Yet another invasion in my house
January 13, 2024 7:48 PM Subscribe
My house seems to be under attack from carpenter ants. I've had the exterminator come twice to no avail. What can I do next?
Every couple of months, my house comes up with a new pest. So far I've battled groundhogs, poison ivy, and yellowjackets. The pest du jour is (allegedly) carpenter ants.
A couple months ago I noticed a lot of fine sawdust on the window sill right by my bed. Of course. 20 windowsills in my house and it has to be the one right next to where my head lies at night. SO GROSS.
Anyway, I called an exterminator who came to see and pronounced it carpenter ants. He asked if I ever see any ants? No. He asked if I can hear chewing. EW EW EW but no. Nevertheless, he said it was carpenter ants and some spray would get rid of them. He sprayed all around my window. A week later the sawdust was back. He came back and sprayed again, much more vigrourously.
This time, they were gone for a good month and I thought it was over. But then all of a sudden this weekend, they are back with a vengeance. Its so freaking gross. It feels almost supernatural. Ive never seen a single ant. I'll check all day and see nothing. Then I'll leave the room for five minutes to go the bathroom or something and come back and theres a pile of sawdust like you wouldnt believe. How do they work so fast! Without me ever seeing them! God and I have to sleep next to it at night! I can't go on.
I"m going to call the exterminator again in the morning but we're halfway through a 3 day weekend so i doubt he'll come for another couple days at least. And then.. what else can he even do besides spray some more? He said I might have to pry off the windowsills! How would I even do that and then how would I even get them back on! I am so overwhelmed by the whole thing. I seriously dont even know how I'm going to sleep there tonight. I have terro from a recent regular ants invasion in my kitchen over the summer, which worked nicely. Should I put those out? But then the ants will swarm the terro pads. I cant have ants swarming around my bed! I am really freaking out about this. Any advice or anecdotes are highly appreciated.
Every couple of months, my house comes up with a new pest. So far I've battled groundhogs, poison ivy, and yellowjackets. The pest du jour is (allegedly) carpenter ants.
A couple months ago I noticed a lot of fine sawdust on the window sill right by my bed. Of course. 20 windowsills in my house and it has to be the one right next to where my head lies at night. SO GROSS.
Anyway, I called an exterminator who came to see and pronounced it carpenter ants. He asked if I ever see any ants? No. He asked if I can hear chewing. EW EW EW but no. Nevertheless, he said it was carpenter ants and some spray would get rid of them. He sprayed all around my window. A week later the sawdust was back. He came back and sprayed again, much more vigrourously.
This time, they were gone for a good month and I thought it was over. But then all of a sudden this weekend, they are back with a vengeance. Its so freaking gross. It feels almost supernatural. Ive never seen a single ant. I'll check all day and see nothing. Then I'll leave the room for five minutes to go the bathroom or something and come back and theres a pile of sawdust like you wouldnt believe. How do they work so fast! Without me ever seeing them! God and I have to sleep next to it at night! I can't go on.
I"m going to call the exterminator again in the morning but we're halfway through a 3 day weekend so i doubt he'll come for another couple days at least. And then.. what else can he even do besides spray some more? He said I might have to pry off the windowsills! How would I even do that and then how would I even get them back on! I am so overwhelmed by the whole thing. I seriously dont even know how I'm going to sleep there tonight. I have terro from a recent regular ants invasion in my kitchen over the summer, which worked nicely. Should I put those out? But then the ants will swarm the terro pads. I cant have ants swarming around my bed! I am really freaking out about this. Any advice or anecdotes are highly appreciated.
Response by poster: Just popping in to say I own my house and it's a 150 year old brick house with beautiful deep wooden windowsills. I am really worried about it being damaged by these evil little pests. This house is my (hopefully) forever home and I love it more than I can tell you.
That being said, before I bought this house I was a renter for 20 years. So I have no idea what I'm doing. What kind of contractor/specialist would I even call to see if there was rotting? I also need to mention that I have very little money to throw at this. I already paid the exterminator $300 to accomplish nothing.
posted by silverstatue at 9:31 PM on January 13
That being said, before I bought this house I was a renter for 20 years. So I have no idea what I'm doing. What kind of contractor/specialist would I even call to see if there was rotting? I also need to mention that I have very little money to throw at this. I already paid the exterminator $300 to accomplish nothing.
posted by silverstatue at 9:31 PM on January 13
I'm not familiar with carpenter ants but can you try spreading diatomaceous earth all over your wooden parts?
posted by whitelotus at 10:13 PM on January 13 [1 favorite]
posted by whitelotus at 10:13 PM on January 13 [1 favorite]
A couple thoughts without seeing your house. The first, cheapest way might be to try to fill the holes with caulking. I did this with carpenter ants on a porch and it worked ok. I'd also take a look outside and inside if there is a place where water might be coming in or the insects might be coming in. A handyman might be able to change out the sill if you see rotting or make a recommendation on who you should bring in.
