You may not realize it, but a
colony of ants can quickly accumulate more than 10,000 workers. When you fail to treat a summer ant infestation (or any time of year), you’re exposing your home to severe damage.
Ants can chew through wood and hollow out parts of your home. This can compromise the integrity of your house and can pose a safety threat to you and your family.
If you’re planning on selling your home and an inspector finds ant damage, you’ll have to make all repairs or take money off the price of your home. Even worse, insurance companies usually won’t cover any type of damage from a pest infestation unless it’s outside of what you could control. This means that, if you noticed ants and failed to control them and they cause severe damage, you’ll have to pay for it all out of pocket.
There are tips and tricks you can adopt to hopefully control an ant infestation during summer.
Keep Your Home Clean
The best way to
prevent an ant infestation is with a clean home, starting with countertops and floors. Always clean up after you prepare any food, using a basic non-toxic mixture of water and vinegar to keep countertops clean. Ants detest this smell, so it’s a good natural deterrent.
Sweep or vacuum your floors to remove any food crumbs that might attract ants. Since ants are attracted to sugary foods, it only takes a few crumbs to keep them coming back to your house repeatedly.
Properly Store Your Food
Keep food tightly sealed in your pantry and refrigerator. Don’t leave uncovered food on your countertops. Use airtight containers to keep pantry items protected from ants.
If you do
store food on your counters, wipe the area down with vinegar to keep ants away. You can even put adhesive tape out to trap ants without chemicals, but, if possible, the best way to protect your food is by putting it away.
Remember to properly store your pet’s food as well.
Seal Entry Points to Prevent a Summer Ant Infestation
You may be able to spot entry points and, if so, seal them to prevent ants and other pests from entering your home. However, ants can sneak in through the tiniest crevice, and you may not know what to look for. This is why you need
summer ant control with a local pest removal company.
Be Mindful of Excess Moisture
Have you noticed areas in your home with leaks or standing water? If so, this attracts ants fast. If you have broken pipes, be sure to fix them and always clean up water spills as quickly as possible.
Keep Your Yard Neat
If you have any type of shrubbery close to your home, keep it neat and trimmed. This works to reduce the incidence of ants and other pests entering your home.
Keep firewood away from your house and always keep lids on your garbage cans. When eating outdoors, cover all food containers.
How Do I Get Rid of Summer Ants?
Whether you see big black ants in your house or small ones inside and outside, follow the steps in this helpful guide to reducing the incidence of ants this summer. You can use non-toxic approaches such as vinegar and ant traps that use sticky tape or you can enlist the help of a professional pest removal service.
Serene Property Services has the experience and tools to treat any type of pest infestation, summer ant infestation included. We service all of Sussex County, NJ, and Warwick, NY.
Contact us today to see how we can prevent unwanted pests from entering your home.
