Ant Removal Process
Serving Vancouver WA | Portland OR | Beaverton OR
How Our Process Works for Ant Extermination
As a locally owned and operated business, we know how pests live in the Pacific Northwest. Ants, in particular, behave quite differently in the NW which is why it is important if you have an ant infestation you are working with a pest control technician that has the knowledge and experience of treating ants in our area. In fact, our founder learned the trade from a smaller local pest control company, which is why we carefully inspect the property looking for conditions that are conducive for pests to thrive.
Odorous House Ants (more commonly known as sugar ants) are unique insects that require a specialized extermination method for our area. A one size fits all approach such as frequent spraying and fast-acting insecticides rarely works with this pest. Just as soon as you stop the frequent spraying, they’ll come back – with a vengeance! Insecticides are designed to break down over time with moisture and sunlight. With how much it rains in Portland & Vancouver WA, you can imagine that this material would break down pretty quickly. These ants are unusual from other ants in the way that they have multiple queens, and their favorite place to set up nests is inside wall voids near a constant moisture source, such as plumbing fixtures. It’s why you will commonly see these pests on your bathroom or kitchen counters.
We’ve outlined our steps below that are very different than the national pest control companies that do the same methods nationwide. We know that you need a local pest control company to remove and control ants effectively and without a long-term contract.
Step 1:
Ants are attracted to any place that carries moisture – which for your home, means your plumbing. While most pest control companies just do a mild spray on the exterior of your home, we perform wall void injections around plumbing fixtures to instill a long-lasting material that the ants spread to their nest mates. Pests come with a list of recommended removal methods, so we wanted to offer our customers a long-lasting treatment intended for these social critters.
Typically, we’ll start under the kitchen sink as ants are notorious for being a nuisance on your counters.
Step 2:
We then perform injections underneath the cabinets and drawers, and any other area we find it necessary. Because odorous house ants have multiple queens, they can have several nests which is why we want to target multiple areas.
These ants will be oblivious of the injected material and will spread it to their nest mates.
Step 3:
We’ll then follow the same process that we do in your kitchen in areas likely to have moisture – toilets, vanity sinks, showers, and crawl spaces. This procedure presents no risks to pets, humans, and the structure of your home. Plus, a direct injection has a longer lasting effect than insecticides customarily used by other pest control companies.
Step 4:
Next, we’ll perform wall void injections on the outside of your home. We mostly inject material no more than knee height depending on the height of the foundation of the home.
We also do our best to instill material at an angle or underneath a shingle, that way the area of injection isn’t visible at all.
This also has the added benefit of eliminating any risk of moisture exposure long after the treatment is completed.
Step 5:
If necessary, we will now leave behind a gel in key areas around the house, yet still out of sight. Under certain circumstances, granular bait will be applied around the outside of the house as well.
The ants will bring the gel back to their colony, which will either cause them to move colonies or be exterminated.
Step 6:
Here at Antworks, we are serious about following rules and regulations regarding the usage of our materials and applications. We adhere to a 21-day frequency limitation. Not only is our practice legal, but it is environmentally safe and very effective at exterminating ants at the source.
Step 7:
In order to get rid of your ant infestation, we will not kill every ant on-site, this is so they are able to take the material back to their colony and spread it to their nest mates. One thing to keep in mind is that you may see more ants right after the treatment than you saw in the initial infestation. Don’t be alarmed! This is a good sign – that means they are attracted to the material and will soon be exterminated.
After that, we won’t be able to treat for 20 days until after the initial treatment. Because we inject directly into your home’s infrastructure, the material the ants trace back to their nest sticks around longer since it is protected from outdoor elements like UV light and rain. This procedure helps us avoid requiring expensive, long term contracts, all while presenting our customers with a treatment specially formatted for ant removal.
Have an ant infestation and need our professional ant extermination services to solve your problem? Call us today – we’re the experts in ant removal!
Eliminate Those Pests Today!
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