Solve this minor mystery for me?

[JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff]

We have a cleaner, who obviously hasn't been coming recently. When I first did a full house clean in the first week of lockdown, I pulled up the carpet runner in the hall to hoover underneath.

On the floorboards, at one end, there was a little mound of sand. I don't mean a light sprinkling but about 3-4 heaped tablespoons' worth.

We last went to the beach on Christmas Day, so I thought it was a bit rubbish of our cleaner, as she obviously hadn't hoovered the hall in 12 weeks or whatever. I cleaned the hall particularly carefully.

The next week, when I took up the runner again.... there was exactly the same pile of sand! I apologised mentally to my cleaner and figured it must be that the underside of the runner had a load of old sand trapped in it. I flipped it over and hoovered the underside of the carpet pretty thoroughly.

But the next week, and every week since, the sand is back. It is only ever in one particular place. It is a little flattened mound.

How, how is it getting there?? Is it some kind of sinister omen or am I just a massive slattern?

Take a look at these pictures, particularly the table leg

Ants, I find similar next to my skirting boards and it's their entry point.

I get this too!
Have had it since we bought it (about 9yrs ago), no woodworm, no ants.
Don’t think it will show, but it sparkles in sunlight.

It has always baffled me.

I agree with PP it's ants.
The colour of the a and is due today at they are digging up. By my front door it's always greying but out side my back door it is sandy coloured.

They are not bringing it into you house but excavating it from under your floor .

Think of the film escape from Alcatraz where the tunnellers fill their trousers with the earth that has to be removed and scatter across exercise yard the ants are doing the same thing also I doubt they wear trousers to do it with.

Ant trousers!

I love a MN mystery! Ask your cleaner her thoughts? miss out that you assumed she hadn't cleaned under it for 12 weeks

Ants, thank your lucky stars that they're not flying ants!

I have no idea but I have the same problem underneath a rug and am here for some insight.

Anyone I mentioned it to thought I had lost the plot so I started keeping it to myself.

Maybe if you hoover today at a different time of day you can catch them.

The Sandman....

What is an ant trap?

I am evisaging something like a bear trap, only really really small... it's amusing me quite a lot.

An ant trap is a bit like a bear trap but really really small ....

Not really. It's s small square thing with some substance that attracts them, they take it back to the nest and it kills them all. Also use ant powder near floor/wall joins.

I have been humming the music from Alcatraz all sodding day thanks to me posting on here this morning, but I keep on imaging ants with trousers on and laughing to myself , its a good job I am alone !

Why can't you look under the carpet before Sunday? I'd be doing a daily check to see if it appears bit by bit or suddenly all on one day.

Is it from woodworm? We moved into our house in November. Kept finding "sand" on top of the microwave under a solid pine wall cupboard. Easy to get rid of with the right spray

There are ants under my patio. They have been excavating the mortar, making little piles of it. I don't see them doing it, but I do see them come out v near to the results of their labours.

Carpet beetle "poo" is like sand. They will eat any sort of carpet, even synthetics.

This. You can have a very soft carpet but the output from carpet beetle is still gritty.

Ants. They make a little cone of sand on my back doorstep.

Are you sure it's not a fine sawdust because 3-4 tablespoons seems a heck of alot of sand to keep coming out of the runner. Is it possible the underside of the runner is rough enough to be sanding off the wood by the action of walking on it, iyswim?

Your cleaner has probably assumed you're trying to trap her with tiny piles of sand every week!

We had piles of what we thought was sand appearing in the doorway. It turned out to be some kind of wood boring insect that was being tracked by the Council. Not ordinary woodworm.

We also viewed a house where the mortar from between the bricks at the front door was kind of melting away into a little pile on the step. Lovely house but it was falling down. Never found out why, although suspect it hadn't been mixed properly.

Have you ever had the runner cleaned? We had a rug cleaned once and there is always a layer of a fine dust under it ever since .. sand like, Now that you mention it.

It makes me think of the piles of sand in the street from where ants have been (between the paving stones.)

Also I used to get this with a hallway piece of cheap off cut carpet and it was the backing disintegrating. I knew it was that because the flooring was hard (but smooth) tiles - it was the walking action.

I had this by my skirting board and it was ants. I put the bait station down (really cheap one) and it worked