How Did Carpenter Ants Get into My House?

Nobody wants to see carpenter ants in their house. Not only are these pests large and ugly, they can be pretty damaging to your property as well. As the name suggests, carpenter ants damage wood. The only upside to them is that they don't always bite human beings like most other ant species.

But just like termites, these carpenter ants could damage any wooden structure in your house.

Why Did Carpenter Ants Get into My House?

You’re probably thinking: why did these carpenter ants chose your house to inhabit when every house has some piece of wood or furniture. The answer is quite simple: carpenter ants are attracted more to damaged or wet wood than wood that is fresh.

If you have wood that is soaked after rain or if you have old wooden furniture that’s wearing out, you could be calling carpenter ants to your house. Unlike termites, carpenter ants don’t really feed on wood or wooden furniture; instead, they only choose to destroy it. While termites can eat up wood completely, with carpenter ants you’d probably find pieces of wood or shred of wood nearby.

Knowing if your house has been infested by carpenter ants is not difficult. These ants usually will live and move in large colonies and are pretty visible to the naked eye because they are larger in size than the average house ant.

Other signs of an infestation of carpenter ants include finding pieces of wood damaged and the shreds lying underneath. Sometimes you may also be able to hear the carpenter ants marching through the walls.

Places to check out for carpenter ant colonies include the garage, shed, patio and any other place where you might have old wooden items.

How Do I Get Rid of Carpenter Ants?
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The first step you need to do to make sure no other carpenter ant is attracted to your house is by throwing out old or wet wooden furniture. To effectively rid your house of these ants, the best option is to hire a licensed pest control company in Albany to  help solve your problem.