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Any ideas on window sill debris.


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Hi,

I think Jim is right; that does look like pupa case debris. It's coming from above or it wouldn't have ended up on the edge of that screen frame. Look at the top of the casing for a slit or a little hole through which they're dropping the debris; carpenter ants are fastidious and dont' like to have trash hanging around inside they're nest and they'll dump it to the outside. Is that the sunny side of the house? Around here, they seem to prefer burrowing into the headers and jack studs around windows on sunny sides of a home and turning them into nurseries.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

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Originally posted by Steven Hockstein

I agree that it looks like carpenter ants and frass.

It also appears that replacement window balances and sashes have been installed (looks like "Weathershield" brand). When were the windows replaced? The ants couldd nesting in the voids behind the new sash balances.

Good catch on the sash kits! Personally, I would prefer to see the sash before I'd guess the brand though[:-graduat

Tom

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Originally posted by Erby

Thanks y'all. I appreciate the help.

The seller claims original windows. About 12 years old.

Water damage to the sills indicate old rather than replacement.

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Is that house only 12 years old?

A little drift but may be helpful...

There are replacement window kits that do not require new sills or framed units. The downside of these windows is that the existing frames have to be square or they don't seal well. The best part of these windows is that you don't lose daylight because there are no additional frames required around the windows and you don't have to have white vinyl windows (you can get them with many finish options).

It is a good choice in old homes where there is going to be an addition with new windows and you want to replace the rest of the windows in the house to match. There are minor aesthetic differences between the replacement and new windows but most people can not tell. Marvin and Weathershield brand windows are common in this area.

A good installer can neatly replace each window in less than a half hour. For those of you that want to see how they should be installed...

http://www.weathershield.com/assets/doc ... 2_vr13.pdf

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  • 3 months later...

Reminds me of my first apartment. Every morning I'd wake up and there would be 20-30 carpenter ants around the kitchen sink. I looked high and low through that place and could never find where they coming from. After a few weeks I went to a local exterminating supply house and spoke with one of the techs there. He asked me if there were wooden doors in the place - all the interior doors were wood. He said that they nest in hollow wooden doors and to look for a little square hole in the top of the door. He also stated that if there is a square hole in the top of the door there will also be one in the bottom of the door, directly under the hole in the top of the door.

I came back with a can of ant killer and looked at the top of all the interior doors and sure enough, each one had a little square hole in it. I put a piece duct tape on the bottom of the door, shot a bunch of juice in the top and then put a piece of duct tape over the top of the door.

Never saw another ant.

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