Townhouses, or townhouses, are a special type of property from a pest management perspective: party walls and structures shared between units make it difficult to identify the source of infestation and coordinate treatment. In Saint-Basile-le-Grand, on the South Shore, a townhouse condo complex built in the late 2000s, in a developing area on the border with McMasterville, was affected by an infestation of carpenter ants that had progressed from the corner unit to the adjoining units. Our team of exterminators in Saint-Basile-le-Grand managed this file in collaboration with the syndicate of co-owners to ensure a coordinated and complete intervention.
Coordination with the syndicate of co-ownership
The first step in this case was to contact the syndicate of co-ownership to obtain the necessary authorizations to inspect all the common portions concerned and, if applicable, the units adjacent to the alleged source of the infestation. In a condominium environment, the syndicate is responsible for the common portions and must coordinate interventions that affect shared structures. A preliminary meeting with the building manager made it possible to present the inspection plan and to obtain the cooperation of the co-owners of the three units involved. This collaborative approach is essential to ensure effective treatment: an intervention in a single unit without addressing the source or pathways of spread in common settings would only shift the problem. The extermination of carpenter ants in co-ownership requires this relational and administrative dimension in addition to the technical aspect.
Inspection of common units and structures
The inspection covered the three units reported as well as the common areas: access corridor, common storage room and technical spaces in the basement. The source of the infestation was identified in the corner unit, where the cedar wood deck, partially decaying at the junction with the support posts, was an ideal settlement point. Active galleries were found in the deck posts, in the main floor joists of this unit, and in the party wall studs between the first two units. The frass found in the built-in closet of the second unit confirmed that the colony had migrated via the party wall. Outside, the stump of a recently felled tree, left in place in the common landscaping, had served as the original mother nest. This configuration is well documented in this similar realization in co-ownership.
Coordinated processing of the three units
The treatment was carried out simultaneously in the three units concerned, a necessary approach to prevent the ants treated in one unit from simply moving to the neighbouring units. In each unit, injections of slow-transfer insecticidal gel were carried out in the identified galleries and along the party walls, supplemented by an injection of residual powder into the accessible wall voids. The decaying deck of the source unit was treated by direct injection into the affected posts and boards, with an urgent recommendation to replace the degraded wood structure with a composite or rot-proof material, a responsibility that fell to the syndicate for the support posts and the co-owner for the deck surface. Caulking of entry points was carried out around the ducts passing through the party walls and floors, limiting inter-unit migration routes. For more condominium projects, check out this carpenter ant case study.
Report to the Union and Structural Recommendations
A complete report was submitted to the syndicate of co-ownership, including documentation of all the areas treated, the products used, the structural damage observed and the recommendations for work. The syndicate has included the replacement of the degraded terrace and the removal of the mother nest stump into its annual work plan. A prevention program has been established for the entire complex, with an inspection of the common areas each spring by our technicians. Our extermination services in Quebec include this type of institutional support for condominium syndicates that wish to proactively manage pest risks in their buildings. Also consult this anthill project in a dense residential context to complete your referencing of our interventions on the South Shore.