5 Ways to Protect Your Home from Carpenter Ants

Carpenter ants are pests that destroy homes, but in a somewhat different way than termites. They build smooth nests in both moist environments and in dry wood. Common breeding grounds are often found around windows, bathtubs, sinks, old tree stumps, and dead or dying trees near your home. They’re among the largest types of ants, averaging about ¼-inch to 3/8-inch long, and they’re typically black, yellowish, or reddish in color.

These little pests can cause tremendous damage in a home by burrowing tunnels through wood and insulation. Although they are a nuisance, you can do a lot to prevent carpenter ant colonies from forming in and around your home. Here are five ways to protect your house from carpenter ants.

Don’t Store Firewood on the Ground or Indoors

One big mistake that homeowners make is storing firewood on the ground for later use. This attracts carpenter ants, which are drawn to areas of wood-to-soil contact. Grab some bricks and elevate your wood off the ground before taking it inside.

Although it might be tempting to store firewood indoors on cold winter days, this is not a good idea either. Always store wood outdoors and inspect it carefully before bringing it inside.

Trim Near Trees & Bushes

Since carpenter ants thrive in both dry and moist wood, it’s important to keep trees, bushes, and foliage a safe distance away from your home’s exterior. Carpenter ants have a habit of using nearby tree and brush branches to make their way into your house.

As a general rule, no plants should touch your siding, windows, or roofing. This is also helpful if you hire a pest control professional to spray localized pesticides around your home to kill stubborn ant populations that remain after nests are physically removed.

Call for Help When You Identify an Infestation

If you experience a carpenter ant infestation, it’s a good idea to contact a professional pest control company to handle the situation. The quicker that you rid your home of carpenter ants, the less likely that your home will have serious structural damage.

If you are inexperienced with this species and only remove some of the ants, the colony could rebound and multiply. Queen ants lay about 15-20 eggs in their first year and up to 30 eggs in their second year. Find a trusted professional to collect and identify the ants and determine if physical controls are adequate or if chemical pesticides are needed to drive them out.

Carpenter Ant Removal and Prevention Tips

  • First find the nest and then determine your carpenter ant removal options
  • Look for “satellite” ant colonies about 20-40 feet from the parent nest
  • Regularly inspect your foundation for cracks and seal up openings to prevent ants from entering
  • Fix leaky roofs and chimneys to prevent wood from staying moist
  • Consider chemical pesticides as a last resort if ants cannot all be captured
  • After removal, seal access points and replace damaged wood

Bergen County Termite Control: Best Practices

bergen county termite control

If you suspect that your home has a termite infestation, then quick remediation is necessary to avoid extensive property damage. The average home in the United States will require $3,000.00 worth of repairs for termite damage, but in many cases, the cost of fixing a structure is much more. Delaying a pest-control treatment is never a good idea when you notice that termites have invaded a property because these insects breed rapidly and consume building materials constantly. Termite colonies tend to remain hidden in areas that are difficult to see such as inside walls or wooden beams, but by the time a homeowner notices structural problems in a home, the damage can lead to a sagging roof or unsafe building foundation. Continue reading →

Get the Best Mice Control in Bergen County for your Upcoming Thanksgiving Festivities

Best Mice Control Bergen County NJ

The holidays should be a time of celebration, not a time of extra stress and worry. You have plenty of things to focus on without the extra worry of a possible mice infestation.
If you suspect that you are sharing your home with unwanted guests, such as mice, this is certainly no cause for celebration. Mice cause millions of dollars of damage to homes all over the world, and are generally not a pleasant addition to anyone’s household. However, there’s no need to panic. There are a few easy steps that you can follow to make sure that your home is fully mouse free for the holidays. Continue reading →

Effective & Sustainable Bee Removal: NJ

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Sustainable bee removal in NJ is very important on several levels. For a number of years, bee populations have been declining and environmental groups are growing increasingly worried about what that means climate change and food production.  Bees help sustain vegetation growth and can be considered a fundamental building block of the food chain. As essential as bees are to the environment, you do not want to necessarily live near them or fear their sting while enjoying the warm weather months in your backyard. This article explores how the most professional bee removal NJ has to offer, is serviced by industry professionals that cater to the Northern New Jersey areas of Passaic and Bergen counties.  Precise Pest Control in New Jersey employs university-educated industry leaders and have been in the pest control business for over 25 years. Continue reading →

Obama’s Plan to Protect Bees and How to Remove Bees Safely

Bergen county bee removal

There is growing concern from researchers as well as the public that bee populations continue to decline at dangerous rates. More attention has been drawn to the mass die-offs that have occurred among the beekeepers’ stock of pollinators evidenced by the signs of dead bee bodies found on the ground without explanation. While in recent years it has been revealed that colony collapse is in decline, bee populations have been taking a hit since the 1960s. Continue reading →

Are Termites the Guardians of the Soil?

Bergen County Termite Control

Termites have an overall bad reputation in New Jersey. Most people who run across a termite are fast to call a New Jersey termite control company to take care of the problem. The reality is that termites fill an important niche in nature when it comes to soil and plants. You should understand why termites in New Jersey are actually beneficial for the soil. Continue reading →

If You Can’t Send Ants to Space, Then the Best Carpenter Ant Removal NJ Has To Offer Will Have To Do

Carpenter Ant Removal Bergen County

Ants are found almost everywhere on Earth except the continent that bears their name—ANTartica. Now, they can even be found in space, thanks to the scientists at NASA and a group of researchers from Stanford University who joined together to send ants up to the space station last year. The insects were sent as part of an experiment to see if ants could coordinate as well in space as they do on Earth. The ants started out in the corner of a box. After astronauts removed the barriers that kept them in the corner, the ants spread out and covered the environment in less than five minutes, despite not having a leader. This was not the first time ants have been in orbit. In 2003 they were launched on the Space Shuttle and perished with the astronauts on board when the structurally compromised shuttle burst into flames upon re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere. Ants in space were also a topic of an episode of The Simpsons in 1994. Continue reading →

Tips For Effective Ant Control New Jersey!

ant control Bergen County

The most effective ant control New Jersey has to offer comprises of a well-thought out plan of attack.  In addition, a common pest problem in the northeastern United States is an infestation of black carpenter ants. In the wilderness, they can be found in hollow timber, old logs and tree stumps. When unable to find a sufficient amount of food in the wilderness, they will migrate to homes. They are not attracted to dry, solid wood. What they seek is soft, moist woods that are rotting as well as insulation board and more. They are a real concern for homes built in very rural areas. Continue reading →

New Jersey Termite Control Assistance This Spring

Bergen & Passaic County Termite Control

 

As temperature rise, New Jersey termite control assistance may help safeguard your home against an infestation. Homeowners have enough to worry about when it comes to termites. And now, just like the super bugs in human health, the termite species has a super termite. This phenomenon has been detected in termite prone areas by researchers at the University of Florida. New Jersey termite control professionals recommend taking steps to eradicate the native variety of species as a remedy to ward off any potential infestation of this new threat. This threat is a result of a hybrid of the most egregious varieties. The Asian and the Formosan termite comprise this hybrid. Continue reading →

Bird Removal NJ: When the Non Native European Starlings Invade Your Space

Bergen County Bird Removal

Consulting the best service partners available for bird removal NJ has to offer is your best bet in controlling unwanted pests. European Starlings are a common species of bird that can be found nearly anywhere, from Alaska to Mexico. They are about the size of a robin and each weight about 3.2 ounces. They are completely black during the summer and develop white spots during the winter. Both males and females have pale yellow beaks during the breeding season and dark beaks the rest of the time

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