We have ants eating away concrete in the lower part of the house. They leave BIG pile’s of concrete powder on the floor where the floor and wall’s meet. The inside wall is panel. They are very small red ants. What to use to get rid of them? Have been there for about 3 years now. Thank you.
Ants are prone to nesting in some strange areas and no doubt when they choose substrate like concrete, one has to wonder why. In most cases they have a very good reason. It could be the cement has a special “nutrient” or mineral they find appealing or it could be the cement is drawing and holding just the right amount of moisture these ants require. Whatever the reason, when ants choose to nest in a structure and start chewing through wood or concrete, the damage can be costly and needs to be stopped.
Unfortunately treating such nests can be tricky. In the past, it would be very hard to do without isolating the main nest site and then directly treating it. But at this time we have ant baits and sprays that work well and do not require any special skill or knowhow to effectively reach and treat nests regardless of where they might be located.
So in this case, I would recommend one of the new products which works very slowly on target insects. In fact it takes 3-4 days to kill insects once they contact some.
Created for termites and ants, Phantom is a material that when applied will not be noticeable by targeted insects. This means they’ll readily walk over the treatment. In doing so, they’ll pick up a lethal dose of the active which won’t affect them for several days. Now once they pick some up, they’ll inadvertently transfer some to other ants in their colony and by the time the active starts to affect them, it will be too late for any of them to respond. The net result is that all members of the colony will die.
Phantom comes in two forms; liquid and aerosol. For starters, you should apply the liquid form around the entire home both inside and outside. You’ll need to apply 2-3 gallons in the process making sure to cover the entire foundation, around windows, doorways and any place in the yard where you’ve seen activity. Next, you’ll need to spray baseboards inside the home.
After the liquid has been applied, you’ll need to treat inside using the aerosol version. This material should be applied mostly to the wall voids, cracks and crevices where you’re seeing the powder accumulate. Ideally, if you can drill some small holes through the wall so you can inject some of the Phantom; this would really help. Phantom is odorless and goes on dry so it won’t make a mess or be detectable. And when pumped into a wall void, the aerosol will permeate through and through thus assuring all members of the colony are affected.
If you treat as explained, you would put in place a material that no doubt will knock out these ants for good. Granted it will take 4-7 days for them to start dying but I would expect that within 2 weeks of the treatment being done, all activity will cease and your home will be safe and sound once again.
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Phantom EC: https://bugspray.com/catalog/insecticide/liquid/phantom-21-oz
Phantom Aerosol: https://bugspray.com/catalog/insecticide/aerosol/pt-phantom-14-oz
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Chuck says
My email … above … pretty covers our problem. We have a house whose bottom is not wood and crawling spaces … but is 90% cement all over with the 10% being my estimation of water, electrical, sewer, etc. ‘inserts’ here and there.
Unfortunately, with the 10% ones mentioned, we do now know where to focus.
PLEASE help !!
Tech Support says
This is an easy one. If you read the post above, you’ll learn the “beauty” of Phantom is that one does not have to focus a treatment to get results. All one must do is to spray in as many places as the target pest is seen.
Once these areas are treated, you’ll get results within 7-10 days. This will happen because as the ants walk over the treated surfaces, they will pick up the active and in turn, “transfer” it to other members of their colony.
Now when the Phantom finally kicks in and starts to work (which takes 3-5 days after its applied), it will have spread to a significant amount of the populous so when it does become active, pretty much the entire nest will die and any that don’t will die due to attrition.
Now which form would be best for your situation? Both.
First, spray as much of the area as you can with the liquid form. Use 1 gallon of mixed spray per 800 sq/ft of surface area. For “shotgun” treatments like this, you’ll need to apply several gallons to get all the under surfaces and exterior areas covered. Probably 2-4 gallons of mixed material but of course, this will depend on the size of the home (which you did not include).
And for any area where you cannot spray the liquid form (because its too messy), use the aerosol. The aerosol is good for living spaces because it goes on dry and is odorless.
Here are direct links to the products you need to get quick and complete control:
Phantom EC: https://bugspray.com/catalog/insecticide/liquid/phantom-21-oz
Phantom Aerosol: https://bugspray.com/catalog/insecticide/aerosol/pt-phantom-14-oz
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Jonathan
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