Carpenter Ant Problem

justinfrompa

OK guys, any help or advice you guys can give would be much appreciated. The problem started a few weeks ago with my wife and I seeing a bunch of black ants in out living room. I went outside to look to see if I could find out where they were getting in and sure enough the was a pea sized hole where caulk use to be. I watched them walk right in.

I went upstairs to check the crawl space where they were gaining access and sure enough there were thousands. I got bombs and a ton of spray chemicals and killed the majority of them. It looks like mass murder in the crawl space. I have been going up there every other day and retreating but I havent seen a live ant since I treated and resealed that hole outside.

However, we are still seeing the occasional carpenter ant crawling across the floor. Now, the previous owners of the hows have the flower boxes edged with soft rotting rail road ties. I want to get rid of these because I believe they are a part of the problem, but I believe that there are ants and termites in this wood and I am afraid that if I remove toe wood, the termites will look for the next closest thing, my house.

What can I do guys? We had ehrlich out here and they wanted 600 just to start. I dont know about you guys, but I dont have that kind of money.

Please help! How do I safely get rid of that wood? How do I kill the remaining ants? Perhaps there are still some in the wall void. How do I get them?

Thanks for reading!

-Justin

raam

Just keep what your doing ... staying on top of it. Remove the timbers and immediatly spray.

Scuba_Dave

yeah...get rid of that red X will ya?

dbldee20

http://www.epestsupply.com/carpenter_ants.htm

I had a carpenter ant problem a few years ago and used Orkin. They are way over priced & dont really treat the ant problem effectively. They will get rid of the ants in your house, but not outside. As soon as I canceled their service the ants came back. I used Orkin for a year or two. I ordered the green bait stations & the liquid ant bait from the link at the top and it worked well. I dont even see carpenter ants in my yard anymore.

Hope this helps, they can be very hard to get rid of.

diy'er on LI

I think I heard that carpenter ants invade when a part of the wall is moist? Like failing wood siding, windows, roof, or gutters?

I think the best way to limit bug infiltration is to make sure that on the outside of the home, there are no trees, bushes, or plants right against the foundation, and that the outside of the home is in good condition and not absorbing moisture through a weak point.

We currently are getting several bugs (including a few carpenter ants) becuase our front siding is a disaster.... We're in the process of getting it and the front windows redone. In the past, corrective measures like that always eliminated the problem.

hope this helps!

Rodi

[QUOTE=diy'er on LI;298175]I think I heard that carpenter ants invade when a part of the wall is moist? Like failing wood siding, windows, roof, or gutters?

Did anyone hear of Infrared Camera Home Inspections, where the inspector can find the location of ant nests/rotten wood in your house? Does this technology work?

heart08

I feel you Justin, I've had my entire kitchen cabinets stripped from the wall because some lousy termites decided its more comfortable there(talk about vacation). So anyway what i did was to consult a professional right away because all this do-it-yourself procedures always have tendencies to fail because we are just following instructions. Check some pest control companies near you and they will handle the rest...