If you get carpenter ants in your home, it is a real emergency. Unlike other ant varieties, which are often just a nuisance, carpenter ants can do severe property damage, sometimes even competing with termite infestations in terms of sheer destruction. That’s why carpenter ant control is more vital than controlling other ant species. If you don’t watch out, you could be shelling out thousands to repair the damage. Fortunately, there are lots of things you can do to avoid carpenter ant damage to your home. Let’s talk about them.
Signs Of Carpenter Ants
Unlike termites, carpenter ants don’t stay hidden in their nests all the time. They have to forage for food, and that means if you have carpenter ants living in your walls or other wooden components of your house, you will see them. Carpenter ants are big and black, and they have large, strong jaws for cutting wood. If you see one carpenter ant in your home, don’t panic. Since they have to forage for food, you might have just attracted one or two workers by leaving some cookies on the counter. However, if you see these ants frequently, it’s a sure sign you have a problem. The other signs of carpenter ants have to do with the damage they cause.
The Extent Of Damage Carpenter Ants Can Do To Your Property
Carpenter ants cut through wood to create their nests. They carve tunnels, chambers for storage, and living areas into the wood where they live, eventually weakening its structure so severely that it destroys the wood itself. In the forest, this destruction is a vital part of the circle of life. In your house, it can quickly turn into a nightmare. This is why carpenter ant control is so important – keeping them out is the only way to avoid carpenter ant damage to your home.
Carpenter ant damage can resemble termite damage. If you have an advanced infestation, you’ll start to notice issues like:
- Buckled floors
- Sagging ceilings
- Bulging walls
- Tunnels or holes in visible wood
- Doors or windows that don’t fit
- Warped decking or railing
- Inexplicable piles of sawdust near walls or windows
How To Completely Get Rid Of Carpenter Ants
If you already have a carpenter ant infestation, you might be tempted to try to deal with it yourself. However, carpenter ant sprays, baits, traps, and other things you can buy at the store might say they work for the whole infestation, but this is rarely the case. That’s because carpenter ant colonies can be vast and complex entities with multiple nests and even multiple queens.
That means killing off one nest doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve killed them all. It’s more likely that you’ve killed a large nest and made more room for the smaller ones to grow and replace it. What’s worse is that carpenter ant sprays and baits can often be dangerous to pets and people. To eliminate the infestation safely and completely, there’s only one thing to do. Call us here at Innovative Pest Solutions or visit our contact page to schedule an inspection and treatment.
How To Keep Carpenter Ants From Coming Back
If you’ve already gotten rid of carpenter ants or you want to avoid them, there are things you can do to make your property less attractive to them:
- Keep pantry foods in airtight containers.
- Avoid leaving things like cookie jars or nut bowls sitting out.
- Cover all indoor and outdoor garbage.
- Trim tree branches and shrubs away from your house.
- Ensure all wooden components in your home are dry and solid.
Remember, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, but if you need a cure, Innovative Pest Solutions is just a call or click away!
