Penoplex and ants how to fight

What's the attraction?

According to many experiments conducted and the experience of numerous ordinary people who use soft material for construction needs, which are all types of mineral wool, the toothy guards are not particularly afraid. Even the notorious glass wool - a rather prickly and skin-irritating substance - is not an obstacle for the ears. Moreover, in all these insulation materials, the newborns feel comfortable, make moves with pleasure and create cozy and warm nests inside.

In addition, rodents, although not entirely intellectually developed creatures, understand perfectly well that soft cotton wool is the best place to organize your own house, because it:

• doesn't rot,
• does not spoil
• has good ventilation properties,
• it's always warm and dry there,
• and the structure of the fibers holds its shape perfectly.

By the way, there is an opinion that no matter what the soft insulation is, in terms of its constituent ingredients, mice can live in it purely hypothetically!

Therefore, when erecting a structure, they think in advance about carefully sealing cracks and technological holes so that rodents do not have the opportunity to climb inside and make a warm nest for themselves.

It is worth noting that official manufacturers of mineral wool, for example, Techno, Parok, Izover and some others, do not indicate its resistance to rodents in their descriptions of the characteristics of the material. At the same time, Rockwool claims the opposite and confidently reports that mice are not interested in their product. Although, most likely, the developer is disingenuous, since there are many messages from home repairers refuting this fact.

In connection with the above, we can conclude that mice not only breed in mineral wool, but also feel at ease there.

Ants and penoplex

Despite all the advantages of insulation, it succumbs to small rodents and insects, especially hymenoptera. An ordinary mouse can easily chew through penoplex, and ants can build a real nest.

• What do ants eat
• Mice and foam

Insulation attracts pests primarily due to its porous structure. This is an ideal material for the construction of multi-level passages. Ants can quietly settle in the insulation without the knowledge of the owner of the house and after another week they can make themselves felt fully in the form of numerous foragers.

The environmental friendliness of the material does not cause any significant harm to insects. They calmly gnaw their way inside and organize colonies. Penoplex retains heat along with sufficient air circulation, which is also a good prerequisite for egg laying, as well as active reproduction. Due to the properties of the material, products in ant chambers are not susceptible to mold, which means they last longer.

Ant Reproduction

Comfortable living conditions in the insulation ensure the rapid growth of the colony. A few months will pass and all the slabs will be infested with pests. It is necessary to take appropriate measures as quickly as possible.

New passages, an increase in the number of individuals and foreign objects in the insulation reduce its thermal insulation qualities. As a result, the slabs turn into ordinary dust. It is better to ensure the protection of the material at the installation stage.

How to protect insulation

To avoid having to think about how to get rid of mice in the insulation and spend money on new material, you should take care of the safety of your home during construction.

The following points should be followed, and rodents will not be able to damage the insulation or enter the home:

1. To insulate the floor covering, use bulk material.
2. Minimize the number of seams when insulating walls.
3. Use roofing felt when insulating the roof.
4. Finish the façade of the building with durable cladding.
5. Make a strip foundation.

It is necessary to take care of the type of insulation before construction begins, because not all materials can be used when the building has already been put into operation.

If the house uses organic insulation, it should be rolled into concrete or covered with a fine mesh. In this case, rodents will not be able to create a mouse hole in it.

Sometimes mice still bother their owners, despite all the work done. Then you have to fight pests using available methods: turn on the ultrasonic repeller, set up mousetraps, lay out poisonous baits. You can have a cat in your home. Its smell will scare away rodents from human possessions.

Builders or consultants at a hardware store will help you choose the appropriate type of insulation. You can also order suitable material via the Internet. It will be delivered wherever you are - in Moscow, St. Petersburg or a small town.

Types of insulation

The penoplex manufacturer's assortment includes options for various purposes. One of the most common is insulation called “Wall”. It immediately becomes clear for what purposes it is used most often. It is worth noting that any type has a standard thermal conductivity of 0.03 W/(m×K). This is a very good indicator among insulation materials. Penoplex from this subspecies is distinguished by the presence of special flame retardant additives. They are designed to reduce the flammability of penoplex. Although it was indeed possible to achieve some success and the material simply melts, it still releases harmful substances that can poison the human body. Penoplex allows you to insulate even walls that are laid using the well method.

There is also a certain subtype for foundation insulation. Its sheets have standard dimensions of 120x60 cm. Due to the fact that penoplex has negative water absorption, it provides additional insulation from moisture. This is especially important if there is a basement or garage underneath the house. In addition, the likelihood of freezing of walls is reduced due to cold bridges. Foundation penoplex is not suitable for wall insulation, because it does not contain fire retardant additives. Its distinctive feature is the half-finished end. This approach avoids the use of joint fillers in the form of foam or other substances. Penoplex does not decompose under the influence of putrefactive processes, so it tolerates being in the ground well.

