We had been experiencing ant invasions throughout the house, but because of the carpet coloring, could not follow the trail to find where they were getting in. So, I put a tiny bit of raw hamburger on the floor where they were seen most and within 30 minutes I had a six lane highway! I followed it around to behind a light stand where they were entering through an outlet coverplate, traveling down the baseboard to the carpet area closest to the meat and viola! Got 'em.

My next step was to seal off their entry ports. So, I grabbed a tube of caulk and started sealing away. Even though I couldn't see any gaps between the wall and coverplates, the ants were squeezing through. So, a small bead of white, water soluble, paintable caulk and ants no more. I decided to go through the rest of the house and do all the coverplates on outlets and switches. As I was moving furniture away from the walls, I found more traveling parties entering through cable line holes in the walls, holes where water pipes entered the house, and they were coming up from behind baseboards along the carpet... all entry ports got a dose of the caulking closure. For bigger holes, I used spray foam insulation.

Caulk is a wonderful invention. Not only does it finish a sink to countertop installation for a nice smooth transition, it can aid in preventing mold and mildew growth. Caulk also helps to keep grout from falling out of verticle joints due to expansion and contraction in showers.

When buying caulk, it is best to match it to the paint, grout, tile or fixture it will be next to. If you cannot find a color match, use clear. Be sure and look for "water soluble, paintable" caulk. This is the easiet to clean-up and if a little too much gets squeezed out of the tube or caulk gun, it can be safely removed with a wet rag or paper towel. The paintable part of the caulk is great especially when a color match can't be found and clear just doesn't look good. You can paint it with the paint you used on your walls or baseboards.

When applying caulk, run a bead of caulk along the joint or gap, then with a wet finger, smooth it out by running your finger atop the bead. Do not press the caulk into the joint as it will sink and you will have to add more caulk. The idea is to seal the gap, not fill it. The wet finger helps in the smoothing of the caulk, keep a wet rag or paper towel handy to wipe your finger in between runs. A wet sponge works great too in smoothing the caulk. Keep a bucket of water near you to rinse the sponge. It is necessary to keep clean water in the bucket so residue of the caulk is not spread during the smoothing process.

Extra Tip:
Did you know that some ants actually prefer meat, peanuts, or other salty food to sugar? I conducted a test to prove this. I put a jellybean and a piece of raw hamburger on the floor where ants had been sporadically spotted. Within 30 minutes the hamburger was covered in ants and the jellybean was clean. I found that ants love peanuts with the discovery that of all the cookies in the pantry; oatmeal raisin, chocolate chip and peanut butter with peanuts, the only container touched was my peanut butter ones. Grrrr...