Tips to Prevent a Carpenter Ant Infestation During Winter

Carpenter ants may be small, but they can cause a significant amount of damage to the structure of your home. It is hard to get rid of a carpenter ant infestation once the pests have established a full-fledged colony, so understanding how to prevent carpenter ants from taking up residence in your home is important. Working with an expert in carpenter ant pest control is one of the best ways to protect your home during winter. Like termites, carpenter ants are attracted to wooden structures. Making your house a less hospitable environment for these pests is the best way to keep carpenter ants out of your home. Use these three tips to get started.

1. Clean Up Your Property

Carpenter ants are attracted to damp wood. When wood is exposed to a lot of water damage, it becomes soft so pests can easily chew through it to create elaborate tunnels. Keeping excess moisture out of your home deters carpenter ants, and keeping your property tidy is one of the best ways to accomplish this goal. Leaves accumulate on the ground during the fall and winter months. They create rich, moist soil. When leaves pile up against the foundation of your house, they cause moisture to build up in the wood, creating a prime environment for carpenter ants. Leaves also pile up in your gutters and interfere with how the water flows away from the roof. When water can't pass through the gutters to flow out the downspout, it overflows and leaks into the exterior of your house. The extra water attracts carpenter ants. One of the easiest ways to protect your home from carpenter ants is to keep leaves from accumulating on your property. When leaves start to fall, clean out your gutters and rake your yard regularly to move leaves away from your foundation. If you find a colony of carpenter ants on your property while cleaning up, call a professional immediately to get rid of the pests before they get inside your house.

2. Seal Entry Points

Carpenter ants occasionally enter homes by chewing new tunnels through walls, but they usually enter via small cracks and crevices in the exterior of houses. Once they enter your house, they start to chew tunnels through the walls and establish nests in the hidden recesses of the structure. You can keep carpenter ants out of your house by using caulk to seal potential points of entry. Pay special attention to small gaps around wires, doors and windows because they are some of the most common entry points for ants.

3. Store Wood Away From House

Carpenter ants are named after their preference for living inside wood structures. They don't actually eat the wood they tunnel through and instead deposit small piles of shavings known as "frass" outside the tunnels. They can thrive in any type of wood, including stacks of firewood outside your house. Stacking firewood right outside your door may be convenient, but it also attracts carpenter ants to the exterior of your home. They can easily infiltrate your house if they establish a main colony right outside of your door. Avoid this issue by stacking firewood a short distance from your house.

Call a Professional for Carpenter Ant Pest Control

Prevention is the best strategy for keeping carpenter ants out of your home, but sometimes, your best efforts fail and you need help to get rid of the pests. Truly Nolen Canada has a team of experts that can provide carpenter ant removal services to help you protect your home. Contact us today if you need to know how to get rid of carpenter ants.