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scotty5x5 t1_ixj25qy wrote

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.

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silentheaven83 OP t1_ixj2pdw wrote

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.

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[deleted] t1_ixj6nx9 wrote

[deleted]

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silentheaven83 OP t1_ixj7w9m wrote

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.

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RogerRabbit1234 t1_ixjce6r wrote

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.

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Beginning_Ad_6616 t1_ixkx616 wrote

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.

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solderfog t1_ixjad09 wrote

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.

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signal15 t1_ixk8hmi wrote

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.

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01001010ess t1_ixjg1ub wrote

Diatomaceous Earth. Non toxic and works.

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drytoastbongos t1_ixjrdks wrote

And it will just sit there, waiting, until something comes through, unlike oils and other products that evaporate or soak away.

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01001010ess t1_ixkihhe wrote

You can literally pixie dust the shit anywhere and everywhere. Make a line in doorways. It’ll help, trust me.

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KryptCeeper t1_ixkvslp wrote

This is the way.

It is not a poison. It is just an abrasive that cuts up the ant.

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booglejfox t1_ixjb19m wrote

Remove water and ants go away. It may be a structural problem as from that small blurry pic it appears that the wall doesn’t start on the floor and is somehow hanging there a bit

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skippingstone t1_ixjivce wrote

Backer rod and Big Stretch caulk

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l397flake t1_ixjcopg wrote

The way to fix the 1 cm Hole is to nail a 1x3 on to the bottom of the fixed panel where it meets the floor, like a base mounding. If not wide enough, attach 3/4” 1/4 round to the 1x3

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StillWill18 t1_ixkmr2x wrote

Get advion gel for ants. Put it around the area where the ants are. Let them eat it and bring it to the nest. If you find any nests around that area outside. Put it near them, too. When it’s not going to rain. Find any source of moisture/water. Eliminate it. Within 1-2 years, the ants are gone.

I paid an exterminator $450 to put the gel down. They told me to buy it on Amazon and do it myself. Best $450 I ever spent. Ants were gone forever. In less than 2 years. Cost $35 for 4 tubes on Amazon. Barely used 1/2 of one tube. Ants Gone.

For me, it was the bathroom window leaking water to outside. Once that was cured. With a shade to keep water off the window. The advion killed the ants.

Can’t help you with anything else.

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ChocoTacoz t1_ixkyy63 wrote

Good on the tech for telling you to get it yourself. I would too if my company were fleecing people like that, we charge almost half as much and that's in Los Angeles which isn't a cheap marker for pest control.

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StillWill18 t1_ixml0nz wrote

Yeah. He said we charge way too much for this, when you can buy it on Amazon for $35.

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ChocoTacoz t1_ixn0vt8 wrote

If you ever have a new bug problem I can recommend the best product to buy. Feel free to message me.

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scotty5x5 t1_ixj9n9t wrote

You will never stop them by yourself. I'd still use the Amdro. It's a slow acting bait that will be fed to the queen s who will then stop producing new ants. Good luck.

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solderfog t1_ixjawyb wrote

Really hard to get an idea from just the one photo/angle. Any to get at it from under the floor? If it were me (after solving the ants problem), I might cut a piece of wood to fill the gap, and if not other way to attach, use construction glue to give a flat, solid surface. After that's set, you could cut a small piece of molding and nail it to the floor and filler piece.

It'd be a lot easier to say if several pix from different angles.

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JMJimmy t1_ixk2p6v wrote

Don't fill the hole. Caulking over top or a transition but that gap is needed for expansion of the floor.

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ion_driver t1_ixkligj wrote

You can caulk that gap, or fill it with really anything. For the ants, I put a ring of diatomaceous earth around the whole house

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CtpBlack t1_ixj3h33 wrote

I had ants getting in around the drainage pipes. I sprayed a little WD40 in there and they're never come back. I didn't even need to fill in the gaps around the pipes.

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