Signs the Nest Is in the Structure
Black garden ants usually nest outside, but a warm, dry void next to soil will do just as well. You are probably dealing with a nest inside the building if:
- ants appear from one fixed point indoors and disappear back into it, with no line to a door or window
- they turn up in a room with no outside wall
- fine dust or grit collects under a skirting board or at the foot of a wall
- flying ants emerge indoors in summer, which means a mature colony is inside or directly under the house
- ants appear around a socket, a switch or a light fitting
Where These Nests Sit
The usual places are the cavity at the bottom of an outside wall, the void under a suspended floor, the rubble fill beneath a solid floor, and the gap behind a skirting where plaster stops short of the floor. Around a hot water cylinder or behind a boiler is another favourite, since it stays warm.
Older buildings in Hungerford and across West Berkshire often have soft mortar and solid walls with gaps behind the plaster, while newer homes have cavities. Either can hold a colony. If you have not yet tried to trace a nest from the outside, our general article on how to find an ant nest is worth a read first.
Ants and Electrics
Occasionally ants move into sockets, switch boxes or a consumer unit, probably for the warmth. It is not common, but it is worth treating with care.
Do not spray into a socket, switch or fuse box. Liquid and electrics do not mix. Leave the fitting alone, and if it shows signs of tripping, scorching or smell, turn the circuit off at the consumer unit and call an electrician.
Treatment in that situation goes at the routes into the void, not into the fitting, and we will explain what we propose when you ring.
Treating a Nest You Cannot See
The good news is that a nest inside a wall does not need to be opened up. Gel bait is placed at the gap the ants come out of, out of reach, and foragers carry it back into the void, where it is shared through the colony and reaches the queen. A residual insecticide may also go at the base of the outside wall and at any gaps in the brickwork they are using.
Wherever the house is, in Hungerford or further afield, expect the ants to keep appearing at the bait point for several days. Do not wipe, vacuum or seal that gap for the period you are told; it is their only way to take the bait home.
The one thing to remember: filling the hole with sealant or filler before treatment does not kill the nest. It just moves the ants to the next gap along the skirting, often in a room you had no trouble with.
Price and Safety
Ant control is a fixed £240, confirmed before anything is booked. A nest in the structure is treated the same way as one outside; what that involves for your walls and floors is explained before booking.
Let us know at booking about children, pets, fish tanks and anyone vulnerable, since indoor bait points need placing with them in mind. Keep people and animals off treated areas until dry and as you are told on the day. In period houses the floor void is often the route, which our page on Victorian and Edwardian houses explains, and whether ants harm the building is covered in do ants cause damage.