We started trying to trace the trails to see where they were coming from and found them to be coming out of the electrical sockets and around the kitchen window. We would occasionally see them around the bathroom windows too. So… we looked outside and yep, there were trails to the windows there! Sort of hard to see at first on brownish red brick.

We did use poisons, but not on the counters. We sprayed around the outside of all the windows in the house and then took the covers off the electrical sockets and loosened the boxes in the kitchen and bathrooms so we could spray into the walls. We used a brand that comes with a thin straw to direct the spray and contained pyrethrins.

The other thing I did was caulk around the windows and facings. When we had the windows and doors replaced later, I made sure the contractors used caulk as well as nails when installing them. They thought I was crazy, but I just stood there and told them humoring me would be easier than arguing with me.

Anyway, that was well over five years ago and we haven’t had an infestation since. We haven’t sprayed outside specifically for ants again, but we have a problem with wasps, so parts of the house get sprayed occasionally anyway.

As you know, just killing the ones that get in isn’t going to do much good in the long run, but isn’t it satisfying to crush the little buggers with a piece of toilet paper and flush them?