There is also insulation for the roof. It is produced in sheets with a thickness of up to 100 mm. The positive side of its use is the possibility of using the attic space as an attic. If metal tiles or corrugated sheets were used as flooring, then it will reduce the noise pressure when rain falls. A special type of insulation is penoplex 45. It has the highest density in its class. Suitable for insulating heavily loaded roads and routes. Despite their positive and negative sides, any of the species can be destroyed by rodents and ants.

Study

The answer to the question about thermal insulators that repel rodents is impossible without market research. In total, it contains two types of heat insulators - organic and artificial.

Organic insulators are made from recycled or natural materials. They contain a minimum of chemical additives - only substances that resist fire. The main examples are ecowool, reed, straw, etc.

There are many more inorganic or artificial heat insulators. And if natural ones are produced, as a rule, in bulk or in slabs, then this category has more formats: slab mineral or basalt wool and loose perlite. You can opt for solid aerated concrete. Next we will talk about reliability indicators in relation to rodents.

Do mice live in penoplex and how to protect walls from rodents?

Penoplex is a modern material with unique thermal insulation properties, which is ideally suited for insulating foundations, walls and ceilings and is in great demand among buyers. Therefore, when choosing insulation for a summer house or country house, many people have a logical question: do mice eat penoplex? The author of the VredStop website found the answer: rodents do not eat insulation, but, trying to get into the room, they make passages in it and destroy the structure of the material. This reduces its thermal insulation properties.

Anthill structure

An anthill in appearance resembles an ordinary mountain of branches, blades of grass, pieces of earth, but in fact it is a subtly and well-thought-out dwelling, the inside of which is much more interesting than the outside.

The ant house has a cone shape for a reason; thanks to it, the rain rolls down the blades of grass and needles almost without getting inside. The anthill rises above the level of the grass so that the sun's rays penetrate inside, which warm the ants and also warm their larvae and pupae. And the deeper layers of the anthill provide a refuge for insects on cold days. Thanks to a clever design, the ants spend the summer in the summer cone and winter in the earthen passages.

Parts of an ant's home

Looking at the picture, you can see the different parts of the anthill; below is what each of them serves:

1. The top covering, consisting of needles, blades of grass and twigs, protects the ant house from weather conditions.
2. A chamber heated by the sun's rays - here the ants warm themselves and their offspring.
3. One of the many entrances, guarded by soldiers, in addition to serving as a door, also serves as a channel for ventilation.
4. Storage area for garbage and dead ants.
5. A wintering chamber where ants wait out the cold in a half-asleep state.
6. Chamber for storing grains.
7. The queen's chamber is where the queen lives and lays eggs, and is tended by worker ants.
8. Chamber for eggs and larvae.
9. Chamber for aphids.
10. Storage room for caterpillars and other “meat” prey.

What ants can be found in residential buildings?

There are two types of domestic ants in Russia:

• pharaonic or red - these insects are very small; their body length is only 2 mm. They are not adapted to living in the wild in a temperate climate and therefore, when the opportunity arises, they try to settle in a human dwelling;
• thief ants - unlike the previous species, they can easily live outdoors, and hunger can force them to come into your house. They come in small groups and most often appear in dachas; You can meet them on the ground floor or in the basement. In multi-story buildings, they almost never rise above the second floor - the female finds a secluded place in the room and establishes a nest there, from which working individuals subsequently run out into the apartment from time to time.

Representatives of both species have a yellow or sometimes orange body color and are the most frequent guests of residential apartments. If you live in a private house, you may also encounter black ants. But they are not domestic; they enter the house only in search of food and, as a rule, leave on their own after a while. Unlike house ants, black ants do not set up nests in a person’s home, but only “walk” through all rooms in search of a source of saturation.

In old wooden houses located in a forest belt, you can sometimes find red ants. They are also not domestic and parasitize only on the joints of logs. In addition, their appearance is isolated cases.

What to do with ants

The tunnels made in penoplex by rodents clearly answer the question of whether mice chew penoplex. But another problem that will have to be solved is the ants. These insects have determined that penoplex can be an excellent place for colonization. Due to its environmental friendliness, it does not interfere with their reproduction. Expanded polystyrene perfectly retains heat inside the sheet, and this is one of the main requirements for ants’ housing. They will feel comfortable inside even at sub-zero temperatures. The porous structure ensures the presence of air. Penoplex does not support the growth of mold, which could harm the colony, which is another factor in favor of the ants.

