About two weeks ago, following the onset of cooler wetter autumn weather, ants invaded 3 key areas of my home: the two bathrooms and the kitchen. Previously this sort of thing had not much happened, usually a few ants in bathroom OR kitchen were easily dealt with by spraying around the foundation of the house nearby. Right now, my foundation is nearly all up to date with ant spray (from last weekend) but I still have ants, and I'm beginning to worry that they are actually coming into my house through the plumbing voids in the foundation, which are accessible but just barely. They used to be inspected when I had annual termite inspections…and the termite inspectors cut the required holes in the walls and put covers over them. But they are still not so easy to get to, necessarily.
Up until last weekend, I was pretty much just fooling around about the ants. I bought some ant traps and placed them in what seemed like strategic places Sunday before last. But the ants ignored the ant traps, and kept growing in numbers. I also got some ant baits. Those seemed to work better, at least the ants detected them and started carrying them away. I renewed the baits in the kitchen (put near an ant trail leading to the cupboard) several times in the kitchen during the week, and twice in the hall bath (in the most inaccessible corner of the outside of the bathtub). But after days of apparently taking the baits, the ants were still coming. For a few days I was hopeful the baits were working, but it was not to be. I've never had success with ant bait type products…going back to my childhood. It's almost always the case that ants ignore them, and then when they don't ignore them, they just don't seem to work. But it seems like such a great idea, I keep trying.
The tried and true method it to stop ants with a permethrin type spray like Raid. It not only kills ants, it creates a barrier they refuse to cross--and that's the most important part. I'd recently discovered the unscented version of Raid and have been using that. I try to use ant spray mostly outside around the foundation, and that almost always works. Sometimes I spray baseboards inside the house. Last year the ants in the new hallway floor were so bad (they were having a huge ant war or something right on my new hallway floor…millions of ants coming from all sides during a rainstorm) I actually sprayed the floor itself as far as 8 inches from the baseboards.
The kid gloves came off this weekend. I was getting quite tired, especially, of the ants starting on my meals before I had even finished them. And they loved glasses left on the dining room table. Previously I sprayed a key foot of the table, and that seemed to help for awhile, but then it was clear the ants were getting on to the table via the maze of wires that connects to my computer, monitor, and accessories on the table, which was not so easily dealt with. I am not going to spray the dining room table or my computer equipment!
On Saturday I sprayed the front of the house, from near the garage door, across the front door stoop, and to the chimney. That was all I could easily access, even then I had to remove many new leaves from my neighbor's tree from the crack between the house and the walkway leading up to the house. The leaves in that crack provide a path for ants to walk on and also would deflect the ant spray. I couldn't spray any more of the front of the house or the north side because it seriously needed edging.
I also sprayed just along a line above the kitchen doorway, where it was clear ants were going from one side of the kitchen to the other. (I'm not really sure which way they were going.) That stopped the train of ants going over the doorway, but they still seemed to be on both sides.
By Sunday, it was clear that wasn't helping much. So then I edged the entire north side of the house using a string trimmer and a pair of scissors for the tricky bits that the edger can't do. (People don't believe this, but if you trim with a string edger first the fine work is most easily done with something really small, like a pair of scissors). After I had it all perfectly trimmed (the best I've ever done, actually) I sprayed the entire exposed cement foundation from the north side of the back patio to the front door. That took more than a half can of Raid. Then I sprayed where the hose attaches in the back yard (I saw ants coming in via the hose from the back yard). By that time, there was little left in the can so I sprayed the back yard side of the foundation, which had been previously done a few weeks ago--but there's been heavy rains and wind since then. I tossed that can, but still had a little in the can I had been using previous weeks.
By evening it was clear they were still attacking the dining room table. The appeared to be coming from the special audiophile quality AC outlet near the kitchen table. So then I did what I really didn't want to do. I unplugged the UPS that powers my kitchen computer and A/V equipment, covered the AC outlet receptacles with painters tape, and sprayed the outlet cover and nearby wall. I wiped it off with a paper towel so it wasn't dripping wet (I was wearing gloves, of course) and then let it dry or at least settle for 8 minutes. Then I removed the painters tape and plugged back in the UPS. Well that was the trick! I haven't seen any ants on the kitchen table since Monday morning.
I also sprayed around the baseboards of the vanity in the master bath. That kept them off the bathroom floor, which was getting worrisome, but not off the bathroom vanity. Maybe once in my life I've had to spray an actual counter top (and later cleaned it off) but that kind of thing I seriously try to avoid.
As of today, the kitchen table is clear of ants, as is the master bathroom floor. But they are still on the kitchen counters (though somewhat diminished), around the hall bath and lavatory, and on the master bath counter top, as well as in the dishwasher until it cycles (so I've been cycling it every day, just rinse cycle until I have a full load to wash, as I do right now, and had to go to store to get more Cascade Complete with Dawn).
I bought a fresh can of raid and I'm going to do the last bit outside that still shows ants…the crack between foundation and driveway in front of the garage door. The ants might be getting in there, traveling through the attic, and down into the kitchen and bathrooms. (Or, as I now worry, they might be actually coming into the house through the plumbing voids.)
I have been treating nuisance ant mounds in the yard with Dawn in water solution for the last year. Dawn actually seems to work and is probably less toxic than most such things. I bought some "safe for food preparation areas" natural ant spray called Orange Guard, and used that on a mound near the back patio on Sunday. It seems to work about as well as Dawn.
*****
Updates: Ants continued into the next week. A critical line of Raid on the wall beside the kitchen table now seems (finally!) to be blocking ants from the kitchen table. I've been routinely spraying the inside of the dishwasher with Orange Guard. A friend cleaned the counter tops. I put some Raid on a kleenex and wiped under the counter above the dishwasher. That seemed to help a lot. I sprayed Raid into and around the spout and drain in the Queen's bathtub…which seems to have stopped the very persistent ants there. On Thanksgiving Day I trimmed the one bit of remaining weeds alongside the front walkway and sprayed there and around into the crevice in front of the garage door. The ants had been quite active in and around that crevice.
