We bought a home 2 doors down from our old one on the same block back in November 2017 in a private estate sale.

House is a brick single, colonial style. Built 1951. Foundation is block.

The gentleman that had it built in '51 and lived there until he passed in July 2017 at age 91 had some pretty nice landscaping around the house which I need to start cleaning up when it warms up around here, but I wanted to see how to handle the mulching.

He had the landscaping company put the mulch right up against the house which I'm not sure I want to continue doing. The home inspector we had hired to do a full inspection in September 2017 noted this and said that we may want to move that out so there's no issue with critters or mold or termites to deal with in the future. A termite inspection was also done and came back as negative for them.

What is the forum's consensus? Do I need to create a barrier between the mulch bed and the foundation? How do I do this? How wide and what materials? Stone?

Or should I just leave it as is? Thanks!

I am by no means an expert. We have the mulch up against the house (brick) and had it up against the previous house, which was also brick. The previous house we lived in for 23 years with no issues and also had a termite inspection that showed no issuse.

In my mind, the termite inspection coming back negative, tells me there's not a problem with it at least with termites. We never saw mold or other critter issues either.

I would rake the mulch away from the foundation so you can see 12-18” of block all the way around the house. Similarly, I would cut back or remove shrubbery that is, or might grow up against the house. IMO you should be able to walk all the way around the house and see masonry/foundation. This makes identifying intrusion of tiny critters pretty easy. Given the choice, I would even keep trees back to keep gutters clean, shade and moisture away and prevent damage from trees/limbs that blow down. I have one tree close to my house (having built on a farm field) and it still gives me extra work clearing gutters.

I worked for a major nationwide home builder in TX a few years ago. Was always told mulch up against house is fine as long as it is about 4” or so from siding. Don’t let it be touching up against siding or first brick line. This supposedly gives most insects an open door policy to come in your house if it’s touching. But if you leave the gap then usually it’s just ants or spiders that will crawl up foundation.

This is how I kept it and never had any major insect issues. On a slab house. If directly against wood I wouldn’t recommend that. But stone/slab I’d b ok.

In GA now and same is done/recommend here.

I also always spray a bug spray barrier a few times of the year on the exposed slab area.

Been doing this 12 years now. Use a rake and just pull it back at the edge of the brick. I make sure I can see the slab line at least an inch (below the first brick)and don’t worry about it. I get an annual termite inspection with a warranty,

My understanding is that a lot of mulch is treated to avoid the termite issue. Probably best to check with where you get your mulch. Around here you can go to the county landfill and get mulch cheap, like a few dollars per bucket load (loader bucket) but you can't use it around a house because it definitely has NOT been treated.

We bought our house and had termites in the planting beds around the house but no damage to the house. The seller of course paid for termite treatment the termite guy suggested to use rubber mulch up against the house and whatever mulch you want to fill the rest of the bed.
That was 3 years ago the same 12” strip of rubber mulch is still there and one can’t tell that it is rubber unless you actually get down and look at it.
No more termites either.

If the mulch is clearly below the weep holes in the brick, you shouldn't have any issues.



.

We had some yards of mulch delivered that was infested with termites. Luckily it was used in an area about 20 yards from the house. But since then, we never put mulch up to the house; leave at least a couple yards gap. We use ground cover or bushes near the house. Or sand/granite.

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
We had some yards of mulch delivered that was infested with termites. Luckily it was used in an area about 20 yards from the house. But since then, we never put mulch up to the house; leave at least a couple yards gap. We use ground cover or bushes near the house. Or sand/granite.

Yep, last year two of my mulch bags were absolutely crawling with termites. Makes me wondering about what’s in the rest of the mulch that I spread. I just assume that mulch has termites or their eggs in it and keep it a foot from the house.

Those two bags got a dose of gasoline and a match.

If it is dry, you're gtg. Without trapped moisture in the ground, they cannot survive, and will not seek out wood from dry ground. Depending on your location, you may be suseptible to ants. That is normally handled with a periodic inexpensive do it yourself pesticide treatment to keep the ants off your foundation, and thus, no tracks into the house. A good thing to do is remove the old mulch after a few years, raking everyting clean, put down some ant medicine on the ground, put in new mulch, followed by more ant treatement, better liquid spray. btw that will help keep other critters at bay as well, not just ants.

quote:

Originally posted by Chris42:
I would rake the mulch away from the foundation so you can see 12-18” of block all the way around the house. Similarly, I would cut back or remove shrubbery that is, or might grow up against the house. IMO you should be able to walk all the way around the house and see masonry/foundation. This makes identifying intrusion of tiny critters pretty easy. Given the choice, I would even keep trees back to keep gutters clean, shade and moisture away and prevent damage from trees/limbs that blow down. I have one tree close to my house (having built on a farm field) and it still gives me extra work clearing gutters.

I have owned a pest control company for over 20 years and this is good advice. Moisture is the enemy. Keep the foundation visible, grade away from the house so drainage is good, keep vegetation off of the house and maintain your gutters. Delivered mulch may have termites in it, but they have been displaced from their colony and cannot survive long, at least when it comes to the eastern subterranean termite.