Bees excavating my mortar

[Marb67]

As much as I love bees and are glad of every one in my garden I am getting a bit anxious as to why they are constantly attracted to my back wall outside the bathroom window. I noticed dry mortar kept falling on my head with every gust of wind. Then I saw a pile underneath where the bees seems to be burrowing into the actual brickwork. The mortar is old as well as the house so I don't really need this.

I have never heard of bees actually burrowing into cement.

[Scarlet]

Masonry bees maybe?
https://www.spab.org.uk/advice/techn...-masonry-bees/

[veggiechicken]

Don't want to alarm you but there's a Utube thingy showing a mason bee puling a nail out of brickwork.http://video.dailymail.co.uk/video/m...4350537089.mp4

[Stan79]

Yep - we've got them in our walls. Nothing really to worry about...

[bearded bloke]

Ohh, they are fascinating to watch, I purposefully set some edging bricks in a 'soft' mortar mix, after boring out the mortar the bee spent ages tooing & froing with small leaf cuttings, which it lined the bore with. The weak mix allowed me to lift the bricks (without disturbing the bee) & take some pictures, will have a dig & if I still have them will post in here.
Best bet is to leave the be alone now she has started boring, wait until late Autumn, 'rake out' the mortar about 1/2 inch from the brick face & repoint with a mix 5 parts soft sand to 1 part cement.

[Scarlet]

I would love to see those pics BB!

[bearded bloke]

Bu@@er, they're not on the card currently in the camera this may take a while

[Jungle Jane]

Every year bees scale my back wall,by the bedroom & bathroom,finding any gap they can,the bathroom had some old holes in the wall,where old overflow pipes had been,it's all been (repointed?) last year,after 16 years it needed tidying up,I had gaps in the bricks under the patio door too,the man did a tidy up of a few areas. Get a couple of quotes if you eventually do this,one man was charging way too much!

[mothhawk]

Ohh, they are fascinating to watch, I purposefully set some edging bricks in a 'soft' mortar mix, after boring out the mortar the bee spent ages tooing & froing with small leaf cuttings, which it lined the bore with. The weak mix allowed me to lift the bricks (without disturbing the bee) & take some pictures, will have a dig & if I still have them will post in here.
Best bet is to leave the be alone now she has started boring, wait until late Autumn, 'rake out' the mortar about 1/2 inch from the brick face & repoint with a mix 5 parts soft sand to 1 part cement.

Surely better to move her on now so she can lay her eggs somewhere else where they will be able to hatch next spring, rather than let her lay her eggs then seal them in and entomb them in the autumn?

[Nicos]

I've just been reading this link....

https://www.spab.org.uk/advice/techn...-masonry-bees/

It doesn't make you panic about having them!

We have them in our 400 yr old house.
It's just one of those things.
Infact we had a new door last year and I see that all 4 drainage holes have already been plugged with mud!

What makes me less concerned is that there are other properties in the vacinity of the same construction as mine so they have plenty of other places to go to rather than specifically target my house.
I imagine Marb is also surrounded by similar buildings to his too?

[Thelma Sanders]

Years ago I had to have the back kitchen wall repointed, when the rain started to work its way through into the old wooden window lintel, because they'd made many holes in the old mortar.

[Marb67]

Just to update, they were back again last year and probably this spring too as I haven't got round to pointing the wall. We have plenty of bee houses and other places they can lay their eggs in our garden but they always seem to choose this same spot.

I take it if I point it now they will be entombed alive so I don't want to do that to them as I love having bees and wildlife. Just would like to fill it in when they have emerged but it's hard to seem as they seem to come and go all day when active.

[burnie]

As previously stated point in the winter time and enjoy the rest of the year, I have them in most of the houses I have lived in.

[Greenleaves]

We have them too and have done for years. No problems with leaving them alone

[Marb67]

We have them too and have done for years. No problems with leaving them alone

No problems ? They are digging deep tunnels into my mortar. How can that be good for the house ?

I have provided bee houses for them etc and they still choose the house.