Ants undermining garden wall

Chickereeeee

I have a rendered-block front garden wall which is regularly used by ants for nest building. They dig between the pavement and the wall, particularly around the pillars, and excavate a LOT of sand. I don't really like putting down ant/insect killer, and wondered if anybody had any success with a filler/sealant of some type? The gap is never going to provide a clean surface for bonding.

grumbler

Chickereeeee said:

I don't really like putting down ant/insect killer,

I do. White powder works well if applied regularly.

Brie

Boiling hot water?

plumb1_2

Brie said:

Boiling hot water?

They want to get rid of the ants, not make um a brew.

shiraz99

This stuff always works well for me - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Home-Defence-Stop-Bait-Station/dp/B07JGK8B8G?th=1

stuart45

Ants can do a lot of damage to walls. Bringing soil into the wall for their nests. In cavity walls that have been filled, they build them in the voids, causing damp problems. In garden walls, especially stone walls plant life grows in the joints.
They seem to work non stop, so it's surprising how much they can do. 
I used to take the kids to a place in Sussex called the Living World which was an insect zoo, and they had a variety of different ants from around the world.
Quite interesting to watch them and the amount of damage they could cause.
As with chess or bees, you need to find the queen.

koalakoala

If you don’t want to kill them you’re screwed

Chickereeeee

I don't mind killing THEM, but a) they come back and b) insecticide is not very selective. I believe you can get ant-specific nematodes, but see a).

What I want is a flexible filler to seal the gaps, so they cannot nest there. I imagine hot tar would do the trick, but I was hoping for something easier to use,

grumbler

Nothing is more flexible than building silicone, e.g.

 

Good luck!  (sarcastic smiley)

shiraz99

Chickereeeee said:

I don't mind killing THEM, but a) they come back and b) insecticide is not very selective. I believe you can get ant-specific nematodes, but see a).

What I want is a flexible filler to seal the gaps, so they cannot nest there. I imagine hot tar would do the trick, but I was hoping for something easier to use,

As I mentioned, get that ant bait station I linked to. It's extremely selective. The ant's come along take the bait back down into the nest, feed the queen and she dies along with the whole colony. Job done.

You can put down as much filler as you like but in my experience the humble ant will always find a route.

diystarter7

shiraz99 said:

This stuff always works well for me - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Home-Defence-Stop-Bait-Station/dp/B07JGK8B8G?th=1

This thing works like magic.
Within a couple of days if not sooner the ants are gone for good.
Last year we bought different ant traps as these were out of stock at our local shops and those were pretty useless similar cost but those in the link are real killers, assassins IMO.