Carpenter Ants in a Brand New House. Is the Builder responsible?
We just finished a brand new house this spring. My husband discovered a train of carpenter ants marching into the house and we immediatly followed them to see where they were going in, only to discover that the subcontractors that my GC hired for the plumbing and electric did not seal holes that had been drilled in the house (about 1 inch diameter) for the sump outlet and the LP gas line. My husband immediatly sealed these holes and set out ant traps around the outside of the house to try to kill them. we went a while without seeing any, or maybe one or two here or there.
Suddenly we are seeing dozens, mostly dead, almost daily. I have called orkin and we are going to spend close to $800 over the next year to try to remediate this issue. Can I go after my builder to be compensated for this cost?
This is not the only thing this guys subs hacked….we also have main support beams on the front porch that sway about 5 inches back and forth. and hairline cracks in our foundation that still havent been caulked. also the geothermal pipes that run out of our basement are leaking….
any advise would be awesome. thanks!
Replies
Can't say anything about the other stuff, but bugs is bugs -- they will do what they will do. Very likely they were present on the site before the building began.
(BTW, contary to popular belief, carpenter ants don't eat wood.)
But carpenter bees drill holes.
retain an attorney
If your plan is to "go after" someone, then the advice you seek should come from an attorney. You're wasting your (and everybody elses) time here.
I think I'd be really worried about a main beam that swings 5" and leaking geothermal pipes.
You really ought to consult an attorney who's versed in this sort of affair. And, perhaps, an independent house inspector. If the contractor built in these, and other less visable faults, a good inspector can determine that.
porch swing?
sapwood wrote:
I think I'd be really worried about a main beam that swings 5" ...
Maybe that's the builder's idea of a built-in 'porch swing'. Nice of him to be thinking ahead for his customer.
Thank you everyone
Your advice was appreciated!
Good luck with getting the builder to take responsibility for ants. I'd seal all the holes you can find and treat the nests. You can't just spray the baseboards to kill carpenter ants, you have find and kill the nest. I just got some termiticide from an online strore I think called DIY Pest Control. They will have a can of insecticide made just for carpenter ants with a long noozle to get into the cracks so you can hit the nest.
Dust better than...
... sprays. Where the potential exists for hidden insect infestation, you're better off using insecticidal dusts for getting rid of them rather than spray products. The key is the critters (ants, bees, termites if you find the tunnels they build around your foundation) themselves track the dust into the nest cavity rather than just getting killed where you spray.
That doesn't work with carpenter ants. The only way to kill them is to spray the nest.