I have been asked, "How do you kill ants in driveway cracks?" In fact, I have heard it so many times that I decided to write a blog post about it in detail, including home remedies, pest control solutions, and other ways not commonly heard of. When you discover a trail of ants racing across your kitchen floor, you'll realize you have an ant problem. They appear out of nowhere, appearing through the tiniest of holes or crevices and seeking out any food source within your home.
Most ant infestations begin outside your home, and they like to reside in the driveway cracks of settled concrete.
Ridding yourself of ants in your driveway cracks can be difficult. Despite the availability of a few quick treatments, there is only one effective long-term cure to eliminate cracks permanently. Here's how it's done.
What Attracts Ants to Driveway Cracks?
Ants prefer soft, dry, and well-aerated soils, which are common beneath traditional concrete driveways or those with paving slabs. Ants likewise appreciate the warmth that goes through the concrete and deep into the earth.
This temperature may stimulate the development of so-called flying ants, posing an even greater difficulty.
Typical drive-shaped settlement cracks provide ideal escape holes for the colony's food quest. Large colonies of ants may even break away from their initial nest and seek a new location to start a new one.
Before you know it, all of the crevices in your driveway will be crawling with ants hunting for food (very often inside your home).
In extreme situations, there could be more than 5,000 ants in each colony, and in extreme situations, as many as 30,000 ants if there are many queens. This means that the ants will probably expand their search for food beyond the nearby area and enter your home.
Because sweets can be one of their favorite foods, ants are commonly referred to as sugar ants. They will consume everything left out, including crumbs, spilled food, pet food, and even dead rodents and insects.
Why Do Ants Invitingly Enter Your House?
You may think that because ants enjoy living under your driveway so much, they'll want to stay there (and we'd be okay with that), but when they enter our home, we decide it's time to get rid of them.
But why do ants come into our homes in the first place, and why do they decide to stay?
There's only one word for it: food. Because your home has a variety of their favorite foods, ants are commonly referred to as sugar ants. They will consume everything left out, including crumbs, spilled food, pet food, and even dead rodents and insects.
This meal is collected by worker ants, who then deliver it to the queen (s), babies, and reproductive ants. The reproductive ants develop wings and emerge in appropriate weather circumstances to mate with queens, carrying on the colony's life cycle elsewhere.
Providing adequate food for all of these things is critical to the colony's and species' survival.
Of course, you can do various things to keep ants out of your home, such as sealing all tiny holes, spraying insecticide on the cracks and trails, or simply plain table salt. However, these ants find their way in, and you realize that the best answer is to eliminate them at the source by hiring a professional pest control company to apply the proper insecticides.
How to get rid of ants in cracks in the driveway
Ants despise salt. You can try a DIY method first if you wish. If the ants contact it, it will kill them because it dehydrates them to the point where they drink so much water that they explode. If you can't discover the colony, leave a salt path along the cracks in your driveway to keep them from leaving.
How To Permanently Get Rid Of Driveway Ants
The best and most effective way to get rid of ants residing under your driveway is to locate the colony. Finding the ant colony is difficult because the pavement ants will often travel far beneath the concrete slabs before entering a gap.
You only have a few options, except raising the pavement stones or ruining your driveway.
We've compiled a list of safe and effective ant-killing solutions that won't harm other insects or animals you may have living in your home.
Using Boiling Water to Kill Ants
Open the top and pour boiling water within if the colony is visible. Due to this, all of the insects, including the queen, will perish. You may need to repeat this process a few times on different days to get all the ants.
Using Salt to Kill Ants
Ants despise salt, and if they come into contact with it, it will kill them because it dehydrates the ants to the point where they drink so much water that they explode. If you can't discover the colony, leave a salt path along the cracks in your driveway to keep them from leaving.
They will continue to reside beneath and will most likely migrate somewhere. Other common cooking ingredients, such as cinnamon, pepper, chili powder, or curry powder, can be used in the same way.
Using Coffee to Deter Ants
When ants are exposed to coffee, they behave strangely. The ants lose their bearings and can't find their way back to the nest—much like we humans can't find our way home after a few too many glasses of wine!
If the ants find coffee as their initial food source, they will not return to the nest with food, and the colony will starve to death.
how to get rid of ants in cracks in the driveway
A coating of sharp sand can be used to ensure free drainage once the land has been cleaned and the surrounding area has been leveled. A concrete or tarmac slab is then put on top of this. This layer must be free of cracks to protect against future ant colonies and keep the upper layer from cracking.
Refinishing the Driveway to Prevent Ants
If you genuinely want to avoid the annual routine of trying to control the ants that live beneath your driveway, you must install a driveway material that will not crack.
A resin-bound driveway is an ideal answer. It will improve the appearance of your driveway while also ensuring that those bothersome ants will relocate to a location far away from your home!
A resin-bound driveway is made by removing your existing driveway (including any cracks and ants) and excavating a few centimeters deeper.
Any colonies that have been created should no longer exist on this planet. At this point, you can look for telltale holes or mounds on the ground and apply the boiling water technique to make sure the colonies are dead and gone.
A coating of sharp sand can be used to ensure free drainage once the land has been cleaned and the surrounding area has been leveled. A concrete or tarmac slab is then put on top of this. This layer must be free of cracks to protect the top layer from future ant colonies and prevent the top layer from cracking.
To guarantee that it complies with planning permission standards, these sub-bases should once again be free draining.
A mixture of resin and aggregate is pressed to a depth of roughly 15mm over the base and shaped into the shape of the driveway you want. This makes it a rigid, long-lasting surface that can resist the weight of cars and other vehicles.
The resin mixture must be applied in a single continuous slab, with each section being layered and melding flawlessly with the last. You'll obtain the crack-free surface you desire if you choose a skilled contractor who knows what they're doing.
You can avoid a recurrence of your ant problem next summer if you follow these ant-busting tips. Of course, there's no assurance that they won't appear beneath other parts of your walkways or patio, but resin-bound remedies work well in these places.
If redoing your driveway is not an option or in your budget, I do not blame you for avoiding such drastic measures to rid yourself of ants in your driveway cracks. It is essential to remember that a less expensive alternative is to hire a pest control company. An ant exterminator can apply appropriate products and rid you of ants in the hard-to-reach locations of your driveway cracks. If you live in Palm Coast, Ormond Beach, Daytona Beach, Port Orange, New Smyrna Beach, Deland, Deltona, Sanford, or any other town in Volusia County, Florida, we can help.