Q. I found a small pile of sawdust under an upholstered chair in my studio apartment and figured I have carpenter ants. I don’t know how they got in the chair, since I’ve owned it for at least 10 years and my building is a brick high-rise in the city. Anyway, I placed Raid Ant Baits under the chair where I saw the sawdust (as recommended by my dad and the hardware store), neither of whom had ever heard of having ants in one piece of furniture. If this doesn’t work, what I could do? Will I really have to throw out the chair (it was rather expensive)?

JEN, by e-mail