Carpenter ants suck

Topic: Carpenter ants suck (Read 2841 times) previous topic - next topic

Carpenter ants suck

March 02, 2012, 08:19:14 PM

I was doing some early spring cleaning in the garage today and while doing so, I noticed light coming in from behind a shelf unit. I went to the back of the garage to investigate and I didn't notice anything. I poked at the light with a crowbar and I made a hole in the tar paper siding. I went to the back of the garage and started removing siding around the hole. I was not happy with the result. As far as I can tell not only is the underlying wood paneling damaged but the base board is chewed up as well. I have no idea how much further the wood is damaged as I stopped when I made this mess. I'm having people come out this week to give me estimates as I'm fairly certain that a garage replacement is in order. All this because the jerk two doors down has a carpenter ant infested wood pile he refuses to clean up. On the bright side new garage, on the bad side $$$. For now I nailed plywood over the hole to keep things, like rats, possums, or cats out of the garage.

Carpenter ants suck

Reply #1 – March 02, 2012, 08:20:09 PM

One more.

Carpenter ants suck

Reply #2 – March 02, 2012, 08:27:52 PM

that's ridiculous! time to get a petition going around to get that wood pile removed before they start destroying houses!

Carpenter ants suck

Reply #3 – March 02, 2012, 08:30:32 PM

All the houses around here are brick, which is probably whey they are still standing :hick:.

Carpenter ants suck

Reply #4 – March 02, 2012, 08:52:26 PM

After you get it all fixed, spray that stuff on the inside and out 2-3 times a year with a good pesticide. Keep at it more faithfully than Mother Theresa on a Sunday afternoon..once they get into your house framing, it's gonna be an expensive fix.

Carpenter ants suck

Reply #5 – March 02, 2012, 10:11:52 PM

Quote from: ThunderbirdSport302;382797

After you get it all fixed, spray that stuff on the inside and out 2-3 times a year with a good pesticide. Keep at it more faithfully than Mother Theresa on a Sunday afternoon..once they get into your house framing, it's gonna be an expensive fix.

I've been spraying the house for years now because of the neighbor's wood pile. My house is brick but it has wooden floors. I never see them in the house, most likely due to the fact that I'm spraying two times a year. The garage is detached and wood covered with tar paper siding. I probably should have sprayed the garage too, it just never crossed my mind. I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to replace the garage. At least the lower 1/3 or so of the garage needs to be replaced, then the whole garage would probably have to be re-sided. All that is going to be about half the price of just replacing the garage. The garage is a 18'X20' garage with a 9' overhead door with a 30" "man size" door next to it. In reality I should probably put up a bigger garage if (as I'm guessing) fixing this one will be about half the cost of a new garage. I just really didn't want to pay for garage repair/a new garage right now. Stupid ants.

Carpenter ants suck

Reply #6 – March 03, 2012, 03:34:54 AM

hmm.. is there a possibility that your homeowners insurance would cover the damage?

Carpenter ants suck

Reply #7 – March 03, 2012, 12:34:02 PM

Quote from: Shadow;382827

hmm.. is there a possibility that your homeowners insurance would cover the damage?

I checked. Allstate doesn't cover insect damage. Now if an animal damaged it or it was struck by lightning it would be covered. Ants? No.

Carpenter ants suck

Reply #8 – March 03, 2012, 01:35:00 PM

Lou, Back when I was with Orkin pest control and from what I remember you are correct Carpenter Ants , Wood boring Bees and or Termite damages are not covered by any kind insurance out there...:poke:

Carpenter ants suck

Reply #9 – March 03, 2012, 03:27:29 PM

Quote from: thunderjet302;382860

I checked. Allstate doesn't cover insect damage. Now if an animal damaged it or it was struck by lightning it would be covered. Ants? No.

Looks like a bear got into it to me :hick:

If it's localized it might be worth fixing (and it probably is) but if that's seriously widespread I'd be re-building.

Carpenter ants suck

Reply #10 – March 03, 2012, 05:02:48 PM

If it's of any comfort, Carpenter Ants will not attack wood that's not rotten. As long as the wood in your structure isn't rotting, Carpenter Ants won't be an issue. I'm pretty familiar with these guys. You should also know that Carpenter Ants set up satellite nests. The wood pile might be their main nest, or it might be a satellite nest. There's a good chance that getting rid of that wood pile WON'T get rid of all of them because they already have other nests around.

Carpenter ants suck

Reply #11 – March 03, 2012, 05:25:16 PM

Quote from: 88 Blackbird 5.0;382873

If it's of any comfort, Carpenter Ants will not attack wood that's not rotten. As long as the wood in your structure isn't rotting, Carpenter Ants won't be an issue. I'm pretty familiar with these guys. You should also know that Carpenter Ants set up satellite nests. The wood pile might be their main nest, or it might be a satellite nest. There's a good chance that getting rid of that wood pile WON'T get rid of all of them because they already have other nests around.

Well at least I know that I had problems before the ants moved in:hick:.

They were in all of the wood I exposed so at least these boards were starting to rot. They made it into the base board, the wood that is bolted to the concrete pad the garage is on. I'm having someone come out to look at the garage Monday morning and see what has to be doen to fix it. It may not be worth the money to fix the garage as the floor is cracked from front to back as well. The garage was built in May of 1956 so it's almost 56 years old.

Carpenter ants suck

Reply #12 – March 03, 2012, 05:28:49 PM

Quote from: shame302;382867

Looks like a bear got into it to me :hick:

If it's localized it might be worth fixing (and it probably is) but if that's seriously widespread I'd be re-building.

If it was a bear it would be covered. Now if a wild bear would show up in the area.......:) Then again I'm pretty sure a wild bear in the middle of the city might pose a problem :hick:.

The inspector who's going to look at it on Monady will hopefully give me a better idea of how wide spread this problem is.

Carpenter ants suck

Reply #13 – March 03, 2012, 06:09:39 PM

When you fix it use treated wood. If you replace it, use treated wood at least for the base plate and bottom few boards...

Carpenter ants suck

Reply #14 – March 03, 2012, 07:22:18 PM

I have a similar issue with carpenter bees basically drilling holes in the rafters of my garage.... although not as bad as yours, I feel your pain. Good luck with it.