I've been "playing" with all sorts of things to get rid of Carpenter Ants and I finally found a poison that will nail them. I have water oaks around my home and if you know those trees they rot from the inside out. That's a Carpenter Ants' dream home. The product is Termidor SC, or, Taurus SC; the Taurus is cheaper and that's what I used. They use the same active ingredient (Fipronil) in the same percentage. Neither are cheap! Amazon has it. You don't spray the ants or the nest, you spray where they travel which is the trunk of the tree in my case. I sprayed about a one foot wide band all around the tree trunks. In three or four days I started seeing dead and dying Carpenter Ants all over the ground; hundreds of them; Bingo. Exterminators use these products for termites. This is some bad poison so if you're a do-it-yourselfer, read ALL label precautions/instructions. You also need to treat again because eggs hatch. Maybe once every month I assume since I'm still working the situation. Good Luck!

Lyfia is right, those types of products do not kill the mold, they simply cover it up. Also, no one can tell if the mold is "not bad for your health" by just looking at it. That is hooey. Hire an inspector and find out for yourself what type of mold you are dealing with. Only then will you be able to make educated decisions in how to treat it. The builder, even if he has been honest with you so far, is probably going to resist aggressive treatment because it will take time and money and slow down the work on the project by several weeks. In the end it is you who needs to decide whether the type and amount of mold bothers you and what you want to do about it. The builder will likely be looking for the quick fix. It is very difficult to prevent mold from occurring in open construction, but an inspector can help you determine what a normal "spore count" is for construction and whether you have a problem that is beyond that level. Typically if you can see it growing, you've got too many mold spores and they need to be treated. Remember that no one else will be looking out for your best interest, so learn all you can and question the treatments until you are comfortable with the approach. We thought that our builder was trustworthy also until the mold problems arose. After that we learned how awful and dishonest he really is...it has been very difficult building with someone you don't trust as the GC, but we've learned the hard way to question everything from window flashing to how many coats of paint are going on the walls and what quality of paint is used! We're about two weeks from moving in and they're still lying to us weekly but through micro-managing and learning every detail I am at least comfortable that we've held them accountable to build a quality home. The best part about being finished won't be moving in...it will be never dealing with the builder again! I sure hope that your builder is a better person and runs an ethical business and can help you address the mold issue and move on.

Hi OP, we just tore our house down March 10th. It took them 1.5 days, including cleanup & dump fees, and that cost us $8500Cdn. I don't have pics on photobucket, but if you want to see what's involved just let me know and I'll post a couple. We only tore down to the basement foundation as we had lifted the house in 2003 and tore out the old one, piled, and put in a new one. (Should have just tore out the whole dang thing then...but I digress lol). If you DO decide to tear down, I STRONGLY recommend that you take out the windows yourself. We didn't (couldn't actually cause we were living there right until a couple days before demo) and our yard is COVERED with small pieces of glass that we will now have to pay more for to get cleaned up before re-landscaping. Also, your yard will be filled with small pieces of wood splinters. To clean this up easily, I just used a rake and it worked splendidly. As for your driveway? Alot will depend on how strong it was made to begin with. Our front sidewalk surprisingly survived with very little damage considering all the heavy equipment that was on it, but DH had built that thing like Fort Knox lol. It's too bad we had to tear it out anyways, our new entrance has moved so the sidewalk had to go. Good luck with your decision.

Thanks tox. The 2nd pest guy uses the Sentricon Bait method. Two different pest guys said the one who doesn't dig the trench but just polls Termidor into the perimeter of house is taking the lazy way out of having to dig a trench. I concur which is why I posted to see if that way sounded "off" to others as it did to me. I've done a lot of research. Had a 3rd guy out who uses the Termidor trench method but actually digs the trench, polls the trenched area with chemicals into the ground AND fills the trench with liquid chemicals, then covers over with dirt. He also blasts holes w/ chemicals in the garage and other concrete areas, therefore, making a barrier around the house. The 3rd guy told me that if one has termites, the barrier method is always used first to rid the termites quickly. The bait method is only used when you do not have termites, but, are preventing yourself from getting them in the first place. Thanks for the link.