scotty5x5 t1_ixj25qy wrote on November 23, 2022 at 8:28 PM

You need to kill the ants first. I would either crawl under the house or trickle Amdro into that crack. Then you can glue a trim piece over it.

silentheaven83 OP t1_ixj2pdw wrote on November 23, 2022 at 8:32 PM

I started to use granular poison and gel outside the hole, but I think that the entire building (9 floors, 1950s concrete building) is like "infested" so it seems a nevereding battle since they keep coming back after a while.

If I close it with a simple trim piece they will continue to climb and go under the floor. I need to seal it deeply.

[deleted] t1_ixj6nx9 wrote on November 23, 2022 at 8:58 PM

[deleted]

silentheaven83 OP t1_ixj7w9m wrote on November 23, 2022 at 9:06 PM

I'd like to use the spray foam but I read that ants can even create a nest in the foam.

About the cauliking, since the hole is little and there isn't much space, I can't "introduce" in that space a caulking gun, and I'm also worried that caulking, since "it's dense", would simply "close the hole on the surface".

I really need to put something "inside" the hole that can fill it and THEN use caulk to seal the top.

RogerRabbit1234 t1_ixjce6r wrote on November 23, 2022 at 9:37 PM

Great Stuff makes an insect and pest resistant foam, I don’t think it’s specifically to keep ants out, but ants are opportunists…IME… if you make it easier to go somewhere else, they usually do.

Beginning_Ad_6616 t1_ixkx616 wrote on November 24, 2022 at 5:22 AM

Don’t do any of this, if you want to properly stop your infestation have to take a few measures. First follow the ant trails and see where the nests are. Second trim back any vegetation making contact with the home back and remove any hoses or other items that may be touching the home. Third, get an insecticide that the ants cannot sense; Termidor SC, Taurus SC, or Phantom will work. Phantom comes pre-mixed the others (original and generic) don’t and those will need mixed for perimeter spray with a 0.06% dilution. Spray the perimeter of the home with an “SC” spray…do not spray flowers or anything bees interact with…about 2 feet out and two feet up during peak ant movement time. Lastly if you found the nest hit it with Phantom.

Now, you’ve forced the ants to move through the insecticide they cannot sense. If they sense a insecticide the colonies get stressed and can split creating multiple new colonies for you to contended with. In two to three days ALL of the offending ants from the offending colony(ies) will die. The SC products use “fipronil” the same chemical found in frontline for cats/dogs. Members of the colony pick it up as they move over it…then as they go to their near they die and as other colony members touch the dead they die and soon the whole colony and every ant in your house is dead or dying.

Once these guys are dead, fix any holes. If it’s concrete then use hydrating cement or epoxy…if it’s wood just cut a place for you to put new wood and seal it up. You’ll never see another health and in your home again.

solderfog t1_ixjad09 wrote on November 23, 2022 at 9:23 PM

Years ago I had ants... Having the exterminator come and do their thing helped for a while, but then they were back. Possibly sugar ants. Then I did their program where they came out every 3 months for a year. Mostly they just sprayed around the perimeter those last 3 times (likely nest near the house outside). Haven't seen them back, and it's been 10 years now.

signal15 t1_ixk8hmi wrote on November 24, 2022 at 1:42 AM

Use termador or sumari. Both are super potent but slow acting. This will allow the queen to contaminated with it, thus killing the whole colony. This is the stuff pros use for termites and ants. I use them for wasps. They are amazing.