150 year old houses are great - I've lived in old houses almost exclusively my entire life. They are beautiful and have unique aspects to them that make them special and hardy. But they are 150 years old, so you will have issues and repairs - and that's ok! They were built to last, but need repairs and maintenance. Don't ignore it out of fear though, dive in to protect your investment.
posted by Toddles at 10:15 PM on January 13 [3 favorites]
150 year old houses are great - I've lived in old houses almost exclusively my entire life. They are beautiful and have unique aspects to them that make them special and hardy. But they are 150 years old, so you will have issues and repairs - and that's ok! They were built to last, but need repairs and maintenance. Don't ignore it out of fear though, dive in to protect your investment.
posted by Toddles at 10:15 PM on January 13 [3 favorites]
My house had a carpenter ant problem too and I definitely didn't have the money to resolve the issues that led to them. So I'm not recommending ignoring the possible damp, but I completely understand it's not always practical to get a handyman in right away. Watching this thread for any more suggestions on this front, in case the DIY solution is less overwhelming than I think. The idea of removing my siding and finding it worse than expected terrifies me!
Is your Terro the outdoor type? From looking it up, it looks like Terro does work on carpenter ants, but check the label to make sure they're one of the ants listed. In general, bait type poisons are the best for taking then out (they chew wood, but don't eat it and need a food source). I had the same hesitation about drawing more of them inside, so I used Amdro granules just outside. I was religious about sprinkling more every time after it rained or the ants had taken most of them. It worked within a few weeks, but I continued doing it for months. If there's snow on the ground where you are, you might need to mess with a tarp or something if you use this kind of bait, since the snow would dissolve it.
PS they came inside my house, not by my bed, but by my work desk and they were super annoying but NOT interested in biting me. I'm sure they could if they wanted to, but I can't stress how not focused on me they were even though I killed every single one I saw.
posted by Eyelash at 10:17 PM on January 13
Is your Terro the outdoor type? From looking it up, it looks like Terro does work on carpenter ants, but check the label to make sure they're one of the ants listed. In general, bait type poisons are the best for taking then out (they chew wood, but don't eat it and need a food source). I had the same hesitation about drawing more of them inside, so I used Amdro granules just outside. I was religious about sprinkling more every time after it rained or the ants had taken most of them. It worked within a few weeks, but I continued doing it for months. If there's snow on the ground where you are, you might need to mess with a tarp or something if you use this kind of bait, since the snow would dissolve it.
PS they came inside my house, not by my bed, but by my work desk and they were super annoying but NOT interested in biting me. I'm sure they could if they wanted to, but I can't stress how not focused on me they were even though I killed every single one I saw.
posted by Eyelash at 10:17 PM on January 13
Agreeing that carpenter ants are annoying and house-harmful but they're not after you or your food.
The first thing is you need to fix the water damage: they only eat wet or otherwise degraded wood. As you mention it's a brick house with wood window sills, I'm guessing that water is getting in around where the wood and brick touch, making a nice channel for the carpenter ants to live in.
I had them from a roof leak; after the roof was fixed there were areas which stayed damp a long time due to the area being deep behind walls with little air circulation. They weren't coming in the living space of the house, but I discovered them when taking down water damaged plaster.
I used boric acid powder, and the bottles allow you to 'puff' the powder deep into their holes. This caused a mildly traumatic and creepy experience of all the carpenter ants frantically trying to escape all at once, but, again, they're not out to hurt me, and after the one application (and leaving the wall open to let it dry) they all disappeared entirely.
So, treat the water problem first, use a mild poison or diamaceous discouragement to get them to leave, and then your ant problem will be fixed.
Edit: A general contractor should be sufficient to advise how to diagnose and handle the wood, although their advice will probably start at "oh, you need to replace ALL your wood windows and I can get you a good deal on energy efficient window replacement", so they may need guidance to stick to just where the problem lies.
posted by AzraelBrown at 9:24 AM on January 14 [1 favorite]
The first thing is you need to fix the water damage: they only eat wet or otherwise degraded wood. As you mention it's a brick house with wood window sills, I'm guessing that water is getting in around where the wood and brick touch, making a nice channel for the carpenter ants to live in.
