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Carpenter Ants Might Invade Your Home If You See These Signs
By KELLY CATLIN
Carpenter ants damage your home's wood, causing expensive problems with the foundation. To prevent an infestation, you need to identify signs of their presence and eradicate them.
While termites eat wood, carpenter ants only chew it to make their nests, so one sign you may notice is clumps or trails of frass or sawdust in various areas around your home.
Wherever the carpenter ants have created their homes, you'll find hollow pieces of wood indoors and outdoors and tiny holes in old tree branches, timber, or your wooden decks.
Another sign is strange scratching noises coming from your home's studs or beams, which may be louder at night when the ants are most active, from about 15 minutes after dusk.
Seeing just one carpenter ant may be a sign of an infestation. Carpenter ants nest in water-damaged wood, so if there’s a sudden increase of them, get a plumber to check for leaks.
You can use vinegar to deter them from entering your house, as it disrupts the pheromone trails they use to find food, but you’ll need a pest control technician for an infestation.