# Carpenter Ants - What Now?



## dougp23 (Sep 20, 2011)

I kept finding this tiny pile of sawdust at the corner of my house. I would brush it away and in a week or so, it would be back. After a few weeks of that, I called in a contractor.
He opened up the corner of house and found some small damage at the foundation level. What was shocking was about 8 feet up, they had eaten out a section of wood the size of my head! I could see the sheetrock from the outside, they had eaten that much.

Obviously I need some pest control! But what would you recommend? Should they open up walls? Should they drill holes to insert the spray, or is spraying along edges enough? 

Also a concern, last year we had these ant holes on the lawn, and one day all these little things came flying out of them...obviously baby carpenter ants. Lots of them flew off to do damage elsewhere but i imagine some came to my house. Those should be treated as well, correct?

Thanks for any insights.


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## Dave Sal (Dec 20, 2012)

Just an FYI. I had two species of ants, carpenter and another that are tiny and reddish. The tiny red ones were in the house, and usually show themselves in the spring in the below grade family room. I bought some liquid Terro ant killer and placed it on small (1") squares of thin cardboard and the ants came and feasted on this stuff for about 3-4 days straight. I would add more whenever it was gone. About a week later there was no sign of them. Early this year I decided to tackle the carpenter ants which I would see every day walking on the horizontal fence railings, back and forth, and believed they were living in the base of a lilac bush. I put more of the Terro on little squares of cardboard and placed them along the fence rails. Once again they gorged themselves on it for almost a week, then again, they were gone. I haven't seen one since then. Terro works by having the ants eat it, and then bring it back to the nest where they feed it to the larvae and the queen. This kills the whole colony. Great stuff. You might want to try this too. 
http://www.terro.com/terro-liquid-ant-killer


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## jlhaslip (Dec 31, 2009)

Hire some Non Union ants and the real Carpenter Ants will wobble.


:lol:


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## CrazyGuy (Nov 18, 2017)

Your best bet would be to hire a professional exterminator. Second to that, this stuff seems to work well to deter carpenter ants and also carpenter bees. I spray it in holes that carpenter bees bore into wood, shortly thereafter they come out of the holes and drop dead.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/BAYER-ADVANCED-Carpenter-Ant-and-Termite-Killer-Plus-32-fl-oz-Insect-Killer/3018795

I would drill some holes in the wood around the problem area big enough to fit a pump sprayer wand in and shoot this stuff in there. I would also soak the area that you have opened up. I really think a professional should be called in. That would be a safer bet.


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## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

Post some pictures.
If you have Carpenter ants then there's a moisture issue someplace.
Need to address the real issue to get rid of the ants,


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## kevingarlandmag (May 13, 2018)

jlhaslip said:


> Hire some Non Union ants and the real Carpenter Ants will wobble.
> 
> 
> :lol:


This got me laughing!


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## Bud9051 (Nov 11, 2015)

Hi Kevin,
Just a quick added thought. I use an infrared camera as part of my energy auditing and I can easily spot voids during the cold weather where insulation is missing. I'm thinking that voids the size you described might also show up. 

Just an idea to avoid tearing the entire house down to locate any problems.

Bud


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