Ants can be a scourge on your home. Unfortunately, ants are some of the most common pests you might encounter, especially in homes in the United States. Regardless of the type of ants you’re dealing with or the significance of the ants in your home, it’s important that you manage them properly. Here’s what you need to know about ants in your house.
Basic Ant Facts
Before you start learning more about keeping ants out of your house, you might want to know a few facts about ants in general. There are actually over 700 kinds of ants in the United States. It’s most common, however, to see either fire ants or pavement ants.
Fire ants are easy to discover because of their red color and extremely painful bite. Even though all types of ants can bite, fire ants may be an even more crucial threat to uncover and remove simply because of the significant amounts of frustration you might experience with fire ants.
Pavement ants are probably what you think of when you think of an ant infestation. These ants can forage up to 30 feet away from their colonies looking for food and water. They get their name from the fact that they can sneak through cracks in the pavement, which may include your home’s foundation.
Most Common Ant Locations
Where are you most likely to find ants? These are the most common locations to uncover ants.
- Kitchens
By far the most common place to find ants is the kitchen. That’s because kitchens have food, water, and shelter: all things ants are looking for. It’s important that if you notice ants anywhere in your home, you take appropriate precautions. Otherwise, you may end up with an infestation in the kitchen.
- Bathrooms
Bathrooms are a great source of water for ants, even though they’re not a great source of food. Because bathrooms have so much water available, which may include puddles on the floor, it’s common to find ants that have invaded your bathroom. Getting rid of the source of water may make it easier to get rid of the ants.
- Basements
If your home’s foundation has any cracks, you’re essentially asking for ants. That’s because ants are great at crawling through very tiny openings, and they’re more than happy to crawl through the cracks in your basement. Pavements ants are well-known for being able to do just that.
- AC Units
Air conditioning units utilize moisture to reduce the heat in your home. Ants are great at noticing when there’s any amount of moisture in a reservoir, which means the moisture in your air conditioning units can attract them. This provides a great entry point.
Keeping Ants Out of Your House
How can you make sure ants never invade your home in the first place? Here are a few tips you can utilize to make sure you don’t get an infestation any time soon.
- Seal containers of food and make sure kitchen counters are clean
- Don’t overwater indoor plants, so the plants don’t have water reservoirs
- Empty trash as regularly as possible, especially trash with food waste in it
- Fix cracked pavement slabs and any cracked foundation walls
- Ensure air conditioning and heating units have watertight seals
- Seal cracks and holes in your walls and around doors
Conclusion
In some cases, the problem isn’t something you can fix by yourself. As you can see from the above list, some of these fixes are simple: sealing food containers isn’t very difficult. However, many of these fixes are very complicated: a cracked foundation wall needs an expert’s touch. If you’re experiencing recurring ant problems, the problem could lie with your home’s structure, and you may need to contact a foundation repair expert to learn more.
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