On Saturday we came home from collecting more strawberries to find a kitchen full of ants. Small ants and flying ants swarming all over the walls around the range cooker. I got the hoover out sharpish and sucked up all I could see and then again and again and again!
They are obviously in the old brickwork of the inglenook where my range now sits.
On Sunday we came home from the car boot sale to find a kitchen full of ants.............AGAIN. Repeat performance with hoover.
Oh the joys of living in an old house!
Took me right back to childhood when every summer we would have the same problem but I'm sure my Mum's answer to the annual swarming was to spray them all with insect killer.
The cottage I grew up in was even older than our present home and dated from around the 17th century. It had a timber frame and some wattle and daub walls. Here we have clay lump walls on two and a half sides of the older part of the house while the other walls must have been replaced with bricks at a later date. The other part is a modern extension built in the 1970s. The whole house was then rendered at some time and repainting that is yet another job that needs doing...........but not by us!
We keep finding things that need repair work - and the one most worrying was when the man who came to service the oil boiler told us that we really ought to update and move our oil tank as it was showing signs of age and is too close to the garage. Of course this was a few weeks after having it filled!
Some of the other things that need doing are
- Get on with finishing painting woodwork in the kitchen.
- Paint living-room
- Get the garage re-roofed before winter - The felt is split, wooden bits rotting and tiles uneven.
- Have a new up and over garage doors so we can actually get a car in and out - the doors won't stay open, having a tendency to fall on your head/the car.
- Find a good builder to make the corner of the bedroom into an en-suite
- Get cracks filled in rendering on outside of house and get it painted or coated with weathershield stuff
- Get the toilet replaced downstairs
- Have a new kitchen fitted ( not anytime soon!)
Thank you for all the comments yesterday
Back in a tick
Sue
We have had a big problem this year with ants in the garden everywhere we dig we unearth a nest, but thankfully none in the bungalow. You have lots to do but I know you are hard working and will get it done.
ReplyDeleteWe get a lot of ants here but I use Ant Stop. A little plastic cartridge thingy that I put out of Lily's way. It's excellent. X
ReplyDeleteI shall check that out. We use ant powder in the garden but that only works if they take it back to the nest and when flying ants swarm they don't go back
DeleteShame the previous owner didn't mention the ants in the inglenook so you could have done something before your cooker went in.
ReplyDeleteYes we might have blocked up a few holes or cracks although they are persistent enough to get through mortar
Delete"Flying Ant Day" isn't until August up North.
ReplyDeleteSaturday was nice and sunny must have brought them out early. Hope we don't get another swarm in August!
Deleteha Ha "Flying Ant Day"! Yes we have one here too each year.
DeleteAh! The joys of being a home owner, eh?
ReplyDeleteI'm sure if you keep on with the hoovering it will eventually weaken the nest and they will move on without chemicals. Good luck!
Gone for the moment - hopefully until next year
DeleteDon't envy you with all the ants, I hope you'll definitely get rid of them very soon.
ReplyDeleteWere you aware of all (or: the greater part of) the renovating/updating work that needs to be done before you bought the bungalow?
Good luck!
We knew about some of the work that needed doing but not all.We didn't bother with a survey as the house has stood since the 1700's so shouldn't fall down! Before illness all these jobs would have been done easily by Colin.
DeleteWe have a rented property that once a year we have flying ants coming through the gaps in the windows we asked the landlord to do something about it , they said it was a council job , The council said they cant do anything about it as its only once a year we have tried all forms of Ant killer and nothing works so we end up in vacuuming them up for about half a day when they arrive Its not very nice though xxx
ReplyDeleteFlying ants really give me the creeps, they make my skin crawl. There are always jobs need doing ok now your home. It's like painting the Forth bridge!
ReplyDeleteEwwww....I've gone all itchy now....I really, really hate ants....flying or not.
ReplyDeleteWe have a huge problem with them in the garden.
That is some list of jobs to be done-x-
They made me feel itchy too! don't know why as they don't bite
DeleteWe had ants in a very modern house once. Hate ants, the get everywhere! Did you know there is head ant, bit like a queen bee, thats what you have to find and get rid of
ReplyDeleteJulie xxxx
When I was a young teenager our dining room had royal blue velvet curtains and a dark blue carpet. We came home one summer evening, walked into the dining room and the curtains and carpet were shimmering silver with the wings of flying ants!
ReplyDeleteI ran out and hid in my bedroom, with the door and windows tighly closed!
My parents vacuumed the ants up, then sprayed poison all around the door and window frames, but it still took almost a week to get rid of all of them, it was horrible!
We're very particular about the pointing in our brickwork, if we notice even the tiniest hole it gets fixed pdq. The air bricks can be a problem, but we remove the covers and dab ant poison inside the holes using ice lolly sticks. It's worked so far, touch wood (tapping on table)!
Hope Col's still feeling good. X
Never had an ant problem here, but we DO suffer from cluster flies (and in August, bats in the house!) The cluster flies are a real pain, and come out around the velux windows in the attic rooms. Hoovering them up fills the vacuum container up VERY quickly.
ReplyDeleteYou have your priorities right on the work to be done. I hope it doesn't eat too deeply into your savings.
I am glad that Col is feeling better right now and the medication WORKING.
We had cluster flies for a couple of years at the smallholding they came out of the roof too. Much worse than ants- like something out of a horror film!
DeletePesky ants, I always find the best solution is to use talcum powder, liberally! Good news about Col, hope it continues xx
ReplyDeleteThe ants are bad right now here as well. So far not in the house, but I can see it becoming a problem very soon.
ReplyDeleteHope you get it solved quickly.
Glad to hear Col is doing so well. Continued prayers and good thoughts for his total recovery.
God bless.
Ants will not cross the roots of mint so we grow it either side of our back door. When my daughter had trouble with antsin the house she steeped mint in vinegar and sprayed them with it, she said this worked very well and was safe with the dog. I hope Col continues to feel well.
ReplyDeleteYou have a long list like ours - I find house maintenance is so difficult finding good reliable people and I think it is sometimes difficult to co-ordinate all the work - the can't do this until we have done that - we often end up going around in circles!
ReplyDeleteWe have ants in the garden under some paving slabs that are bedded in sand - they like sandy soil - we have them at the cottage on the seaside again because they like the sandy soil. Hope you get rid of them it seems like their is lots of advice in the comments. Good news about Colin.
No ants in the house here touch wood but we get flying ants. I remember a bad swarm years ago. I was cooking Sunday lunch, it was sweltering and I had to close all the windows. I was dripping with sweat and as red as a beetroot when I served it up. Xx
ReplyDeleteI can relate - we're having an ant problem. I think they are after the water as they are near the sink and not going after sweet stuff. They are really little ones. It seems to go in spurts in this house - one year no problems, another we have a lot of them. Sigh. I'll keep fighting with them!
ReplyDeleteI've also heard mint works as a deterrent for ants both plants & spray; if you know where they're coming in from, sprinkle a little borax powder there.
ReplyDeleteSo glad Col is doing better. It must be a relief for you both. As said... enjoy the gift of today and let tomorrow worry about itself.
sounds like you have alot of work to do to your new home. But it will happen eventually. We had our roof replaced last year and we need some things done to a few places outside our house...by someone else, while it's not raining. Always something. I hope Col's health continues to get better and I hope your ants go away completely! Happy weekend!
ReplyDeleteKeeping fingers crossed that the list will not grow much longer...
ReplyDelete