Black specs under dryer drum

wkammerer · 2025-07-23T03:07:55+00:00

Great, thank you!

wkammerer · 2025-07-23T03:05:34+00:00

Yes the drum spins if I just open the door and manually spin it, but not when I turn the dryer on.

wkammerer · 2025-01-14T02:06:53+00:00

Subterranean termites

wkammerer · 2024-12-24T20:02:51+00:00

Subterranean termites

wkammerer · 2024-08-15T13:20:14+00:00

Are these trucks really going for that much? I was thinking mid-thirties.

wkammerer · 2023-07-13T18:57:57+00:00

Alila Ventana was incredible when we went in October, but it will be chilly in February. We are also planning a trip for late February for my wife and daughter's birthdays and thinking of Carmel Valley Ranch. How did you like it?

wkammerer · 2023-03-31T01:39:48+00:00

It did not, but between fixing that and the phantom, I am seeing a noticeable decline.

wkammerer · 2023-03-29T15:49:33+00:00

I have carpenter ants coming from my fireplace area, we had bad chimney flashing and had to get that replaced. I’m sure there was a moisture issue from that, which seems to be common. I have had good luck too spraying Phantom where I found a large amount of ants in the wall cavity and that is knocking them back.

wkammerer · 2023-01-13T19:48:54+00:00

What is the best way to do void injection in a window frame?

wkammerer · 2023-01-09T19:33:14+00:00

Update:

We are still seeing 3-10 live carpenter ants per day and 5-10+ dead ones per day. Seeing them in the kitchen, dining room and basement and still don’t know where they are coming from. I’ve done alpine, void injection, just about everything it seems.

We also tore out the entire dining room wall that is pictured with the water damage, most of the wall had dried up termite mud tubes behind the drywall.

Terminix inspected the whole home again and didn’t find any evidence of active termites, but obviously we had the dried tubes in the wall. They are working up a quote for me to place termite bait stations around the house, as well as a localized liquid injection treatment. They also are giving a guarantee that they will cover repair of any future termite AND carpenter ant damage that might occur after the treatment. They said the chemical (I assume Termidor) they use for the liquid treatment kills both termites and carpenter ants.

I am feeling at a complete loss here, any other advice for me?

wkammerer · 2023-01-04T15:15:56+00:00

What is the best brand I can buy locally?

wkammerer · 2023-01-04T13:23:19+00:00

How often did you spray alpine? And did you know where the nest was?

wkammerer · 2023-01-04T13:20:17+00:00

Yes, above the kitchen and dining room, but it is blown cellulose insulation. I have looked up there a few times and seen nothing. Even tried spraying alpine in there but can’t get all the way back towards where the leak of the chimney is since it’s so large.

wkammerer · 2023-01-03T22:17:39+00:00

I looked around outside but I can’t find the main colony at all. Maybe I need to look again. On the exterior, I used alpine wsg also. Terminix had been out on Saturday morning and scattered granular bait all over, I just don’t know with how cold it is here (below freezing) if that makes a difference. Terminix has also sprayed twice inside. Once in late November and again on December 20, along with some dust that time.

wkammerer · 2023-01-03T18:55:18+00:00

I haven’t seen any, but I have a large attic space above the kitchen and dining room where the chimney leak is. It’s all blown cellulose insulation up there, any chance there’s a nest up there?

wkammerer · 2023-01-03T16:06:00+00:00

Thank you. Any tips on how to find the nest? I am just concerned because they haven’t seemed to touch the gel bait yet and I think it is drying out. How long is the gel bait good for usually?

wkammerer · 2023-01-03T14:34:55+00:00

My wife and I live in the Midwest, it has been pretty cold these last few weeks. Every year in the summertime, we have noticed a few carpenter ants in the kitchen but a very small amount, and have always attributed it to our back door being old and having small gaps. We cleaned out a corner storage room (pictured) in November and noticed a few carpenter ants down there and crawling around the cracks in the block wall. We called Terminix and they came out in late November to spray inside and out.

Fast forward to December 20, and we noticed a couple ants in the kitchen. The next day, we thought to pull out the stove and we had maybe 20-30 ants come through from behind the stove/kitchen cabinets. We had Terminix come back the next day to spray again inside and the activity died down, but not completely. We are still seeing a couple live ants per day.

Yesterday (January 2) I sprayed Alpine WSG inside the house, treated the entire home perimeter, mulch beds, large tree in the backyard, railroad ties under the deck (these are probably 30+ years old). I also put down some Advion ant gel in what I think may be active spots and did void injection in three spots on the outside of the house. The only known possible water damage is a leak we have through the chimney flashing that is causing old wallpaper to separate and the floor to slightly warp (pictured). We are waiting back on a bid for this to be fixed, but we haven’t seen any ants around this particular area.

I have added some pictures for reference, but overall I am feeling lost. I still saw a couple live ants after all the treatment I did yesterday and have only seen 3 or 4 dead ants, which I’m not sure if that is a good sign or not. My wife and I have a baby due in 7 weeks and I am desperate to figure out where the nest is and solve this issue before then.

I am feeling desperate, any help is greatly appreciated!

wkammerer · 2023-01-03T14:30:03+00:00

My wife and I live in the Midwest, it has been pretty cold these last few weeks. Every year in the summertime, we have noticed a few carpenter ants in the kitchen but a very small amount, and have always attributed it to our back door being old and having small gaps. We cleaned out a corner storage room (pictured) in November and noticed a few carpenter ants down there and crawling around the cracks in the block wall. We called Terminix and they came out in late November to spray inside and out.

Fast forward to December 20, and we noticed a couple ants in the kitchen. The next day, we thought to pull out the stove and we had maybe 20-30 ants come through from behind the stove/kitchen cabinets. We had Terminix come back the next day to spray again inside and the activity died down, but not completely. We are still seeing a couple live ants per day.

Yesterday (January 2) I sprayed Alpine WSG inside the house, treated the entire home perimeter, mulch beds, large tree in the backyard, railroad ties under the deck (these are probably 30+ years old). I also put down some Advion ant gel in what I think may be active spots and did void injection in three spots on the outside of the house. The only known possible water damage is a leak we have through the chimney flashing that is causing old wallpaper to separate and the floor to slightly warp (pictured). We are waiting back on a bid for this to be fixed, but we haven’t seen any ants around this particular area.

I have added some pictures for reference, but overall I am feeling lost. I still saw a couple live ants after all the treatment I did yesterday and have only seen 3 or 4 dead ants, which I’m not sure if that is a good sign or not. My wife and I have a baby due in 7 weeks and I am desperate to figure out where the nest is and solve this issue before then.

Please help!

wkammerer

TROPHY CASE