Ultimate Guide To How To Get Rid Of Ants Under Wood Floors

  • Written By: Phil Hawes
  • Time to read: 8 min.
ants on a wood floor

If you are looking to get rid of ants in your home, then this article is for you. Ants can be a huge problem if left untreated, and they can cause damage to the structure of your house. If ants are causing problems indoors, look no further than these steps on how to kill them!

The best way to exterminate ants that have burrowed under a wooden floor is to use ant bait traps as these quickly spread poisons throughout an ant population. It’s important to discover the approximate location of the ant colony first, as the placement of the traps is crucial. After treatment, prevention of future infestations is essential.

So, as you can probably tell there is more to getting rid of ants lurking under your floorboards than you may have thoughts. To find out more, please continue reading this article.


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How to find where an ant colony is inside your home

Although you can easily spot ants when they appear, it’s important to find the source of these little pests, the actual ant colony.

The best way to locate an ant colony within your home is to observe the ants as a whole and try to spot where they are traveling to and fro from.

if you can’t figure out the likely source of the nest from the ants themselves, they have probably left other common signs too.

You may notice some wood shavings below beams, floorboards, in your yard or even tucked away inside a room next to a potted plant. If this is the case, it’s possible that you have carpenter ants present in that location

Look for swarmers -To identify where the infestation is located, it may help to look outside for any flying ants and see where they are flying in and out of. If ants you’re seeing seem to be entering your home through a crack other than the ground, they could be carpenter ants or pharaoh ants.

Look for Dead Ants – Piles of dead ants are a sign that there may be an infestation nearby – but also check to see whether these bugs are aphids or termites, and then take the appropriate steps to locate the nest site.

Look for Moisture – Ants need moisture, and wet wood is a perfect place for them to set up shop. Pay attention to areas where water may pass under the flooring or roof of your home, such as leaky pipes. These ants are usually easy to spot once you identify their trail back towards their nest site.

Once you are as sure as you can be where the main colony of ants is located, now you can start getting rid of them.

Do you need to rip up wood floorboards to kill ants?

In order to kill off an ant colony under wood floorboards, you don’t need to rip up your own floors because the usual ant bait used basically uses the ants against their own colony.

Ant bait stations above the floors lure ants in which then take the bait back to their colony and share it with other ants.

The ant-killing poison is then shared throughout all of them, killing off your entire infestation in a matter of days! This means your wooden floorboards can stay in place while the problem pretty much resolves itself underneath them.

So, don’t worry about having to refloor your house. However, the same cannot be said in most cases when it comes to termites as they spread and behave differently.

What is the best way to kill ants without damaging your floorboards?

The best way to get rid of a colony under your floorboards is by using an ant bait product, like Termidor, which kills off any remaining eggs and larvae in addition to killing all adult ant populations on contact with just one application!

Ant bait or gel is applied to the far corners of the floorboards, as close to the colony as possible, and left for the ants. The ants will then carry this back into their colony and feed on its contents until they die from poisoning!

Although you could argue that any poison is rather cruel, it’s far better than more basic methods such as using boiling water which would absolutely damage your wooden floors.

It is important to note that the bait or gel must be applied in a way so as not to be in easy access for pets or children.

Recommended ant control products

Use this as your first line of defense to bait and kill off ant colonies.

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Liquid insecticides are excellent for building a perimeter around your property and keeping ant colonies in check.

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Stop ants from hiding in walls or cracks by squeezing them out with this insecticide foam.

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Use this gel bait to attract and poison an entire ant colony.

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Use this to flush out ants hiding in walls or cracks.

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Will ants actually damage your wooden floorboards?

Most of us see ants as a picnic pest or something unpleasant that gets into your food. However, some species of ants can cause real damage to your home, such as the black carpenter ant.

The black ants will chew through wood and can even cause structural damage to your home, which is why it’s important that you know how they behave in order for them not be an issue!

In many respects, carpenter ants are on a par with termites in their destructive potential, so whenever you see black ants you should act quickly to exterminate them inside your home.

