#insectremoval

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Homeowners often ask how they can prevent damage caused by carpenter ants and carpenter bees. Here’s some helpful information to get you started:

Carpenter ants nest in moist areas where the wood has been softened by decay, and they usually avoid new or dry wood. Because carpenter ants don’t eat wood, severe infestation can be determined by small piles of wood shavings near the walls of your home. Carpenter ants typically seek out cracks in structural beams or hollowed areas to make their nests.

Frequent sightings of large worker ants in your home can be a sign of infestation, but that’s not always the case. Carpenter ants travel away from their nests to forage for food, and this is often why they end up in your home.

Here are some do-it-yourself remedies to get rid of carpenter ants:

Remove rotted wood from your property. Carpenter ants will often nest in these areas and forage for food in your home.

Use foam sealant to fill in cracks or gaps inside and outside your home. Filling in cracks will make it more difficult for ants to enter and nest in your structure.

Use non-repellent insect spray around the perimeter of your home. Non-repellent spray eliminates the ants, rather than just keeping them away.

Use non-repellent ant baits in high traffic areas. Similar to the spray, ants will walk through the bait and carry the poison back to their nest.

Carpenter bees are large and similar in appearance to bumble bees, except for their black shiny abdomens. They prefer to nest in unfinished wood that gets a lot of direct sunlight. Carpenter bees tunnel deeply into wood and can cause structural damage to homes, as they prefer to burrow in pine and other soft woods.

Treat tunnel entrances with insecticide. Although the entrances are small, you can typically find them by identifying areas where bees cluster outside your home.

Use caulking to fill in nest entrances. Seal off the tunnel entrances with caulking after spraying them with insecticide.

Treat unfinished wood with paint or sealant. The thicker and stronger the sealant, the more protected the wood will be against carpenter bees.

Lady bugs tend to infest homes to hibernate during the winter months, typically waking during early spring. They are harmless to people and to your home, but they can be a nuisance.

In the fall, ladybugs tend to find their way inside by searching for walls and windows in direct sunlight and entering through cracks or small spaces. They can be found in the same areas of our home year after year partly because of the direct sunlight, but also because pheromones alert them that other ladybugs have been there in the past.

Spray door and window frames with insecticide. Do this during the late summer and fall months to prevent ladybugs from entering.

Remove spring ladybugs with a vacuum cleaner. This is the most efficient way to eliminate ladybugs from your home.

Weatherstrip windows and doors. If there are any gaps in the weatherstripping, ladybugs tend to get through them.

Give us a call at  603-856-1445 to learn more about how to deal with carpenter ants, bees, and ladybugs. Visit our website, or request a home inspection.