How carpenter ants can damage your property

Carpenter ants are wood-destroying pests that can compromise the integrity of your home’s structure. While they don't consume wood like termites, they excavate it to create nests, leaving trails of wood shavings and hollow tunnels that weaken your home’s support systems. If left unchecked, a carpenter ant infestation can lead to costly repairs and potentially dangerous structural issues. This guide covers how to identify carpenter ant damage, key warning signs, and when to call a professional for pest control.

Correctly identifying the type of ant infestation

Termites and carpenter ants cause similar damage to damp, dead wood. You’ll often see damage to wood infested with either termites or carpenter ants. But in order to eradicate the infestation, you have to make sure you’re treating your property for the correct pest. Carpenter ants are black ants with elbowed antennae and segmented bodies that measure ¼-⅜ inches long. Termites or “white ants” don’t have segmented bodies and straight antennae.

A carpenter ant problem can be difficult to detect if you’re unfamiliar with their life cycle and habits. To identify a developing or existing issue with these destructive household bugs, and help prevent extensive damage to your home, it’s wise to learn more about the ants’ behavior and preferences, such as their:

• Nesting habits - Nests or parent colonies that house the queen and broods of newly-laid eggs are typically built outdoors in tree stumps or roots, rotted logs, or decaying boards. A large colony can develop smaller satellite colonies composed of worker ants, mature larvae, and pupae. These are the colonies that most often find a home indoors because they can tolerate drier environments.
• Optimal conditions - Carpenter ants often build their nests in wooden building components found in moist and damp areas, like a basement, in a bathroom, or under a kitchen sink or dishwasher. However, satellite colonies can also set up house in drier spots like behind siding, in wall voids, window or door frames, attic or wall insulation, or hollow wooden doors.
• Invasion tactics - These ants might enter your home through wet and deteriorating wood structural components. Alternately, they can get in through cracks and gaps around the foundation, windows or exterior doors, and penetrations for vents, pipes, or wiring, or even by excavating tunnels through intact wood.

The difference between a carpenter ant infestation and a termite infestation

It’s common to confuse carpenter ant damage with termite damage since both pests harm wood. However, termites and carpenter ants differ significantly in their methods, damage patterns, and physical appearance.

• Appearance: Carpenter ants are generally larger, with a black or dark brown body and elbowed antennae. Termites, often cream-colored or white, have straight antennae and equal-sized wings.

• Damage patterns: Carpenter ants tunnel through wood, leaving smooth, hollow galleries, while termites eat wood, leaving irregular tunnels often packed with mud.

• Locations of damage: Carpenter ants prefer damp or decaying wood, frequently nesting in areas like crawl spaces, decks, and window frames. Termites can attack most types of wood, dry or moist, throughout the home’s structure.

Key signs of carpenter ant damage

Carpenter ants can significantly compromise the structural stability of homes by tunneling through wood to build their nests. If left untreated, a carpenter ant infestation can lead to extensive damage, making quick intervention by a licensed professional crucial. Here are some common signs to watch for:

If you spot any of these signs, it’s essential to act quickly—carpenter ant damage will only worsen over time. Early detection is key to protecting your property from further structural harm.

Carpenter ant wood galleries

Carpenter ants create extensive wood galleries for nesting, specifically targeting damp or decaying wood. Unlike termites, they do not eat wood but remove it to build their nests, resulting in smooth, hollowed-out galleries. This excavation weakens the wood over time, impacting the structure’s overall stability. Carpenter ants often prefer nesting in places like wall voids, eaves, and window frames—areas where wood is frequently exposed to moisture.

Will DIY methods work for carpenter ants?

The first line of defense most people turn to when it comes to ant infestations are DIY ant control solutions. This often includes borax or natural remedies like cinnamon. At first, these remedies might be effective, but will they eradicate the entire colony? Not likely.

The only way to ensure carpenter ants won’t return is by eliminating the colony. It’s one thing to apply treatment to a couple of ants you see scurrying across your kitchen counters, but it won’t do much unless you get the source of your ant infestation.

How to prevent carpenter ants from returning

Once a carpenter ant infestation has been removed, it’s important to take measures to protect your home from ants in the future.

• Seal entrance points like doors, windows, and building foundations

• Keep food in airtight containers

• Clean food and drink spills immediately

• Trim trees and bushes to keep away from home

• Remove excessive debris build-up in the gutter

• Divert water away from the home

• Replace water-damaged wood around doors and windows

• Stack firewood off the ground and away from the home

• Replace landscape timbers if they are infested

Drawn to moisture, colonies of carpenter ants will infiltrate homes and build nests in wood near windows, doorframes, attics, chimneys, bathtubs, and any other area in your home where water and wood interact to cause rotting. These areas can be identified by discolored, water-stained wood, paneling, drywall, or ceiling tile.

When should you call a professional for ant control services? 

It’s difficult to assess the full extent of a carpenter ant infestation because these pests tend to nest within walls, structural beams, or other hard-to-access areas. Here are some of the ant control methods used by Ehrlich’s pest control team:

Dust material application

In many situations the use a dust material will be used to find and eliminate nests of carpenter ants in the interior of a home.  A pesticidal dust bulb and extension can reach into void areas and, when properly applied, the dust will float and thoroughly cover the hidden areas where carpenter ants can hide within a structure.

Dust material treatments will be applied from the inside and will be followed up by a treatment from the outside. The two-fold approach helps to ensure that no hidden areas where nests may exist are overlooked.

Perimeter treatments

A treatment using residual materials will be applied to the perimeter, focusing in on trails of carpenter ants that have been identified and problem areas where trails can potentially appear. The treatment can extend from the ground to any parts of the home’s exterior that the insects could use to enter the property.

The specialist will also apply the treatment to any cracks in the home’s foundation which carpenter ants and many other insects frequently use to enter residences.

Carpenter ant nest treatments

Nest treatments are another component of Ehrlich’s carpenter ant control solutions. It is crucial that all nests are detected and treated in order to rid the home of all ongoing carpenter ant treatments. It can often be very difficult to spot carpenter ant nests without a trained eye and the right equipment. That’s why it is crucial to contact pest control professionals in the instance that your home faces a carpenter ant problem.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by your carpenter ant infestation, your local Ehrlich Pest Control pest specialist is only a phone call away. Your dedicated pest specialist will devise a comprehensive ant control solution plan to remove ants and prevent them from returning in the future. Call us at 866-638-1986 or contact us online to find out how you can start benefiting from professional carpenter ant control.

Frequently asked questions