Sorry if I butcher this description...you know under the eaves of the house where the brick meets the wood trim up at the top? The gap there should be caulked, right?

Ours is not, and we've been having a fire ant problem. We recently re-treated our yard and weepholes, and today I found a huge line of them coming out of the yard and going into a hole in the caulking in corner where brick meets brick. When I sprayed that area, a few hours later the line had re-formed and they were climbing up the wall and into a spot between the brick and the wood. If I spray that area they will just relocate because it appears the entire length of our house is not caulked where the brick meets wood.

It's okay to caulk that, right? It's not like a weephole and needed for drainage? If so, is there a certain kind of caulk we should use or is the indoor/outdoor stuff okay?

Sorry for the stupid questions!

[This message has been edited by rachag03 (edited 9/10/2010 6:21p).]

Not needed, but don't think it would hurt.

FWIW, this is the worst we have ever had wasps and ants...we have been in this house 32 years so much hotter, some drier, some wetter but none worse for wasps or ants(I was kind of hoping they would eat/sting each other!)

Thanks Redag06...I may give it a try if it will help!

Mom, I am so glad to know it's not just us. This year has been awful. The wasps got in the vent in our laundry room and right now we just have it taped off until it cools off and they go dormant. We're afraid if my husband climbs on the roof to put the mesh stuff over the vent that 100 wasps will come out and he'll fall off the roof. The wasps are getting in every little gap in our wood around the face of our garage, too.

And the ants, my goodness...it's terrible. They were in our house for the last week or so and we finally got them out. They bit my kiddos on the living room carpet. They were eating holes in my caulk when I would re-caulk where they were sneaking in from on the baseboards.

I'm over the bugs this year. We've never ever had a problem like this!

Careful caulking it. I don't know the design of your exterior walls, but it might trap hot air/water vapor in your walls if you do that. There's supposed to be an air gap between the housewrap and your brick or siding so that air can move from the weepholes up into the attic. Since I'm not quite sure which wood trim you're talking about, I would be careful sealing too much up in that area because I don't know if the air gap vents out the top of the brick and into your soffit/attic, or if it vents out through the trim at the top.

Your best bet is to probably figure out where the ants are coming from and kill the danged nest.

what superspeck said

Thanks guys, I will definitely try to take care of the ant problem first. We treated the yard and unfortunately did not watch the weather forecast, and it poured just a couple hours after we treated...you are not supposed to water it in, so I'm pretty sure it failed. Luckily they are not in my house any more, but we're still trying to get them out of the yard or at least reduce the amount!

It could very well be the gap you are talking about that should not be caulked. I won't be able to describe it right, but what I'm talking about is the gap between the brick sides of our house and the wood under the eaves all the way around. Sadly I know very little about houses, although I am trying to get better!

Thank you all.

use the bayer home defense spray...it is great stuff and spary it around the outside of your house and you can spray it anywhere in the house too...especailly around windows and doors...lasts for a year in the house and outside up to 6 months...and it works for just about anything...just dont get a big ol' whiff of it...it will take your breath away..sodium dioxide or something....it suffocates the pests

I am guessing you are talking about the frieze board. Personally, I would have no concerns caulking it. Masonry has pretty high vapor permeability and should be able to breathe well on its own with the weep holes, regardless of any caulking/sealing (as long as you have a good moisture barrier). FYI, I am not a envelope/moisture specialist and don't want to start an argument on weatherproofing....I find everyone has a different opinion.

[This message has been edited by RoperJoe02 (edited 9/14/2010 4:31p).]

Yes, frieze board! I Googled that and saw pictures and that is what I was trying to describe.

I know of one place near our back patio that I saw wasps going into as well, but that space looks a little bigger for some reason and I was thinking we may need to spray something in there to fill it.

For some reason the ants have not returned since I sprayed the two places they were going into. We have not had a chance to re-treat the yard but will do so this weekend or whenever the weather forecast says there isn't going to be any rain.

rach, my house isn't caulked and I haven't had any problems with it or found a reason to caulk it. When I built upper end homes a couple of years back, we always caulked that gap. Don't use silicone or basic exterior caulk. Since you are trying to seal two dissimilar materials, definitely find some NP1 to use.

[This message has been edited by FiTxAg04 (edited 9/16/2010 6:49a).]

Thanks FiTxAg04! I had never heard of NP1, so we would have used the normal old caulk we have. I'll be sure to get some NP1.