Up until last weekend, I was pretty much just fooling around about the ants. I bought some ant traps and placed them in what seemed like strategic places Sunday before last. But the ants ignored the ant traps, and kept growing in numbers. I also got some ant baits. Those seemed to work better, at least the ants detected them and started carrying them away. I renewed the baits in the kitchen (put near an ant trail leading to the cupboard) several times in the kitchen during the week, and twice in the hall bath (in the most inaccessible corner of the outside of the bathtub). But after days of apparently taking the baits, the ants were still coming. For a few days I was hopeful the baits were working, but it was not to be. I've never had success with ant bait type products…going back to my childhood. It's almost always the case that ants ignore them, and then when they don't ignore them, they just don't seem to work. But it seems like such a great idea, I keep trying.
The tried and true method it to stop ants with a permethrin type spray like Raid. It not only kills ants, it creates a barrier they refuse to cross--and that's the most important part. I'd recently discovered the unscented version of Raid and have been using that. I try to use ant spray mostly outside around the foundation, and that almost always works. Sometimes I spray baseboards inside the house. Last year the ants in the new hallway floor were so bad (they were having a huge ant war or something right on my new hallway floor…millions of ants coming from all sides during a rainstorm) I actually sprayed the floor itself as far as 8 inches from the baseboards.
The kid gloves came off this weekend. I was getting quite tired, especially, of the ants starting on my meals before I had even finished them. And they loved glasses left on the dining room table. Previously I sprayed a key foot of the table, and that seemed to help for awhile, but then it was clear the ants were getting on to the table via the maze of wires that connects to my computer, monitor, and accessories on the table, which was not so easily dealt with. I am not going to spray the dining room table or my computer equipment!
On Saturday I sprayed the front of the house, from near the garage door, across the front door stoop, and to the chimney. That was all I could easily access, even then I had to remove many new leaves from my neighbor's tree from the crack between the house and the walkway leading up to the house. The leaves in that crack provide a path for ants to walk on and also would deflect the ant spray. I couldn't spray any more of the front of the house or the north side because it seriously needed edging.
I also sprayed just along a line above the kitchen doorway, where it was clear ants were going from one side of the kitchen to the other. (I'm not really sure which way they were going.) That stopped the train of ants going over the doorway, but they still seemed to be on both sides.
By Sunday, it was clear that wasn't helping much. So then I edged the entire north side of the house using a string trimmer and a pair of scissors for the tricky bits that the edger can't do. (People don't believe this, but if you trim with a string edger first the fine work is most easily done with something really small, like a pair of scissors). After I had it all perfectly trimmed (the best I've ever done, actually) I sprayed the entire exposed cement foundation from the north side of the back patio to the front door. That took more than a half can of Raid. Then I sprayed where the hose attaches in the back yard (I saw ants coming in via the hose from the back yard). By that time, there was little left in the can so I sprayed the back yard side of the foundation, which had been previously done a few weeks ago--but there's been heavy rains and wind since then. I tossed that can, but still had a little in the can I had been using previous weeks.
By evening it was clear they were still attacking the dining room table. The appeared to be coming from the special audiophile quality AC outlet near the kitchen table. So then I did what I really didn't want to do. I unplugged the UPS that powers my kitchen computer and A/V equipment, covered the AC outlet receptacles with painters tape, and sprayed the outlet cover and nearby wall. I wiped it off with a paper towel so it wasn't dripping wet (I was wearing gloves, of course) and then let it dry or at least settle for 8 minutes. Then I removed the painters tape and plugged back in the UPS. Well that was the trick! I haven't seen any ants on the kitchen table since Monday morning.
I also sprayed around the baseboards of the vanity in the master bath. That kept them off the bathroom floor, which was getting worrisome, but not off the bathroom vanity. Maybe once in my life I've had to spray an actual counter top (and later cleaned it off) but that kind of thing I seriously try to avoid.
As of today, the kitchen table is clear of ants, as is the master bathroom floor. But they are still on the kitchen counters (though somewhat diminished), around the hall bath and lavatory, and on the master bath counter top, as well as in the dishwasher until it cycles (so I've been cycling it every day, just rinse cycle until I have a full load to wash, as I do right now, and had to go to store to get more Cascade Complete with Dawn).
I bought a fresh can of raid and I'm going to do the last bit outside that still shows ants…the crack between foundation and driveway in front of the garage door. The ants might be getting in there, traveling through the attic, and down into the kitchen and bathrooms. (Or, as I now worry, they might be actually coming into the house through the plumbing voids.)
I have been treating nuisance ant mounds in the yard with Dawn in water solution for the last year. Dawn actually seems to work and is probably less toxic than most such things. I bought some "safe for food preparation areas" natural ant spray called Orange Guard, and used that on a mound near the back patio on Sunday. It seems to work about as well as Dawn.
*****
Updates: Ants continued into the next week. A critical line of Raid on the wall beside the kitchen table now seems (finally!) to be blocking ants from the kitchen table. I've been routinely spraying the inside of the dishwasher with Orange Guard. A friend cleaned the counter tops. I put some Raid on a kleenex and wiped under the counter above the dishwasher. That seemed to help a lot. I sprayed Raid into and around the spout and drain in the Queen's bathtub…which seems to have stopped the very persistent ants there. On Thanksgiving Day I trimmed the one bit of remaining weeds alongside the front walkway and sprayed there and around into the crevice in front of the garage door. The ants had been quite active in and around that crevice.
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