How to seal an exterior crack in brick mortar

[Anonymous]

Yesterday I was gardening and trimming bushes that were touching the exterior walls of the house. I saw a line of ants and followed the line up to a crack in the brick's mortar. Hundreds of ants were entering and exiting the hole that leads to the laundry room. I was so excited - I found the source of the ants! How do I fix it? It's a crack in brick mortar. Can I put clear caulk in it? DH says no, but I don't know why it would hurt. Ideas? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yesterday I was gardening and trimming bushes that were touching the exterior walls of the house. I saw a line of ants and followed the line up to a crack in the brick's mortar. Hundreds of ants were entering and exiting the hole that leads to the laundry room. I was so excited - I found the source of the ants! How do I fix it? It's a crack in brick mortar. Can I put clear caulk in it? DH says no, but I don't know why it would hurt. Ideas? Thanks.

Sure you can put caulk in it, but I'm not sure I understand. Is the mortar just degraded? If the mortar is generally decaying, you should repoint. Are the bricks cracked anywhere (potentially much bigger issue) A "crack" sounds unusual in the mortar. As an aside, you should caulk all holes you can find to your house.

[Anonymous]

Op here. Thanks for your input. I'm a (relatively) new homeowner, so I don't understand what that means. DH and I have searched for and caulked any cracks on the inside of our house (like the one the Terminex guy found in our shower). I don't know if exterior insect entryway points require different treatment. The bricks are not cracked. There seems to be bits of mortar missing from in between bricks here and there. The house was built in 1962.

[Anonymous]

There are weep holes in the mortar that are supposed to be there, so be careful about caulking over those. The weep holes are a VERY necessary piece of a brick veneer structure, and without them you could get water infiltration and bad mold.

If it is degraded mortar, yes you can use caulk.

[Anonymous]

Op here. Thanks for the info. I guess I'll try to find my neighbor, who knows about these things. Maybe he can help. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Thanks for the info. I guess I'll try to find my neighbor, who knows about these things. Maybe he can help. Thanks.

I am the first pp here. Yes, having someone on the ground who can look at it will help, however if you google weep holes, you should be able to tell if it is that or a "crack" as you say. PP is right to say leave a weep hole alone. Easy enough to get a mason out though to see if you need re-pointing (where they replace the mortar). An estimate should be free.

[Anonymous]

Call a mason to re tuck point. Caulk can be used but looks awful and will only last a season.

[Anonymous]

Op here. Thank you for the tips!

[Anonymous]

Just use ant killer gel

[Anonymous]

Right now, due in part to the rain, ants are pretty ubiquitous. They are looking for food and climbing in places like mortar to lay eggs. destroying the queen would help.

Short term, you can interrupt their walk by spraying Lemon Pledge or any fragrant on the path. They walk through smell, so interrupting it decreases the pathway. Don't know about chile powder.

Ant spray pesticide works, but regrettably it can require multiple sprays. Immunity may arise.