I came home from church to find some small winged ants (or termites) swarming INSIDE the house.
Any suggestions on how to get RID of these pests?
Most definitely call a professional! It sounds like the colony swarmed with a new group, but the queen remains behind to build the nest.
I see it every year, but it's all outside, I had them years ago and it was my fault.
Tip to tracking them down, is to find the water source, be it a leaky pipe or roof, they require a continuous water source, mine was a leak in the corner roof of the shower, where the dampness was a constant from a missing shingle.
I had to remove the entire corner roof and outside wall of the bathroom, they had hollowed out several studs and joists.
Treated all the wood I could with Copper Green, the stuff with arsenic before they changed the formula.
The neighbor's house was so bad, they bulldozed it to the ground, but they had just bought it and had no idea the entire house had been gutted by carpenter ants, which I think are far more destructive than termites.
Yep, dampness is what attracts carpenter ants, but termites, from what I understand are earth dwellers and usually build mounds under the home as a stairway to reach exposed wood as a food source.
Carpenter ants don't eat the would for food, they just hollow it out for home building.
I'm assuming you live in termite country?
Termites was confirmed by a pest guy.
Quote from: Hoofer on May 19, 2017, 04:22:01 PM
Termites was confirmed by a pest guy.
Well, that's actually good news, in that you know where they are located, right?
I'm guessing young hive, considering this is the first time they've left the nest in flight, correct?
Her's hoping it's isolated to an area of the home, like an exterior deck or something.
If he is telling you the only solution is to tent the home, hire another company that uses dogs to find the queen, once she's dead and assuming the damage isn't too severe you can go to work repairing the damage.
They generally use beagles and terriers to find the queens.