How to Get Rid of Ants in the House, Room by Room

The best way to get rid of ants in the house is to work room by room: wipe each trail with soapy water, follow it to the crack where ants enter and seal it, put food and pet food in sealed containers, and set slow-acting bait on trails you cannot stop at the source. Check walls, windows and potted plants, which hide colonies people often miss.

Find Where the Ants Are Coming From

Ants inside a house are almost always on a trail between food or water and an entry point, and the trail tells you where to act. Watch the line for a minute, then follow it away from the food until it disappears into a crack, a window frame, an outlet, a gap around a pipe or the edge of the floor.

UC IPM's ant pest notes point out that ants like to trail along structural features such as wires and pipes and often use them to enter and travel through a building. So check under sinks, behind the dishwasher and where cables come through walls, not just along the floor.

Scattered single ants are scouts looking for food. A steady line means they have found some, and that is the trail worth following. For the whole-house plan from the colony outward, see our guide on how to get rid of ants.

How to Clear Ants From the House Step by Step

1. Wipe or vacuum each trail. Soapy water kills the ants it soaks and removes the scent trail that guides others; a vacuum works too.
2. Seal the entry. Caulk the crack, or plug it with petroleum jelly until you can caulk.
3. Remove what they came for. Seal sugar, honey, syrup, cereal and pet food in containers, wipe the outside of jars, and fix drips.
4. Bait the trails you cannot seal. Put bait stations or gel on the trail near the entry, and leave them undisturbed while ants feed.
5. Check again in a few days. New trails mean another entry point; follow and seal it the same way.
6. Give baits time. UC IPM says it can take 5 to 10 days to see fewer ants.

Skip the indoor spray. UC IPM notes that indoor sprays are not usually necessary and that spraying will not keep more ants from coming in; it also kills the workers that would carry bait back to the nest.

Ants in the Kitchen and Pantry

Kitchens attract the most ants because they hold the most food. Wipe counters and the floor along cabinets at night, keep dry goods in containers with tight lids rather than bags or boxes, and take out food waste daily. Rinse soda cans and syrup bottles before they go in the recycling bin.

Look behind the stove, refrigerator and dishwasher for spills and leaks, and under the sink along the pipes. Pet bowls are a frequent target; pick up leftovers after meals and wipe the floor beneath them. Ants that keep returning to one cabinet usually mean a sticky jar, a torn bag or a leak inside it, so empty that cabinet, wipe it out and check the back corners.

Ants in Bathrooms, Bedrooms and Living Rooms

Away from the kitchen, ants usually want water or a sheltered place to nest. In bathrooms, check for leaks under sinks, around the toilet base and at tub edges, and seal gaps around pipes where they come through the wall. Wet wood around a leak is also where carpenter ants may nest, so look for fine sawdust-like debris.

In bedrooms and living rooms, ants usually follow food: snacks, wrappers, candy or a child's cereal bowl. Vacuum under furniture and in corners, and check window frames, where trails often enter from outside. Ants trailing from an electrical outlet are coming through the wall cavity; do not spray into outlets, but bait beside them and seal gaps you can reach.

Ants in Potted Plants and Walls

Houseplants can hide whole colonies. UC IPM advises taking infested pots outdoors and submerging them for 20 minutes or more in a solution of 1 to 2 tablespoons of insecticidal soap per quart of water, so the soil surface is just covered. Check plants for aphids and scale insects too, since ants farm them for honeydew.

Ants in walls are harder, because you cannot reach the nest. Set bait stations or a small amount of gel bait at the cracks, outlets or gaps where the ants come out, so foragers carry bait back inside the wall. Avoid spraying into wall voids, which kills only the ants it reaches and leaves the nest untouched.

Natural and Home Remedies Inside

Several home remedies help with the ants you see, but none reaches the colony. Soapy water is the most useful: UC IPM says sponging or mopping trails with soapy water may work as well as an insecticide spray for removing foragers, and some soap products such as window cleaner kill ants on contact.

Can vinegar repel ants? Wiping a trail with vinegar removes the scent like any cleaner, but there is no reliable evidence it keeps ants away once dry. The same goes for coffee grounds, cinnamon and essential oils, which UC IPM says have limited residual activity even in commercial products. For the natural route in full, the getting rid of ants section links homemade and natural methods.

How to Keep Ants Out of the House for Good

Ants stay out when there is no way in and nothing to find. Caulk cracks around windows, doors, pipes and wires before the season ants usually invade, keep food sealed and counters clean, and fix leaks promptly. Outside, keep mulch and plants several inches from the walls and trim branches that touch the house, since ants use them as bridges. Indoors, a quick wipe of counters and the floor along cabinets each night removes the crumbs that bring scouts in.

Set outdoor bait stations along the foundation where trails start, which UC IPM recommends over indoor baiting, so ants are dealt with before they reach the door.

Common Questions About Ants in the House

Key Takeaways

Ants in the house are following trails from an entry point to food or water, so the fastest lasting fix is to wipe each trail, follow it back and seal the gap. Store food in sealed containers, fix leaks, and bait the trails you cannot stop at the source, then give baits about a week to work.

Check the less obvious places: pipes under sinks, window frames, outlets, potted plants and wet wood near leaks. Skip indoor sprays, which kill only the ants you see, and call a professional for carpenter ants or ants that persist after a month of baiting.

Tonight, follow the busiest trail to where it enters and seal that gap.