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The Ants Come Marching In Our Homes, Oh No! By Melissa J Wantuck  |
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 They’re among the most common pests to infiltrate our homes and, fortunately, are more of an annoyance than a threat. Ants might cause minor damage, depending on the type invading your home, or are a risk for food contamination. Neither of these sound like odds a conscientious homeowner wants to chance, so what should be done to eliminate those marching ants?
There are some do-it-yourself options available to prevent ants from coming into your home but if all else fails, don’t hesitate to call a professional.
Here are some steps you can take to get your started:
Set Your Goal
You goal is to stop ants from entering your home and prevent them from coming back. Reaching your goals involves a two-part confrontation. The first is making your home a non-food source for ants. The second is showing ants entry to your home poses a mortal danger to them.
Identification
It’s one thing to know you have an ant problem, but to properly fight the problem, you need to know who your enemy is. There are many different kinds of ants and some require specific treatments. Use the power of the Internet to search for a website that offers descriptions of various ants. Searching using the words “ant identification” brought up the first ten links that offered the exact information a lay person would need to help identify what’s crawling inside their house: description and pictures.
Once you’ve identified your adversary, take the knowledge with you to your local home store or hardware store that sells insect repellent products.
Buy the Right Repellent
There are various options available to you to fight an ant invasion. There are dusts, traps and sprays and in various forms and using different chemicals and materials to repel or kill ants. The cost of the products doesn’t dictate its effectiveness so don’t let that direct you towards what to buy.
The first thing to look for is the product that targets the type of ant in your home. Next, plan to fight on two fronts: inside and outside. Ants come into home to look for food and if they find a good stock, they’ll keep returning. Your goal is to eliminate that food stock and close their access to your home. Look for products that will help you fight on both fronts or buy products for each front.
The Inside Front
It is helpful to identify where ants are entering your home but not always possible. If you do find the spot, plan to fill it in after applying a repellent in it. Next, do your best to keep your home crumb free and foods stored in properly sealed containers. Countertops, cupboards, and the floor are typically the three major places that attract ants. Also, watch around your houseplants. These may be a food source for ants as well.
The Outside Front
On the outside of your home, you want to spray, fill or cover ant entry points. Finding these may not be possible so, like a good strategist, plan to cover all areas.
Again, if you know where ants are coming in from the inside, you might be able to trace the initial entry from the outside as well. The two locations aren’t always straight through a wall. The size of ants gives them the advantage of crawling through hairline cracks and up and down walls and ceilings until they gain entry. They may start at your foundation, crawl under the siding and enter a crack in the upper corner of a room.
At least with the outside, you can spray an insecticide around the entire base of your home’s foundation and you’ll most likely cover all areas of where ants have to cover before getting in your home. Other possibilities for entry are a branch that touches your home or into your foundation below the surface of the ground where you may not see them unless you can find it from the inside.
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