Ants Invade Kitchen in Eatontown, NJ

Recently, I got a call from a homeowner in Eatontown, NJ that was dealing with a heavy ant infestation in their kitchen. No matter how much your parents yelled at you growing up to keep your kitchen neat and clean, ants still find a way in and a kitchen can be ground zero for them. Everything they need to survive and flourish can be found there, like food and water.  

This particular kitchen counter had many cracks in the grout where the counter meets the tiled wall and served as an open invitation for ants. Ants tend to trail along straight lines and will forage away when food or water is available. The ants were foraging from the soil, up the wall, and entering the kitchen from cracked grout areas. This provided them a safe path to feed the colony and help it grow and flourish.  

Exclusion is the best way to keep the insects out. After showing the homeowners the areas of grout that had broken up, they assured me that they would have a contractor come out to reseal the grout. I then performed a crack and crevice treatment to the open cracks in grout, as well as behind the electric wall plates above the counter area — this will close off all entry points for the insects.