What to Do When You’re Feeling Antsy
Share on Twitter | Email To Friend | Posted by Renee in Siding.
When it comes to complaints about pests, ants bear much of the brunt. According to The Ant Institute, ants are the number one “nuisance pest” in the United States. Perhaps it’s because these social critters don’t stay hidden away like termites do. Instead, they let themselves in through plumbing gaps or foundation cracks and make themselves at home, marching single file across your kitchen counter in their quest for food.
If you wonder which type of ant may be invading your home, a pest professional can help. Carpenter ants are the largest variety found in buildings, and they make their presence known through their habit of tunneling “galleries” through your wood. Here, they lay their eggs and tend their young. You’ll recognize their tunnels by the smooth insides and little windows from which they come and go. Carpenter ants don’t eat wood and prefer soft, moisture damaged material in which to make their home. Aside from wood, anything warm and humid will do, from the hollow of a curtain rod to the interior of an unused garden hose.
So how do you prevent mature colonies of 4,000 ants from tunneling holes in your siding? While most of the damage is minor, structural damage can ensue if satellite nests continue expanding unchecked. Rest assured, though, because the solutions are easy. Here are some recommendations from the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides (NCAP):
- Caulk potential entry points, such as cracks, electrical lines, and water lines.
- Trim branches away from your home. These are potential entry points.
- Store food in ant-proof containers.
- Consider installing a gravel or stone strip around your house.
- Fix leaks in roofing and plumbing pipes.
- Replace damaged structural wood.
- Remove logs, stumps, and waste wood near and under your house.
- Eliminate damp conditions near your home.
Visit the NCAP website for a complete list. Have you found a carpenter ant nest via a sawdust pile? Remove the nest itself if you can, otherwise, remove the ants themselves with a vacuum. Colonies grow slowly, so take action, but don’t panic!
Links:
How to Identify Carpenter Ant Damage
Keeping Tabs on Termites
Keep Woodpeckers Off Your Siding
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May 29th, 2008 at 9:35 am
[...] days come the insects: creeping, crawling, and biting their way into our lives. When you see that ant trail streaming across your kitchen floor, or that fresh outbreak of baby spiders, you just want them [...]
September 30th, 2008 at 9:01 am
[...] termites and carpenter ants. Subterranean termites and carpenter ants usually invade wood from the soil along the foundation, entering wood that has been directly [...]
November 21st, 2008 at 6:19 pm
At some point during the year, mostly late summer and fall, we always have ants running along the exterior of the house but never had a problem inside. That was until last summer when I found hundreds of them crawling on my kitchen floor. Not wanting to use any of those chemical sprays one can buy at the local stores, I decided to try something different. I filled a plastic spray bottle with white vinegar and started spraying the floor around the ants. The ants refused tro get their little feet wet, so they didn’t get out any further onto the kitchen floor. Then, I started spraying the small opening on the floor from where they were coming. That stopped other ants from coming in. Then, after spraying over the ants on the floor, I used the vacuum to clean it. I kept spraying the small opening on the floor on and off for a couple of days and never saw another ant. Then, I checked under the house and was not able to find any other ants. It seemed that ants don’t like white vinegar. And the wine vinegar did not damage the wooden floor either (as long as you wipe it out and don’t let it sit there for more than a couple of minutes. Now, whenever I see ants around the house, I spray white vinegar and it keeps them outside. And the vinegar is environmentaly friendly and non poisoning.
Ignacio Arribas
Author, The Happy Remodelers
http://www.happyremodelers.com
April 15th, 2009 at 9:27 am
[...] you have an infestation of ants in the home, getting rid of old wood piles next to the home and cutting down over hanging tree limbs can drive [...]