Where Kingsbury Ants Actually Nest
Black garden ants like loose, sun-warmed ground they can dig into without being disturbed. The sand bedding under patio slabs and garden paths suits them well, and the strip along the base of the back wall, where paving or decking meets the house, is a likely spot for the colony. Garden ant colonies can last for years, so a nest under an old patio may be well established. Where ants nest around houses lists the other places to look.
The joint between the extension and the house
Rear kitchen extensions were added to houses that are now around a century old, and the line where new brickwork meets old is rarely perfect. Ants use hairline cracks along that joint, gaps under the threshold of a back door or folding doors, and the holes where waste pipes leave the kitchen wall. If the trail indoors runs along the skirting on the extension side, look outside at the same point. Neighbouring Queensbury has the same mix of extensions and decking.
Lawns and ant hills
Small domed mounds in a lawn are usually yellow meadow ants, which live almost entirely underground and rarely come indoors. The ants on the kitchen worktop are far more likely to be black garden ants from under the patio or path, so a lawn dotted with mounds is a gardening matter rather than a sign the house is affected.
Flying Ant Days Around Kingsbury Patios
On a few warm, humid days in summer, colonies release winged queens and males all at once. Winged ants streaming from a crack beside the back door show the nest is right there. If they emerge through the kitchen floor or from behind the skirting, the nest may be under the extension or the house itself, which is worth mentioning when you book. Why flying ants suddenly appear indoors covers what is going on. Insects flying in and out of one hole day after day for weeks are not flying ants at all but a wasp nest.
Garden Ants or Pharaoh Ants?
Pharaoh ants are tiny, pale yellowish-brown ants that nest indoors in warm places. They are rare in houses; where they do turn up it is more likely in heated purpose-built blocks, where they can travel between flats along pipe and service runs. The difference matters because shop-bought sprays can make their colonies split. If you live in a flat and the ants are very small and pale, read Pharaoh ants vs garden ants before trying anything yourself. In a flat above the Kingsbury Road shops, small insects round the kitchen at night may be cockroaches rather than ants.
Before and after the visit
- Tell us whether it is a house or a flat, and where the ants come in: back door, extension joint, air brick or floor
- If you can follow the trail outside, note where it disappears under slabs or along a path
- Stop spraying the trail and wipe worktops with warm soapy water, so the ants are still visible
- Keep food sealed and lift pet bowls off the floor at night
Ants may still be about for a while after the visit, and how long depends on the size and position of the colony; how long ant treatment takes explains what affects it. If activity has not dropped off, call us back and describe what you are seeing.
Keeping Ants Out of a Kingsbury Kitchen
Once the colony has been dealt with, small jobs round the back of the house make a return less likely. How to stop ants entering your home goes further, and Ant Control Brent covers the rest of the borough.
- Fill or re-point cracks along the extension joint and around the back door threshold
- Brush kiln-dried sand back into the joints of the patio each spring
- Leave a gap between the house wall and plant pots or decking, so nests are not sheltered right against it
- Deal with aphids on roses and shrubs near the back door, since ants tend them for their honeydew
- Keep bird seed and fallen fruit off the patio