The ability of various types of thermal insulation to resist ants

In North America and Europe, various species of ants are a source of concern for single-family home owners as pests that cause enormous economic harm. This problem is relevant for residents of certain regions of Russia and the countries of central Central Asia. For example, carpenter ants have strong jaws and build nests in partially destroyed tree trunks or stumps, as well as in growing trees and heavily dried wood. In conditions where ants make their way into constructed buildings, the need to build nests leads to a confrontation between ants and humans. If there are ants in houses, people experience discomfort; in addition, ants can destroy load-bearing wooden structures from the inside or reduce the thickness of the thermal insulation layer. Therefore, research was carried out at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health to examine the ability of different types of thermal insulation to resist ant attack. Three experiments conducted by Norwegian scientists used a total of 2,250 worker carpenter ants and 120 larvae. The experiments compared materials such as:

• expanded polystyrene (EPS);
• extruded polystyrene foam (XPS);
• foam glass FOAMGLAS.

During the experiment the following were determined:

• time from the settlement of ants in containers with insulation samples to the start of destructive activity;
• the degree of destruction of samples of thermal insulation materials 5 days after the start of ant activity;
• the influence of the temperature of samples of thermal insulation materials on the activity of ants.

Based on the results of experiments, it was found that expanded polystyrene (EPS) and extruded polystyrene foam (XPS) are not able to resist the penetration of ants. It turned out that in the above-mentioned thermal insulation materials, ants are able to dig out passages and corridors, as well as make full-fledged nests. During the experiment, it was possible to establish that the ants caused more damage to slightly heated EPS and XPS samples. Unlike EPS and XPS, FOAMGLAS foam glass samples were able to withstand the effects of ants and did not experience any destruction, regardless of their own temperature.

Styrofoam, mice and ants

Anyone who has encountered rodents and knows first-hand about their ability to dig holes and gnaw through seemingly the most durable and hard building materials will not be able to immediately give an unambiguous answer to the question of whether mice eat foam plastic. There is too much fiction in everyday stories and published information from “experts” about the capabilities of mice and their behavior, therefore, before drawing a conclusion for yourself, you should dwell in more detail on the behavior of these animals and find out what they can eat.

What rodents don't like

But really, what kind of insulation is not chewed by mice?

In first place, perhaps, we can put expanded clay - clay, processed in a special way, formed into granules of different sizes. Rodents do not like it as a place to build a home, especially if a small fraction is used. The fact is that when moving on an unsteady surface, mice fall into it, and besides, a long stay in dusty expanded clay clogs the animals’ airways and they become unable to breathe.

In second place is foam glass - it is made by steaming and foaming glass. When hardened, such material becomes too hard and does not lend itself to mouse teeth.

Foam concrete is another material that is an excellent barrier for the gray army of rodents. The solid mixture of sand, cement, water and foaming agent has a hard and porous structure, which makes it difficult for mice to gnaw passages.

Why do ants live in insulation?

Expanded polystyrene is an organic product that does not contain harmful substances and has a porous structure. You can build a nest in it and make passages.

Some people complain that ants eat penoplex. But thermal insulation material is not the food of workers. They may feed on food scraps and other small insects.

Ants can live in polystyrene foam because it has the following properties:

• it keeps you warm and you can’t freeze inside it even in winter;
• there is air in the insulation - pests can breathe there;
• mold does not grow in the material;
• An optimal level of humidity is maintained inside.

Ants in polystyrene
foam are loved not only by little workers. Various beetles, midges, mice and rats chew on penoplex because of its soft texture.

It can be very difficult to get rid of ants in penoplex. Strong poisons and time-tested home recipes do not always help. Therefore, even before insulation, it is worth taking care of prevention.

Which insulation materials are not a barrier for mice and rats

We've become familiar with sustainable materials, but what insulation materials should we not use in our home? There are many of these, mice feel very comfortable in them. Rodents easily gnaw holes and set up nests, although they rarely eat insulation. The worst material for insulating a house is polystyrene foam. Thorough treatment of the insulation with boric acid or copper sulfate will help against pests.

Types of mineral wool: glass, stone (basalt)

Mineral wool has high heat-insulating properties; it is obtained by processing slag and some rocks with additional impurities. One of the varieties of mineral wool is glass wool, which was widely used as insulation in Soviet times. It is elastic, durable, breathable, frost-resistant, and fireproof. Fungus and mold will never appear in it, but mice often appear. Rodents do not eat glass wool, because it is very prickly, but they easily make long passages in it and build nests.

