Ants in the newly built rental property

[Suvarna Joshi]

I have a rental house in Texas that I bought new from the builder and is still under 1 year structural warranty. The tenants recently called to report the ant problem in the master bathroom. Apparently the ants are coming through the unsealed areas in the bathroom where builder did a poor job of caulking and sealing the gap under trims. My question is- should I just open a repair request with builder and get those areas caulked or do I need to get the detail pest inspection done for possible structural ant infestation? The ants seem to be more in number than I would expect considering that there is regularly scheduled pest control service for the house, so not sure if there is a deeper problem here. Any suggestions are much appreciated.

[Amy Webber]

If you have regularly scheduled pest control they are most likely responsible for removing these ants.  It's usually covered in their guarantee (reputable companies anyway).  The tech should be able to identify the type of ant with a handheld macro scope and determine the appropriate course of action.  

If it is carpenter ants then you have big problems because they like wet wood.  They don't eat wood like termites they live in the wood.  Fortunately,  if you have wet wood this early in the game you can use that warranty.

 I'm guessing the home is a concrete slab and the ants are living in a void created after the pad was poured.  They are coming up around the drain pipes to get to condensation.  If this is the case the tech can put some bait in the area that will kill the colony within a week or so.

This info came from my husband who used to work for a national pest control company.  Good luck in your dealings, hope this info helped.