Foam insulation and ants! BIG PROBLEM!

Опубликовано 15 мая 2017, 19:30

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Ants seem to like rigid foam, as this perforated sheet of insulation seems to show. Builders have tried a number of preventive measures to keep insects at bay, but some builders wonder whether the industry should switch to a different type of insulation and avoid the problem altogether.
Writing from the Pacific Northwest, Malcolm Taylor dives into a problem experienced by many homeowners and builders: a carpenter ant infestation in rigid foam insulation.

“I am involved with two projects right now that have carpenter ant infestations — and in both cases they are in the foam,” Taylor writes in this Q&A post at GreenBuildingAdvisor. “One is particularly difficult to fix as it is a flat roof with tar and gravel above and a wood tongue-and-groove ceiling, making it hard to get at the nests.”

For a season, the owners tried to deal with the problem themselves, but their efforts backfired. Instead of a single nest, there are now “multiple nests across the whole roof,” Taylor says. Exterminators brought in to find a solution say that it may take more than a year to get rid of the insects, and of course during that time the ants will continue to damage the building.

“When this topic comes up, typically the responses tend to fall into three categories,” Taylor says. “First, ‘don’t think about it — [foam] is used all the time so it must be all right’; second, ‘as long as the foam is dry they won’t move in’; and third, ‘treated foam is available.’ “