Have you had the experience of pulling out a favorite shirt or blouse only to notice it has a hole in it? If so, you know that sinking feeling that you can no longer wear it — at least in a professional environment. Perhaps you kept the clothing only to notice a few months later that more holes were in it. At that point, you probably threw it away; you may also have begun to think you have moths or another problem lurking in your closet.
Carpenter bees can inflict the same damage; holes in the wood in your Bay Area house. If you think carpenter bees are buzzing around your home, you need pest control in The Bay Area from Bay Pest before they do more damage. We are a local company that focuses on complete customer satisfaction. After 35 years in the pest control industry serving other companies, our founder began Bay Pest in 2017 to provide the customer experience he saw needing improvement in other pest control services.
We wrote this article because carpenter bees cause hidden problems, and many homeowners are not sure if what they see flying in the yard are carpenter bees. So, please keep reading to learn more about these insects and what you can do to stop them from damaging your Bay Area home.
What Are Carpenter Bees, And Why Do They Tunnel?
Carpenter bees are flying insects with six legs, two antennae, and a three-part yellow and black body. People often confuse carpenter bees around the house with bumble bees, so knowing these features will help you distinguish between the two species:
- Smooth abdomen (the back part of the body)
- Lives in wood
- Solitary
Carpenter bees have a 1/4 to 1-inch body, but bumble bees have a 1-inch or larger heavier body. Also, the abdomen of bumble bees has yellow and black hairs, but the carpenter bee's abdomen is hairless and shiny. Bumble bees create colonies of hundreds of members in the ground, whereas carpenter bees live alone inside the wood. Although carpenter bees damage structures, they rarely sting; if you are stung by a carpenter bee, it will be from a female since the males do not possess stingers.
As their name suggests, unprotected wood attracts carpenter bees. Unlike termites that eat wood, carpenter bees get nutrition from plant juices, but the females chew through wood to create a place to lay eggs. Carpenter bees often overwinter in previously bored wood tunnels created by other pests.
To get rid of carpenter bees in The Bay Area professionally, call Bay Pest. We will dispatch a trained service technician to your Bay Area home to eradicate the problematic flying pests before they cause damage to your home.
How To Tell If Your Home Has Carpenter Bee Activity
Carpenter bees are not the only insect to invade exposed wood in the home, so how can you determine if you have termites, carpenter ants, or carpenter bees? When you notice carpenter bees flying in and outside of holes around wood, you have a carpenter bee infestation on your Bay Area property.
Holes created by carpenter bees are larger than the pinhole-sized openings created by termites or carpenter ants. The 1/2-inch holes are round and smooth and extend six inches to ten feet into the wood. As the bees excavate the wood, they push the coarse shavings to the nest opening, creating sawdust piles outside the opening. Look for these holes in doors, roof eaves, and window sills.
After boring a few inches into the wood, the bees will make a right-angle turn and excavate parallel to the wood's surface. The female carpenter bees construct several cells inside the tunnels to house individual eggs and future carpenter bee babies. Woodpeckers eat carpenter bee larvae, which compounds wood damage when they drill into the tunnels to get their food.
You need help from Bay Pest if you see pinkie-finger-sized carpenter bee holes in your Bay Area home—the size of your pinkie finger.
Five Tips To Keep Carpenter Bees Away From Your Bay Area Home
Once a service technician resolves the carpenter bee infestation around your Bay Area home, implement these five carpenter bee deterrents:
- Paint exposed wood surfaces with oil-based or polyurethane paints
- Apply almond oil over natural wood finishes
- Replace damaged wood with chemical pressure-treated timber
- Protect the ends of timbers and posts with metal flashing or a wire screen
- Fill empty nest holes with caulk or steel wool to prevent reuse
While these tips will deter a future invasion, the best way to get rid of carpenter bees in the Bay Area is to partner with Bay Pest. Our trained service technicians can provide additional tips when they familiarize themselves with your location.
The Best Way To Remove A Carpenter Bee Infestation In The Bay Area
Avoiding carpenter bee wood damage begins with using Bay Pest. A certified and experienced home pest control company will inspect your property to determine the scope of the infestations, entry points, attractants, and carpenter bee nesting locations. We will treat existing nests to eliminate the bees and prevent their return to previously used nests. Contact us today to schedule a free inspection.