Today, glass wool has been replaced by stronger and safer basalt (stone) wool. It is made from the remains of rocks by rapid melting. Its soft fibrous structure, thermal conductivity and environmental friendliness make it a favorite habitat for rodents. They settle inside the material, which leads to a decrease in the quality of thermal insulation of the house. No mineral wool is suitable for insulating residential premises.

Polystyrene foam and polystyrene foam

Foam plastic attracts rodents with its texture and smell; in a short time they can turn up to 80% of the insulation into dust. Mice not only settle in it, but also store food reserves inside, which makes a person’s stay in the room unbearable. Polystyrene foam is very easy to install and is inexpensive, but before use it must be properly prepared. Foam boards can be covered with fine-mesh metal mesh, but this is too expensive. Experienced builders advise dousing them with liquid concrete solution, which prevents the appearance of rodents.

Instead of polystyrene foam, you can use polystyrene foam, which is more resistant to mouse teeth. It is made from the same raw materials as polystyrene foam, but using more modern technologies. Special fire-retardant substances are added to it at high temperatures, enriched with carbon dioxide and extruded. The resulting mass hardens and is cut into slabs of the required size. Expanded polystyrene has a higher density, lightness and ease of installation. It has excellent thermal insulation, resistance to moisture and frost, but the thicker the slab, the more readily rodents breed in it.

Polyurethane foam

Unfortunately, the answer to the question of whether mice chew polyurethane foam can be answered in the affirmative. They not only grind down their growing teeth on it, but also grind the foam into fine dust, which they use to build nests. Inexperienced owners of private houses are trying to seal holes made by mice and rats with polyurethane foam. This empty exercise will lead to nothing, because it will not be an obstacle for rodents.

Foam rubber, roofing felt and other materials

Unlike foam rubber and polyurethane foam, mice cannot chew through roofing felt and slate, because they are dense and hard. The only disadvantage of using roofing felt is its ability to absorb odors. The shortcoming can be eliminated using a film stretched over a roofing felt sheet. Instead, roofing felt is often used, the smell of which is unpleasant to rodents. It is better not to use foam rubber as insulation at all, just like chipboard, because these materials are defenseless against the teeth of rats and mice.

The choice of insulating material begins at the stage of laying the foundation

First of all, pay attention to its thermal conductivity properties, durability, and noise protection. Environmental friendliness, fire safety and breathability are considered important

From this point of view, expanded clay is an ideal insulation material. There are cases where rats have damaged aluminum and lead pipes, and it is not difficult for them to chew through most popular insulation materials.

Why do we love rodents?

After an experiment was conducted, the purpose of which was to determine whether mice eat penoplex, it became clear that this is not the case. Mice are rodents, so they will chew anything they have to get inside the room. Their goal is food and warmth, and the penoplex simply stands there as a barrier. It is easier for mice to walk through it than to destroy wood or cement mortars. Sometimes mice make multi-meter moves in the penoplex. In complete silence you can hear how quickly they move inside the insulation. There are several simple rules that will minimize the likelihood of rodents entering through penoplex, but not completely prevent it. Here are some of them:

• spread the poison around the perimeter;
• do not leave food in the house;
• get a cat;
• protect foam sheets;
• choose a durable exterior finish.

Everything is clear with the poison, you need to purchase the required quantity and scatter it in places where mice have already been or there is a possibility of their appearance. Not leaving food in the house is not always an option. For reconnaissance purposes, rodents can still get into the room. Someone suggests scattering sawdust, which will be soaked in copper sulfate, which will repel mice. The smell of a cat also throws rodents into panic. One of the most effective ways is to strengthen the penoplex. To do this, during installation, you can cover the top of the insulation with a metal mesh, which will have small cells.

How and what kind of ants enter the home

First, let's find out who we are dealing with. In a good half of cases, our houses are visited by pharaoh ants, less often by red ones. The former are distinguished by their small dimensions (worker body length up to 2 mm) and a large number of individuals. Red ants are noticeably larger (up to 14 mm), but they have much fewer “apartment” foragers. But both of them cause a lot of trouble.

They can travel considerable distances in search of food. On average, the length of one path along which workers walk varies around 100 meters, and their total length can reach almost a kilometer.

Pests enter homes through cracks, windows, doors and technical openings. If one crack is closed, they can easily build a new road through another. Sometimes ants get into an apartment with clothes or items for a picnic and country holiday.

As such, they do not pose a threat of resettlement in the house. As a rule, the anthill is located within the above-mentioned 100 meters. In some cases, insects can create small buffer nests - a kind of distribution center from where food is delivered to the main home.

What can a mouse do?

