Many kinds of ants can become pests in and around a home or structure. Carpenter ants belong to the largest of all ant groups. Although carpenter ants are usually more of a problem in the Northwest and Northeast, they can be both a nuisance and a serious structural pest across the southeastern United States.
Carpenter ants play an important role in the forest ecosystem.
They are responsible for excavating and breaking down wood. It is this behavior that gives them their common name. They do not eat wood like termites, but tunnel into wood to make a nest. One sign that carpenter ants are present is a pile of wood shavings outside a hole or opening. The wood shavings will be coarse and there will be insect parts mixed among them.