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Each spring, I notice a small pile of fine debris on the outside wall of my garage, which is actually inside (don't ask). There is a small brownish trail that leads up about 8" into the morter. I can faintly detect a tiny hole but not sure. I usually spray it with all of the bug killers on hand.
Yet, the trails continue every year.
Anyone experience this or have a clue what it might be? Should I worry that they are burrowing through the brick and one day the house will come tumbling down?
Burt
It surely is not insectoid. It may possibly be excessive cementious effervescence.
Concrete products can effervess. This can ruin swimming pool liners by taking the form of micro stalactites piercing zillions of tiny holes in the liner usually occurring where the liner is a bit away from the concrete like in corner.
I have seen it on my concrete garage floor over a winter season as a whitish mold looking material formed near certain things left on the floor.
Soooo I'm guessing that you have a bad batch of cement and maybe one with an excessive level of fly ash in it to boot.
Burt, if there is 'mud' along the path - I'd say it's very possibly subterrainian termites. :eek: They're most active in spring and leave small fine debris in their wake. I've had to recently deal with that problem and did a little research at the time. The key is identifying the problem and then getting it treated. At my place there were no mud tubes along the foundation or anywhere visible. Apparently they came up through a crack in the slab. :confused: So you may not see a mud tube - but the debris is a tip off.
The good news is that the destruction they do is fairly slow but the sooner you get treated the better. ;)
Hope this helps, good luck.
Scott
Mud trail means termites around here.
What Scott said! Tubes = termites = structural loss...
I don't have tubes. The trail is paint thin. Here is a picture. The brick is normal size.
Burt