Protect Your Home from Carpenter Ants

At this time of year you may see ants flying around your house. Maybe even inside. Beware.

These critters, of the genus camponotus—there are many species—are friends of the forest. The common name is "carpenter ant."

Their job is to hasten the breakdown of old wood in the forest. They make nests in dead wood. They especially like wet wood because it's softer.

You don't want these guys making a nest in your house!

A full-sized carpenter ant nest is an impressive structure. I took one apart with a chain saw in my yard last year. The stump of an immense spruce had become an amazing network of tunnels from which ants came pouring out by the thousands.

The queen is in there somewhere. She's wingless. She can live for 15 years.

After a colony is well established, two years or more, it produces swarmers. What you see in May and June is a mating flight. Another job is to start new colonies. The new colonies don't contain the queen. Each colony can only be a few dozen yards from the next.

There are also foragers. If they find food and make it back to the nest, everybody gets excited heads out for dinner. The best spots get picked for a new colony. (People are no different: why do you suppose there's so many homes near the big Carr's store in South Anchorage.)

If you have a carpenter ant problem at home you may see the highway of travelers headed for the house. Trace it back to the nest and you may be able to eliminate the source.

Knowing this much biology is your clue to prevention. Since the ants have limited range, set up a wide barrier around the house. You won't be able to eliminate the ant nests in the world around you, but you can make it nearly impossible for them to travel from the nest to your house.

Police up your grounds. Get the woodpiles away from the house. Lay down vis­quine and set the pile on treated wood above ground so there is air circulation underneath. Take out big tree stumps that are close to the house. Be suspicious of wood retain­ing walls.

You can further discourage the invaders by having an exterminator spray a protec­tive barrier around your policed-up yard.

Contact between the ground and wood siding and deck members is undesirable. You may be providing a highway for carpenter ants. The wood will get moist and rot, too.

Remember that moisture softens wood and makes for easier nesting. Keep your crawl space dry. Be alert for plumbing that's leaking somewhere. Deal with condensation in attic spaces. Ants or not, don't let moisture soak the wood parts of your house.

Styrofoam is great nesting material. Exposed Styrofoam can be a fire hazard, so you have probably sheet rocked over it. Keep it covered and dry.

There's two clues to look for if you suspect an ant infestation. On a warm spring or summer day they get more active. What you can hear, using a stethoscope on the walls if necessary, is a crinkling sound.

The other clue is the sawdust, or "frass," that the ants leave from their boring.

A severe infestation leaves obvious signs. An exterminator told me about a house with a cathedral wood ceiling that was vacant for an entire summer. It had been moist from condensation during the winter. The ants got to it and destroyed the ceiling, leaving a pile of frass a foot deep on the floor!

You don't need to worry much about an occasional flying ant. It may just be sex play in the ant kingdom, an opportunity for a brief science lesson with the kids, perhaps.

If you suspect the ants may be establishing a colony in or near the house, however, consider getting an hour of advice from an exterminator.