I had them from a roof leak; after the roof was fixed there were areas which stayed damp a long time due to the area being deep behind walls with little air circulation. They weren't coming in the living space of the house, but I discovered them when taking down water damaged plaster.
I used boric acid powder, and the bottles allow you to 'puff' the powder deep into their holes. This caused a mildly traumatic and creepy experience of all the carpenter ants frantically trying to escape all at once, but, again, they're not out to hurt me, and after the one application (and leaving the wall open to let it dry) they all disappeared entirely.
So, treat the water problem first, use a mild poison or diamaceous discouragement to get them to leave, and then your ant problem will be fixed.
Edit: A general contractor should be sufficient to advise how to diagnose and handle the wood, although their advice will probably start at "oh, you need to replace ALL your wood windows and I can get you a good deal on energy efficient window replacement", so they may need guidance to stick to just where the problem lies.
posted by AzraelBrown at 9:24 AM on January 14 [1 favorite]
Disodium octaborate tetrahydrate is relatively benign to non-insect / non-fungus living things. We spray it on the problem areas of our house.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 11:30 AM on January 14
posted by ZenMasterThis at 11:30 AM on January 14
We had carpenter ants and they were a sign of hidden water damage. You need to find and deal with the water damage or the ants will just keep coming back.
posted by congen at 11:35 AM on January 14 [1 favorite]
posted by congen at 11:35 AM on January 14 [1 favorite]
("effective and relatively benign" that should have said)
posted by ZenMasterThis at 11:36 AM on January 14
posted by ZenMasterThis at 11:36 AM on January 14
Response by poster: Thanks everyone. I will try prying off the windowsill tomorrow and see what's underneath. The window is on the second story so I cant really get to the outside to see/repair anything. I am really hoping I wont have to hire a contractor to fix this, but it's looking like that is my only option. Lowes and Home Depot didnt really have anything in the way of spray. (Found one thing at Lowes but when I tried to buy it, it was flagged as a recall and they wouldnt let me leave with it!)
posted by silverstatue at 7:19 PM on January 14
posted by silverstatue at 7:19 PM on January 14
We have an on again/off again problem with ants, every 3 or 4 years or so. Borax seems to really be the ticket. I mix up both a dry bait and a liquid bait, because apparently adult ants only eat liquid?
Dry bait:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1.5 Tbsp borax
Liquid Bait:
1/2 cup sugar
1.5 Tbsp borax
Enough water to make a runny syrup, like Italian salad dressing
I leave several bait stations inside and outside the house; it usually takes a couple weeks of monitoring, but eventually it gets the job done. It's important to use both liquid and solid bait; you want to affect as many ants as possible, and ideally make sure the borax is brought back to the Queen.
As others have said, though, carpenter ant infestation in a home is usually a sign of rotting wood or water damage somewhere; it'd be a good idea to get a home inspector out there, tell them of your concerns. They not only know what to look for, but they have tools that can measure the dampness levels in wood, walls, etc. and help locate potential problem areas.
posted by xedrik at 8:15 AM on January 15 [1 favorite]
Dry bait:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1.5 Tbsp borax
Liquid Bait:
1/2 cup sugar
1.5 Tbsp borax
Enough water to make a runny syrup, like Italian salad dressing
I leave several bait stations inside and outside the house; it usually takes a couple weeks of monitoring, but eventually it gets the job done. It's important to use both liquid and solid bait; you want to affect as many ants as possible, and ideally make sure the borax is brought back to the Queen.
As others have said, though, carpenter ant infestation in a home is usually a sign of rotting wood or water damage somewhere; it'd be a good idea to get a home inspector out there, tell them of your concerns. They not only know what to look for, but they have tools that can measure the dampness levels in wood, walls, etc. and help locate potential problem areas.
posted by xedrik at 8:15 AM on January 15 [1 favorite]
You might call Terminix or other reliable termite control company. If you aren't seeing ants, it could be termites, but in any case a termite company as opposed to a regular pest control company might do more detailed diagnosis. They are also usually good at determining water damage vs. termite damage so they should know what to look for in that vein as well. If your house is anywhere with regular moisture (I'm in Florida for example) a termite policy is worth the money in any case.
posted by TimHare at 10:41 PM on January 15 [1 favorite]
posted by TimHare at 10:41 PM on January 15 [1 favorite]
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posted by Toddles at 9:17 PM on January 13 [3 favorites]