First, a cautionary note. Is it 'Snow in Summer' (cerastium Tomentosa) or 'Snow on the Mountain' (Aegopodium)? These two are often confused when gardeners use their common names which is why you should ID them properly. If it's the 'summer', then you can do what you suggest without a problem. If it's 'Mountain', then I would file the whole lot under G (garbage) and dispose of it as far away from your property as possible. This is a plant which will take over and even the smallest roots will form another plant to take over whatever space it can. In the right place it can actually be stunning, but will need deep unbroken borders to keep it in check and should never be left to go to seed. A neighbor of mine tried to snuff out an area of the Aegopodium by cutting it back to the ground with a weed whacker, then covering with 2 layers of landscape fabric, then applying a foot of fresh wood chips. Two seasons later it returned with a vengeance forcing it's way through the overlapping seams and creeping out through the perimeter. The roots of the Bee Balm usually run in the first few inches of the soil, so burying them a bit deep would be OK.

Hi friends, I'm struggling with a similar problem and could really use some advice. I apologize for how long this is, but it's kind of a specific circumstance. My fiancée and I just moved into a little apartment with a lovely little deck that we'd love to be able to use and have friends over on. Unfortunately, the frame of the back door that leads out onto the porch is also the entry point for what appears to be a pretty large nest of honeybees. We have no way of knowing how old this nest is because we moved here from out of state (I've just started grad school in the area) and only discovered the bees when we were moving in (mid-august). The bees certainly aren't aggressive, but I have a crippling fear of all things-with-stingers because of a bad experience when I was very young (I've been stung since then in my life; I know it's not terrible, and that as long as we leave them alone it's highly unlikely, but when is fear ever rational or easily controlled?). I'm beyond disappointed we can't use our porch for this reason��"even opening the back door before they've gone to sleep causes a lot of stress and anxiety��" because it's one of the reasons we chose this place, but much MORE IMPORTANTLY than that, as the weather is starting too cool down here, they are finding their way into the warmth of our living space now and then. THAT I am completely unwilling to deal with in any capacity. Bees are completely unwelcome inside my house. We simply CANNOT tear apart our walls from either side because we do not own this building (nor are we financially-eqipped or have the time to do so), and while our leasing-management was great about sending an exterminator (twice) when we complained, all he did was spray around with some general pesticide that of course didn't even get into hive or probably kill more than a couple of bees if any. From the research I've done, no exterminator is equipped to handle this anyway. We're only going to be here for a few years while I complete my degree, so at this point, I'm not looking for ways to get rid of or move the bees, but ways to minimize our interactions with them so we can just deal with them as a temporary problem and I can function a bit better, with less anxiety issues (since our leasing-office seems disinterested in actually taking care of them, they can deal with every tenent they ever have complaining about them, I guess). We can't locate how the bees get inside the house so we haven't been able to seal it, but if there's some sort of spray or something we can use generally on our walls and in the area to discourage them from coming this direction, that'd be great. Recommendations, traps, or other ways to lure them away from the door/minimize their presence on our porch would also be great, but at this point, the only thing I NEED accomplished is to keep them from coming inside. I am unopposed to any methods that involve killing them. I truly wish I didn't have to, but there's simply no way we can get them moved. When they're outside, that's their business, but bees that come inside my house and violate my safe-space feeling have forfeited all empathy I have for them.

another product to try once you resolve where water is comming in from. Durham's rock hard water putty. I've used it to repair window sills. apply, let dry, sand & paint. caulk won't fill a gap over 1/4" without a backer rod. caulk is a good product as it expands & contracts with movemen of wood. backer rods are in weatherstripping section of box stores. caulk should be paintable, have a long life & second fill of caulk once first layer dries is needed. your repair isn't a big deal to a carpenter. they would measure thickness of existing wood on floor, cut the floor out to floor joist centers then install plywood in opening...and caulk it to seal. maybe $200, less than the cost of new vinyl. before doing anything...find the water source & fix that...then proceed with the repair. best of luck.

I would not think of that as a back door but a nice access to the deck and get used to not using it as aback door unless you do as suggested and make that deck area a mud room. I really have not much idea of what the exterior looks like so only guessing. IMO thatTV is mounted way too high and I would probably remove the shelves from one side of the builtin to lower the TV and that would aslo allow a much larger TV so then the spacing for seating would not be an issue.