Rid of Carpenter Ants

Carpenter Ants Inspection & Chemical Control Methods

Indoor Inspection Procedures

The first place to look for carpenter ants are locations where you might expect to find moisture. Wood in contact with damp foundations, timber near bathrooms, kitchens, or plumbing stacks, crawl spaces, are the first place I would inspect.

Look for wood dust piles. Remember, the ants clean house every day and sometimes dump it outside of the nest.

Inspect cracks or small holes you find in wood. These may be the entry locations to a nest. The ants carve "windows" (small holes) between galleries in the wood to connect passageways. These windows are sometimes cut into an outside wood face as a dumping site for wood scraps.

Check hollow doors/walls by tapping. If a nest is present in a hollow door or wall cavity, the ants will become agitated and make a lot of rustling noise. You can hear this activity if you put your ear to the door or wall.

Check spider webs. Winged swarmers may become trapped in a web. Look often before the spider has the ant for dinner!

Inspect trouble areas at night! Ants are most active at night. Turn out the lights and wait for them to appear. Use a flashlight or quickly illuminate an area and watch them scatter!

Carpenter ant infestation? Pick the best exterminator using my Termite and Carpenter Ant Checklist. I offer a 100% Money Back Guarantee.

Outdoor Inspection Procedures

Look for damaged or rotten wood. Any damp wood such as fence posts, log piles, firewood, screened porch trim, porch posts, etc. are likely nest locations.

Inspect and remove branches / bushes / limbs that touch the house. Ants use these "bridges" to get onto and into your house. Do not allow any landscaping materials to touch your house.

Look in the lawn for established trails. Ants will often create distinct trails between the parent and satellite colonies. Watch for ant troop movements along these trails.

Inspect old stump areas for ant hills. Look for the telltale dirt hills indicating an underground nest. The ants will invade old tree roots to make a fine nest.

Chemical Control Methods

There are several off the shelf insecticides that are effective in controlling carpenter ants. Licensed pesticide applicators have an even greater chemical arsenal at their disposal.

The key to total elimination is finding the parent colony with the egg laying queen. Once this is accomplished you can treat this nest, if it is outdoors, with Diazinon crystals. Dusting chemicals such as Ficam (bendiocarb) 1% and 99% Boric acid dust work well indoors in hollow spots and cavities. The dust gets on the bodies of the ants. They spread it to other members of the colony. Dust works best when dry. If it becomes wet, the ants can't get it on their bodies too well.

Outdoors the Diazinon crystals work well on the ant trails or as a perimeter barrier. In other words, create a Diazinon "minefield" that the ants must cross in getting to your house. An 18 inch wide strip of poisoned soil at the edge of your foundation should do the trick. They will get the chemical on them and eventually succumb. It is also possible that they will take it back to the nest to poison the queen and other workers.

Column B118