Photo Album: Carpenter Ants Destroy the Wood in Living Room in Middletown, NJ
Start Inspecting
We began inspecting the living room and immediately saw a trail of carpenter ants near the baseboards. Carpenter ants received their name because of their ability to chew wood to create nest sites. They do not eat wood, like termites, but they excavate it with their strong, saw-like jaws to create random galleries where they nest.
More Fun Facts
Carpenter ants vary in size and can be anywhere from 1/2' to 5/8 inches in length. There is usually only one functional, wingless queen per colony and the swarmers (which are the ones with wings) are not produced until the colony is more than two years old.
Avoid Store Bought Bug Sprays
The homeowner informed us that she kept using a store-bought bug spray to take care of the carpenter ants. This was actually causing the ant problem to worsen because she unintentionally was spreading them to other areas of the house. We explained to her that what she was doing was just killing the ants on the surface and not the ones in the colony.
Interior Treatment
First, we treated all the cracks, crevices, and baseboards in the living and the two adjacent rooms with a liquid application. The carpenter ants will come in contact with application and unknowingly share it with the other ants and the queen through their grooming process.
Exterior Treatment
After treating the interior we inspected the outside of the house and discovered that the molding was missing around the living room door. We treated the foundation and where the molding is missing around the door with the liquid application as well as applied a granular bait. In no time at all the entire colony will be eliminated.