. I don't have a lawn, and as yet, the holes appearing under the
paving at the front of my house hasn't caused the paving to move.
Let me know if you are successful. I may need to carry out a similar
exercise if they start to wreck my paving etc!!
thanks,
Matthew