Help! I have killed 200 red ants in the house today

[Pam]

Yesterday I left the sliding glass door for a few minutes and had 10 red ants coming through into the house. I killed the ones that had made it inside and didn't think more about it. Red ants have never been a problem, even though they are common outdoors.

This morning at the door into this room, which is my workout room, as well as things, there were probably 50 red ants! After trying to just step on them, it become war and I got the shop vac. I would take breaks every few minutes from working out and kill ants. Finally the ant war won, I quit working out. I still check every few minutes and kill at 5 or so at a time. There is no food in the room where they are, but starting finding them closer to the kitchen.

The outside walls and deck of this room had a lot of red ants. I vac them and washed with soapy water the wall and the deck in the area, to hopefully ruin their scent trails. Put a layer of baking soda between and the outdoor wall. Maybe they are coming through the attic? Seen only ants a couple feet up on the walls, so maybe not coming through the attic. Hard to get into the attic for me to check. Only a few seen in the area of the sliding glass door.

Any ideas to stop this? All ideas appreciated! I do have a cat & a dog, so don't want anything that would harm me or them.