Carpenter ants and moisture go together.  In fact, some of the worst carpenter ant damage that I’ve ever seen has been accompanied by moisture.  This moisture typically means there is a leak.  However, in some cases it’s much worse as you’ll read in this post.

Crawl spaces, bugs and moisture

Bugs love moisture and crawl spaces are a great place to find it.  That’s why a lot of spiders and spider webs are in your crawl space.  They’re feeding on all the bugs that are brought to the crawl space for the moisture it contains.  One pest that can be particularly bad in a crawl is carpenter ants.  This is especially true in crawl spaces that may also have an active leak, dirt floors or vents.  All these conditions will help carpenter ants flourish.

Carpenter ant damage along with live carpenter ants and moisture

Carpenter ants and moisture when mixed together will form a perfect environment for ants to thrive.  The crawl space that you see to the left was one that we recently dealt with.  The ants in this crawl space left a telltale sign of there presence by leaving frass.  This sawdust like material was spotted in the left corner of the crawl space.  Once we pulled down the insulation it was evident that carpenter ants and moisture had been there for a while.  This home ended up needing over $5000 worth of damage repair work.

How to stop carpenter ant damage

The only way to stop carpenter ant damage is to exterminate the colony, repair leaks and correct moisture conditions.  In most cases finding the colony can be difficult, but in the case above we found hundreds of live ants just above the insulation.  We treated the area so that the carpenters were able to come in and make the necessary repairs.

Carpenter ants and moisture that are not from leak

The crawl space in the scenario above had a lot more problems than just an active leak.  It also had a dirt floor and open vents to the outside.  We also fixed these conditions and the finished product is at the right.  Not bad!

If you have carpenter ants and a crawl space, call 1-888-879-6481.  Envirocare Pest Control can help.