Recognizing and Preventing Carpenter Ant Damage in Your Home
Carpenter ants can cause significant structural damage by hollowing out wood to build their nests. Identifying signs of infestation early—such as rustling noises in walls, piles of sawdust-like frass, or visible ants—can help prevent costly repairs. Addressing moisture issues and sealing entry points are crucial steps in protecting your home from these destructive pests.
Carpenter ants are large ants that you don’t want to find in or around your home. When carpenter ants enter our homes they are looking for one thing, wood. These are wood-destroying pests that can cause a significant amount of damage to the wood that is found in our home. Here is everything you should know about carpenter ants and the damages they can cause.
Damage Caused by Carpenter Ants vs. Termites
Carpenter ants prefer wet or damaged wood. When they find wet or damaged wood in your home they use it to build intricate colonies, causing the integrity of the wood to be compromised. The damage done by carpenter ants to a home is different than termites because carpenter ants don’t actually eat the wood, while termites do.
What Damage Looks Like
The damage caused by carpenter ants is not as significant as the damage caused by termites, but it is still just as concerning to homeowners. As the damage extends through the wood, signs of damage become apparent.
Signs of infestations and damage caused by carpenter ants are not sure-fire indicators of damage, but they are a signal to call professionals. The most obvious sign of a carpenter ant infestation is their presence in your home or other structures such as a shed, deck, patio, etc.
You will also see piles of wood shavings beneath wood items. If you listen carefully, you may actually be able to hear their movement inside the walls of your home.
What Attracts Carpenter Ants?
Carpenter ants are attracted to wood. If you have water damaged wood on your property, you could be unknowingly welcoming carpenter ants to your property. The presence of this damaged wood on your property makes your home, woodpile and leaky spots the ideal target for a carpenter ant colonies. Carpenter ants are also attracted to dead trees on the property. Removing dead trees, limiting the amount of firewood on your property and repairing all water damaged wood will go a long way to deter these damaging pests.
How Adam’s Pest Control Can Help
Adam’s Pest Control knows all about carpenter ants. At the first sign of their presence, give us a call for a thorough inspection. Adam’s Pest Control has a variety of residential treatment options that get rid of and prevent ants and other crawling insects in and around your home. With either our Premier Home Pest Prevention or Premier A+Plus Home Pest Prevention plan, you get a home inspection, regular visits based on your plan, preventative treatments, and a complete report of the technician’s findings. We make suggestions to keep your home pest free, and when you need us, outside of your treatment schedule, we will be there at no additional charge to you.
