The other day my daughter pulled over a Costco sized bottle of olive oil with an ill-fitting cap and it spilled ALL over the floor. I cleaned it up really well and that would have been the end of it, but we have had a bad ant problem and now they keep ending up all over the floor where the olive oil spilled! We already had an exterminator come out and it will take about 2 weeks to get rid of the ants. In the meantime, is there anything I can do to get that residue up off the wood floor? I used dry cloths to clean it up and then scrubbed it with clorox wipes. (It's laminate flooring not real wood.) Every morning we wake up to ants where the olive oil was. =(
I can only sympathize - a giant bottle of fish sauce (Asian condiment) spilled in my pantry last week on the wood floor and the linoleum tile pantry floor. I actually had to pull up and toss the tile floor, it stinks like rotting fish and every day I look for the inevitable ants. :(
Go buy some Borax. Its not only good for cleaning up greasy messes which fits the bill for cleaning up your olive oil mess, but it can also help with the ants. I believe they have instructions on the box for how you would want to mix it with water etc to take up the oil.. but if not then check out this website.. it also has lots of other helpful recipes for cleaning with borax. You may have to dig a bit for the recipes but you'll probably end up needing to mix borax and vinegar. It won't smell pretty, but it will take up almost anything. Great stain remover for carpet too.
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/natural-ways-to-get-rid-...
I have always used a product called Taro to get rid of both S. and grease eating ants. You will need to put it where the kids and or pets can't get it but it really works. They eat it and take it back to the nest which kills them and the other ants when we have had a problem it only takes a few days to be rid of them. Good Luck.
Ants follow a scent trail that the previous ants left behind. I had a similar issue a while back. Found that spraying the area and a wide berth around it with Lysol, letting it sit for a couple minutes and then wiping it up seemed to do the trick.
get some diatomaceous earth and sprinkle it where the ants are getting in. yes, it looks like a line of 'dirt' in your house, but ants cannot abide it.
khairete
S.
I have heard that pouring grits down will get rid of them because they eat it and it swells up in the stomach and kills them ...lol .....but I don't know if its true!
I think I would cal a flooring store or if you know the manufacturer of your flooring, and ask them. Olive oil is a tough one even just to clean off plates with really hot water.
I know you can't use much chemicals on a laminate floor (we have them too!), try Dawn soap with boiling water! That should work to get the residue up! Good Luck!
Sprinkle baking SODA on the area...enough to cover whole area. Let it sit for a few minutes and then wash it off with warm water and dish soap.
The soda will soak up some of what's left of the oil and the soapy water should get the rest off.
Good luck!
P.S. I had ants in my kitchen and all I used was a box of $5 ant traps...the kind that look like little white plastic flowers, made by Raid. Worked great and haven't seen an ant for six months! I have some in my cabinet just in case they come back.
You need soapy water to pick up the oil effectively. Good luck.
D.
It's funny that you described the bottle as "Costco sized" because I would suggest a cleaner that I got at Costco. "Oil Eater Cleaner Degreaser".
We bought a house that had caked on oil/grease-i-ness on the wooden kitchen cupboards. All the soaps I tried didn't work and I didn't want to destroy the wood in the process. But when I touched them I could feel the gunk. I tried the "Oil Eater Cleaner" and it worked great!
As for the crazy ants; I just sprinkled DE (diatamacious earth) along the edges of cupboards where they seem to like to travel and then sprayed that ORTHO Home Defense (again purchased at Costco altho you can get other places) under the stove, refrigerator and back of sink around pipes. (it can shoot straight stream to get back underneath where I can't reach and is out of the way from anyone touching) Seems to have backed them off. I was horrified last night when I HAD TO leave dinner dishes out and couldn't clean up til I got back in the morning. I expected to see hundreds of ants and there wasn't a one!
(I will not continue to tempt them with our leftovers, but it was nice to be free of them for now)
J., Byron Center, MI
You should try dawn dishwashing soap there must still be a scent or a film of oil there. olive oil is a thick oil. dawn usually cuts it or maybe try using lysol or something to disguised it