The same can be said of pavement ants, which can cause damage to your home’s foundation and the exterior of it.

Are ants naturally attracted to wooden floorboards?

Wood is certainly a material that attracts some species of ants. However, there are many species of ants that will not be attracted to wood at all and some may even avoid it because they can’t burrow into the surface or find food in crevices between boards as easily

Often however it’s not the wood itself that attracts ants, particularly carpenter ants, it’s the state of them. If wood becomes moist or even starts to rot, this offers the ants a perfect place to nest and set up camp. So, a lot of ants crawling on your floor would suggest they have begun borrowing into it somewhere or other.

If however, we’re talking about just one lone individual wandering around looking lost – probably it’s a lone hitchhiker from your last trip outside. Just keep an eye on the situation to see if it’s more than one lost tourist!

How to get rid of ants under a deck?

The best way to get rid of ants under or on a deck in your yard is way again after adding to use a bait trap. Bait traps are designed to lure the ants in and then kill them with poison or other toxins that they ingest when feeding on it

There is no need for any kind of expensive chemical treatment, just set up some baits around your deck area where you see activity from these pesky insects!

Another good way to make homemade ant killer I’ve found so far has been using boric acid as this will work well against most types of ants. Just mix it with some sort of sweet food as a bait, and it will work in the same way as conventional ant bait boxes.

What is the worst type of ant to find under a wooden floorboard?

Probably the worst type of ant to find on or under your wooden floor are carpenter ants. These are the most destructive type of ant and will cause a lot more damage to your home than other types

Carpenter Ants can be identified by their dark brown color, long antennae with an enlarged club at its end which is used for breaking down wood

If you find carpenters under or on any part in contact with wooden floors then it’s important that they’re dealt with as soon as these insects have been known not only to destroy floorboards but also furniture like chairs!

They’ll chew through anything made out of timber to make their nests so don’t take them lightly when dealing with this pest infestation problem inside or outside homes.

How to prevent ants from getting into your home in the future

Once you have killed off a colony of ants, you should also start thinking about how to keep future ant invaders out.

The best way to keep ants out of your house are:

-Keep all food sealed in jars or other containers.

-Keep all food in the refrigerator as much as possible.

-Wipe up spills and crumbs from counters, tables or floors as soon after they happen to avoid attracting ants with a potential feast of sugar water (or whatever spilled).

-Sprinkle natural ant deterrents such as cinnamon, cayenne pepper or chili powder around the house.

-Use a vacuum cleaner to clean up crumbs and other debris from floors in your kitchen before you leave for work each day

-Keep all trash cans tightly sealed with lids on them at least once every week so that ants can’t get into it as well.

Basically, you want to make your home a barren food source for these pesky insects.

Ants are attracted by sweet foods like honeydew melon juice but also other sugary substances such as soda pop cans left on your porch overnight can attract these insects so be careful!

If you have any open containers that may leak then put them into sealed plastic bags before putting them away for storage until later use when needed again next time around; this will help keep out unwanted pests too which is always good if we want our home clean tidy without bugs crawling everywhere indoors outside near windows doors etcetera…

If you see ants in or around a window, they may be trying to get inside because there is moisture on that side! If the frames are wooded, then this could eventually become a point of access.

It could also mean an issue with drainage nearby such as water pooling up from rainwater runoff onto their nest site outside – this will lead them into looking for food sources elsewhere like under wood floorboards where pets might have left crumbs behind after eating dinner…or even worse- human hair clippings if someone has been shedding lately (gross).

This means these pests are not only getting indoors but potentially spreading disease too so don’t let things go unnoticed just yet!!

If any other pest control methods haven’t worked, the best way of preventing these pests from entering the house or damaging property would involve sealing up any cracks with a silicone sealant – this should stop most insects from getting into places where food might sit out on surfaces such as tables, etc.

However, if there are already some inside then I recommend using boric acid as a homemade option to bait traps around windowsills (or wherever else) so when one goes by its attracted towards what looks like something edible- however don’t forget about pets either because dogs could easily get hold of anything left lying around too!

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