Pages

Monday, June 7, 2010

The Ants Go Marching

The day before I was leaving for Ohio I discovered ants in our bathroom. Yes, the bathroom. Not the kitchen. I thought maybe one just got lost or was brought in on Harley's back (he thinks all animals/bugs are his friend) until I saw a couple more on the bathroom counter. JJ was called upon the case then, and started looking around the bathroom and bedroom to see if there was a reason why these ant's would want to grace us with their presence. Outside JJ went. And inside JJ came with this discovery outside our bedroom:



Yikes. This is outside both JJ and my expertise. So we both decided to procrastinate doing anything because we thought it was going to be a much tougher job. I know, smart of us, huh? So finally, 3 weeks after the discovery, I used my handy-dandy google skills and found a how-to video. The first video was the mix your own mortar type and I thought, "Psh no, I can't do that!" On to the next video. This one was way more my style. The mortar came in a tube, and you applied with a caulking gun. Easy-peasy.

First step: Brush out any debris and leftover mortar. I used a paint brush to get in there.

Second step: Go to work. It says to get in there deep, but no thicker than 3/8".


And yes I purposely avoided the "that's what she said." This is what it looked like after:


Third Step: Now here's where the video said to use a jointer to smooth it out and give it the concave look. But I have the memory of a goldfish and forgot to buy one, so I used my finger.

 I think it looks fine though. I'm pretty sure the piece to the right is going to crack off soon anyways so I'm not worried.
 
Fourth Step: Admire your work. I went to look at it today and I couldn't even find it! I just keep getting more and more impressed with my sweet skills haha.

Now I'm just crossing my fingers there's no more ants.

4 comments:

  1. Great way to keep those ants marching somewhere else! This would be a great tip to share for my Tips & Tricks linky party.

    I would like to invite you to visit the cottage, and join in on all three linky parties:

    ASK THE YANKEE - MONDAYS
    TIPS & TRICKS TUESDAY
    TIME TRAVEL THURSDAY

    You can get the details here:

    http://thebrambleberrycottage.blogspot.com/2010/06/brambleberry-cottage-linky-party.html

    Hope to see ya there!
    Liz @ the Brambleberry Cottage
    http://thebrambleberrycottage.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  2. So far, so good, no ants! Thanks for the invite! I'll be checking it out soon!

    ReplyDelete
  3. sorry to say this, but those spaces in between the bricks are supposed to be there. they are for venting. if you look around your house, you probably have many more.

    - i looked online and saw this:

    Those are weep holes, and they're to let water out. You should not
    plug them, but you could put diatomaceous earth there, or
    spray them with a persistant poison

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for the concern! It's actually just our foundation that is brick, the rest is siding. Jeremy took construction in high school, so I defer to him on this, and said the foundation should not have weep holes because it needs to be stable. I did a walk around the house and this was the only hole/crack I saw. Thanks again though!

    ReplyDelete