Traditionally, our homes, houses and buildings are used at the first opportunity by mice, rats, ants only under one condition - if there is a source of food suitable for them in the room.

Therefore, the mouse's actions are motivated by several factors:

Reasons for appearance

So, we have decided on the types of domestic ants, now let's find out the reasons for their appearance.

It should be said right away about thief ants. These insects enter human homes for one simple reason - the absence of nearby anthills of other species, where they usually get their food in the wild.

As for the pharaohs, there will be several reasons:

• the anthill is located in the next room;
• you rarely do deep cleaning in your apartment;
• the owners themselves brought the pests into their home;
• ants flee and seek refuge in your apartment.

Infestation of the neighboring premises

If your neighbors have a nest of ants, then expect that they will soon come to you. As the population grows, insects will begin to look for a place to create daughter anthills, and if your apartment is located in close proximity to the original source, then it risks being at the top of the list for arranging a new home.

In addition, the neighboring apartment will not necessarily be a breeding ground for ants. These insects love damp places and can come from a damp basement, of course, if your house has one. Having a garbage disposal can also cause ants to appear in your apartment.

And it is possible that on the ground floor of your house there is a restaurant, cafe or other catering establishment. After all, ants, like cockroaches, are located where not only a source of water is located, but also an abundance of food.

Poor sanitary conditions

Often ants come to those houses where there is a constant and inexhaustible source of food. And if you rarely carry out general cleaning, and have never disinfected places where food waste usually accumulates, then your apartment is a paradise for ants.

First, a scout will come to visit you, who will definitely see that you have something to profit from and rest assured - after a while he will return not alone. And after a week or two, a nest will be organized.

But preventing such developments is quite simple:

• Regularly clean where trash cans are located;
• check the serviceability of the plumbing fixtures and always close the taps tightly at night, and it is advisable to wipe the sink dry;
• if you suspect that ants have taken a fancy to your apartment, look for their nest near sinks, leaking pipes, under baseboards, in cracks in kitchen walls;
• do not leave open food on the table;
• If you managed to trace along which “paths” the scout ants move, then these paths must be treated with a special insecticide or a reliable folk remedy, in other words, you should erase the trail that helps the parasites find their way to food.

You brought the ants yourself

This situation happens quite often, but not always this oversight on your part can bring unpleasant consequences. The fact is that ants are very organized and are always attached to their nest. Even if one of them ends up on your clothes and then in your house, it will immediately look for its way “home,” since ants are pests that purposefully look for new nesting places and they do not need help with this.

And it’s a completely different matter if you are “lucky enough” to bring a queen ant into your home. She will certainly organize a new nest and, as a result, the ant population will soon become quite numerous: some individuals will follow the queen, the rest will hatch from eggs.

Sometimes, the owners of cozy apartments manage to bring a whole nest. This happens when moving, when an anthill “moves” to a new place of residence along with furniture, food and household appliances.

Ants are looking for shelter in you

And the last reason is the persecution of insects in neighboring rooms. In this case, the parasites’ self-preservation instinct simply kicks in, and they try to escape from danger as quickly as possible.

In this case, we can advise you to pay attention to preventive measures that will prevent ants from organizing a nest:

• seal the pipe joints and the places where they enter the wall;
• regularly carry out wet cleaning in all rooms without exception;
• it is advisable to spread repellent plants or use other repellents;
• Always remove leftover food from the table;
• After eating, wash the dishes immediately;
• Take out the trash every day, especially if there is food waste in the bin.

And periodic communication with neighbors will be useful. In case of complaints from them about the appearance of ants, you can be “fully armed” when insects come to set up their nest in your place.

How to treat penoplex?

To protect the insulation from ants and rodents, you can treat the surface of the penoplex with copper or iron sulfate or borax solution. It’s just a pity that such labor-intensive work will not bring 100% results. Under the influence of the sun and water, the impregnation will quickly wash off, and along with it, the seemingly reliable protection of the insulation will disappear.

Some experts advise painting or covering foam boards with glue. It will be more difficult for mice to move along slippery walls, and it will be more difficult to chew through a layer of paint than unprotected material. In addition, the smell of paint and glue will repel pests.

If none of the above methods helps, you need to take drastic measures - remove the destroyed thermal insulation material and re-insulate the house using materials that are resistant to the sharp teeth of rodents: foam glass, foam concrete, ecowool.

And even though mice do not eat penoplex, they cause enormous damage to the home by making numerous tunnels, destroying insulation and deteriorating thermal insulation. Reinforcement with mesh, treatment with insecticides and storing products in a place inaccessible to pests will help protect polystyrene foam from rodents.

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