Carpenter Ant in Tsawwassen Heights.

Why carpenter ant pressure is specific to Tsawwassen Heights

Tsawwassen Heights carpenter ant pressure is the lowest of our Tsawwassen sub-areas. Modern construction practices (continuous flashing, kickout flashings on roof-wall intersections, vinyl-sided exterior cladding instead of cedar) eliminate most of the moisture-trap details Camponotus colonies exploit. Original landscape plantings have only recently matured to the point of providing parent-colony habitat — most homes here have street trees less than 30 years old, not the 60-100 year established cedars of Sunshine Hills. The exception: townhouse complexes that used cedar-shingle roofs as a design feature in the 1990s (some 56 Street and 1st Avenue developments). Those complexes are reaching the 25-30 year window where cedar shake fails and carpenter ants find the resulting moisture pockets. We've treated several Tsawwassen Heights stratas where the original architectural feature has become the carpenter-ant attractant.

Local signs in Tsawwassen Heights

• Frass appearing under cedar-shingled townhouse roof returns or dormers.
• Activity in cedar-clad townhouse architectural details (window boxes, decorative trim).
• Swarmer wings inside upper-floor townhouse units in late April.
• Hollow-sounding window frames in townhouses with original cedar trim.
• Trails along cedar-shingled gables of older townhouse stratas.

Seasonality in Tsawwassen Heights

Tsawwassen Heights carpenter ant activity is sparse outside of cedar-shingled townhouse strata complexes; in those, peaks track Sunshine Hills (April-May swarmers, July-August foraging).

What to do right now

If you're in a Tsawwassen Heights cedar-shingled townhouse and have seen frass or swarmers, book a strata-level inspection — these are often complex-wide issues where the cedar-shake roof is the underlying attractant and individual unit treatment doesn't solve it.