Ever feel like you’re stuck in someone else’s shadow? No matter what you do or how productive you are, you feel like their accomplishments are the only thing getting noticed? That’s a little bit how carpenter bees feel about termites. People think that termites are the only threat to the wooden structures in their home, but carpenter bees, when left unchecked, can do just as much damage. The more you know about protecting your home, the more likely you are to avoid costly damage.
Spotting An Infestation
While carpenter bees don’t do nearly as much damage as termites, they are still not a pest that you want to let run rampant. Sure, they’ll help pollinate your plants, but other bees do that as well. Most carpenter bees will be about 15 mm in size, give or take 5 mm. They’ll look a lot like bumblebees, typically black or greenish-black in color. The males have sections of yellow, but confusing them with regular bumblebees can leave you exposed to the risk of structural damage. You see, carpenter bees love to build nests in the wooden parts of your house, often tunneling from the outside to the inside. They don’t eat the wood as termites do. However, they will spend most of the year expanding their nests and excavating larger and larger tunnels, dealing heavy damage to areas like the eaves, porches, siding, and outdoor decks on your property. You won’t notice them as much in the winter because they’ll stay inside the nests, but noticing an infestation early is paramount to avoid further nesting in the spring. The best way to spot an infestation is to notice the holes in the wood that allow for the nest entrance, seeing sawdust laying around on the ground, finding a mixture of pollen and bee feces (typically yellow in color) around the entrance of the nest, and witnessing them flying around.
Preventative Measures
If you have carpenter bees on your property, you should be much more worried about the damage to your home than the risk of getting stung. However, the female carpenter bees do have a painful sting if disturbed. You should be especially careful to look out for them near their favorite kind of nesting habitat: dry, weathered wood that is not painted. This can be anything from doors and window sills to roof eaves, railing, decks, poles, and even lawn furniture made out of wood. Getting rid of carpenter bees is very difficult. However, if you want to prevent an infestation, you can do so by protecting your wood and keeping them out of it. If you want to stop an infestation, your best bet is to paint and use polyurethane over any untreated wooden surfaces. This will help seal the wood, creating a two-fold barrier. First, treated wood won’t be as attractive, and, second, it is much harder to drill through. Typically, treated wood doesn’t allow enough moisture to get into the nesting area either. If treating all over the wood around your home seems like too much of a project, we have a much more efficient answer for you: professional pest control services. You’ll also save money in the long-run by not worrying so much about treating every piece of wood you have and winding up with inconsistent results in the process. If you spot signs of an infestation or worry about incurring one, contact All-Safe Pest & Termite at the first sign of a carpenter bee problem or for more prevention help. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at our wide variety of convenient, affordable services provided by our friendly pest control technicians.