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!

I suggest that you call a professional home pest control company. They are trained in solving problems like this in the safest method possible. Carpenter ants, by the way, can nest in the home. A professional will be able to figure it out.

I do have experience with carpenter ants and I very much doubt that the Raid did much to resolve the problem. Carpenter ants typically have their nest outside the home and not in your house. They use the outside nest as a base of operations, and stream into the house like a little convoy, eat the soft parts of the wood in your house, and then leave to take this material back to the nest. To eradicate them you need to clear all vegetation that is touching your house and then spray the foundation all the way around with a specialty pesticide that will kill them when they track through it and bring it back to the nest. It's also wise to do at least one more application several weeks after the first one, or if there is a chance the rain was gotten to the pesticide. If you are not informed about the right protective gear to wear when applying the pesticide, get a professional to do this. In my case, I had three separate occurrences of this problem over a number of years at my previous house. Once you get your carpenter ant problem resolved, you will need to stay alert in future years for signs of their return, and to always keep the landscaping -- plants, bushes, and trees -- pruned back so none of it is touching the house and providing a pathway in and out.

Borax is usually a good way to stop an ant invasion but there’s other alternatives. This site has ideas on getting rid of ants in the garden. Best Ways to Get Rid of Ants in Your Garden It mentions Diatomaceous Earth and has a tutorial on how to implement it. The problem with Diatomaceous Earth is that it kills an ant from the outside rather than acting as a poison when ingested. So it forms a good barrier. Here is the explanation: Natural Ant Killer, Diatomaceous Earth for Ants Other ways are baking soda ant traps, natural spray and other alternatives. If you implement an ant trap correctly it can be as effective as a Terro ant trap. Try to make the borax or even a baking soda ant trap to make sure that it kills the nest and then form a barrier with Diatomaceous Earth.