White Shavings in garage? Insect made?

[thinkxingu]

Hi All,
Last week, I noticed what looked like what shavings around my garage door bottoms. It looks like the shavings made from cutting PVC pipe. I vacuumed them up, thinking maybe it was residue from a plumbing job or something, but I just noticed there's more. Any suggestions on what they might be? I notice my garage door rails go into sand, not concrete.

S

 

[Retired Guy]

My first guess would be carpenter ants but their debris looks more like sawdust. Could be carpenter bees/wasps but that's a bit low to the ground for them.

 

[Dtunes]

My first guess would be carpenter ants but their debris looks more like sawdust. Could be carpenter bees/wasps but that's a bit low to the ground for them.

Yeah there are usually small black specks in the shavings as well. Go to the area when its quiet at night you might hear them chomping. There was a thread recently about carpenter ants, might want to check it out.

 

[pen]

Insulated garage door? Could something be working at the insulation?

 

[btuser]

Carpenter ants don't eat the wood. They use it the same way we do, to build their homes. The prefer damp areas. They could be tunneling through the styrafoam in the doors. I've seen them do it to spray foam.

 

[thinkxingu]

Thanks for the ideas, all. I soaked the surrounding area with pesticide and vacuumed up what was left of the shavings. A bunch of ants came out, running for their lives (they didn't make it). For a day or two, there weren't any shavings, but now I've got some back again. I'm wondering if they're in garage door foam like btuser's suggesting. If so, how do I get them out? Should I throw some ant bait to the sides of the door or try to soak the inside of the door? I don't really need the insulation, as the rest of the garage isn't insulated, but I also don't want nests in my doors.

S

 

[heat seeker]

I use a product called Terro. It's a liquid bait/poison that the ants take back to the nest. It's worked 100% for us over the years.

 

[maple1]

+1 on the ant bait. We use Ant-B-Gone, but it's likely all the same stuff. Just get a couple tin can lids, lay them down where ants are seen, and put a few drops on them. You should soon have a train of ants to/from the lids - just let them do their thing & keep the lids fresh with bait (it'll disappear quick once they're onto it). The ants should disappear after a couple of days of that.

 

[Gary_602z]

Was it wood or plastic? If it was plastic it could be coming from the garage door opener (plastic gears stripping out). Had it happen on mine except my shavings were on top of my wifes car.

Gary

 

[Defiant]

What has worked for me in the past is take a jar lid, put a tablespoon of boric acid and a teaspoon of sugar, add a little water to make a paste and place on ground near area. Keep pets away !! Learned this trick years ago. It takes a few days but you have to get the queen, and when she eats her workers she is a goner.