Advice please~ ants and windowframes!

midwinter

I've got a wooden windowframe, and the "seal" that melds the frame to the stonework, is looking crumbly and, in one section, coming away from the stone. We're getting ants on the inside of that window frame, through some minute cracks that you can see them wriggling through.

I feel sure they're entering via the "seal".

Can anyone tell me what the proper term is for the seal, so that I can search for what to buy to re seal this junction between stone and windowframe, or, to advise what I should buy?

Present sealant isn't silicone based, if that helps?!

Many thanks for your help.

suzeesu2000

dont know what the sealant is called but you can easily solve the ant problem in the meantime. Cut a juicy lemon into 1/4's or slices and wedge however much you can in the hole - the ants will run away as fast as their little legs will carry them! No nasty niffs or chemicals involved either so no other animals will be bothered.

Jonesya

It's normally a bead of silicone sealant. Replace it with a low-modulus silicone sealant designed for sealing windows/building type applications, something like this:

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Adhesives+Sealants/General+Sealants/Premium+Building+Silicone+310ml+Brown/d180/sd2350/p59864

midwinter

Thanks Suzeesu200 and Jonesya.

Lemon is proving a fairly good interim barrier

Looked for sealant yesterday, and exterior sealant I found, specifically says not for use with stone (bricks, wood, upvc are fine). Toolstation also doesn't list stone as one of its suitabilites.

But thanks both, and at least I know what to be looking for now!