By Erica Ho, Lifehacker – June 10, 2010 at 02:30PM
Summer brings sunshine, fresh air, and, sometimes, ants into your home. If the ants become troublesome this year, home improvement site DIY Life suggests drawing lines with chalk around the house to keep the ants at bay.
Photo by photogirl17.
With some chalk, apparently it’s not hard to keep ants away from particular areas of your home without using harsh chemicals.
To keep ants out of your house, draw chalk lines around your doorways and windowsills. Ants won’t cross a chalk line. Why? It’s not entirely clear, but some say the ants don’t like the particles sticking to their feet, while others say they’re averse to the calcium carbonate in the chalk. Whatever the reason, this nontoxic solution will keep ants outside where they belong.
It may sound absurd (okay, it does sound absurd), but a quick Google search shows a lot of support for this method. And if that doesn’t work, consider other natural remedies like using cucumbers to keep the ants away. Got other nifty tricks for keeping the bugs out of your home? Sound off in the comments.