Carpenter Bee Control

Need Help? Call the Carpenter Bee Control help line at 1-800-877-7290

will composite facia boards under gutters deter carpenter bees?

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Will replacing the redwood facia under the gutters with composite deter the carpenter bees from boring holes?

No. Composite wood is still wood. And if you read our carpenter bee control article, you’ll learn they’re attracted to anything wood and in fact, they actually love composite.

Additionally, we’ve found that replacing facia boards with “recycled plastic” wood won’t work either. Nor will covering the home in vinyl siding. In cases where these efforts have been employed, we find the bees bore into the wood found under the planks or siding. Apparently the smell of wood is a natural attractant and can only be neutralized by covering it with something the bees find repelling.

In the end, once a structure is identified as a good nest site, bees will go to any length to bore and build new nests on it. And to stop them will involve the treatments listed in our article.

Basically that’s the application of Demise to the holes followed by spraying the area with either Maxxthor or NBS Repellent.

Demise:  https://bugspray.com/catalog/insecticide/dust/drione-demise-dust-6-oz

Hand Duster: bugspray.com/equipment/dusters/crusader

Maxxthor: bugspray.com/catalog/insecticide/liquid/maxxthor-ec

NBS Repellent:  https://bugspray.com/exempt/additive/nbs-paint-additive-16-oz

Carpenter Bee Control: www.carpenterbees.com

Give us a call if you still have questions.

Technical Support
1-800-877-7290

how do carpenter bees drill holes?

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I was wondering if they have teeth and if not, how do they drill their holes?

Carpenter bees don’t have teeth. But what they do have are mandibles and they use their mandibles like teeth. Basically they use them to cut and tear through wood they target for nest making.

And once they find wood they want to nest in, they’ll use their mandibles to tear away in circular patterns that ultimately will fit their bodies perfectly. The process will take some time; carpenter bees can drill about 1 inch of nest every 5-6 days. But in the end, their nests can be several feet long with several egg chambers drilled off the main nest path.

Learn more about carpenter bees by reviewing our article which also features some excellent video and pictures:

Carpenter Bee Control: www.carpenterbees.com/carpenter-bee-control.html

carpenter bees in furniture

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I noticed a carpenter bee at my balcony window yesterday which I sprayed and killed. Today I decided to spray around the balcony door outside and a few minutes latter I noticed that one big carpenter bee came through the net inside my living room. It made a few circles around the room and then disappeared between the desk and the window. I looked for the bee everywhere but could not find it. I’m afraid it might be somewhere in my wooden furniture. What should I do? Please help!!? Thank you so much in advance!!

No need to worry. The bee that got inside will most likely die within a day or two because it’s generally not able to start a new nest and successfully create one without getting lots of food and water – neither of which will be readily available inside your home.

So typically when carpenter bees get inside any home by mistake, they usually die from dehydration within a day or two. And because there are so many areas for it to hide, there is a 50% chance of you finding it; a 50% chance it will die somewhere out of sight and never to be found.

Now what is more important is that if you have this much activity around your balcony, there is a good chance a nest either exists there (or somewhere close) or is being created. And if that is true, the odds will increase that more bees will be getting inside as well as having the home sustain damage from all the drilling. So if you want to prevent both these problems from happening, I suggest you do a thorough investigation of the outside area to see if you can locate any nests.

And if you find any, get them treated with Demise. Next, give all surface areas where they’re hanging around treated with either Maxxthor or NBS. This would include the balcony, the bushes, etc. Either of these products do a good job of repelling carpenter bees and will help keep them away so they don’t drill new nests.

Demise: bugspray.com/catalog/insecticide/dust/drione-demise-dust-6-oz

Hand Duster: bugspray.com/equipment/dusters/crusader

Maxxthor: bugspray.com/catalog/insecticide/liquid/maxxthor-ec

NBS Repellent: bugspray.com/exempt/additive/nbs-paint-additive-16-oz

Carpenter Bee Control: www.carpenterbees.com

Give us a call if you still have questions.

Technical Support
1-800-877-7290

carpenter bees in basement

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I have a problem with carpenter bees in my basement year after year. I have vinyl siding over wood siding. Can’t locate where they are coming in. Could they be coming in under siding in holes in basement wall which is a stone wall? What would I look for outside to find them?

I tried Bee & Wasp spray along the perimeter of the ceiling around the top of the wall of basement. This only works for a short time. I kill about 50 bees per year. Can you help?

This is an easy one. If you read the answer I posted about carpenter bees going under vinyl siding, you’ll learn this is an all too common problem when wood siding is covered with vinyl siding. As the post explains, the bees will still be able to smell the decaying wood hiding underneath and gain access to it through small seams in the siding. Once under the siding, they’ll drill their holes and be successful at developing to mature adults.

bees flying around vinyl siding

Now the real problem is these nests won’t be easy to detect because the wood is covered. In most of these cases, you won’t see any of the typical signs because the bees are drilling under the wood. This means the sawdust won’t be seen and neither will the holes they create.

And as fall turns to winter, they’ll move into these holes and overwinter in a nest that is very well protected from the outside cold. This means they’ll be quite comfortable with a good chance of surviving and entering the home.

So come the new year and the spring when they become active, they’ll try to emerge to go foraging outside but because the siding is tight and tough to escape, many will end up moving to inside the home. So my best guess is the nests that are harboring hibernating adults and pupae are releasing them in the spring and that some of these are finding their way into your home.

The good news is the treatment to stop this is easy and highly effective. Basically you’ll need to dust along every row of the vinyl siding with Demise Dust.

This can be done with a Hand Duster and/or a Dustick depending on how easy it is to reach the siding. If you read up on Demise, you’ll learn it’s highly effective against carpenter bees and lasts a long time. So for you home I would recommend a thorough dusting in the spring and then another treatment with Demise in the fall.

Demise:  bugspray.com/catalog/insecticide/dust/drione-demise-dust-6-oz

Hand Duster: bugspray.com/equipment/dusters/crusader

Dustick:  https://bugspray.com/equipment/dusters/dustick

If done right, you should expect immediate results. In other words, I expect you could knock out the existing nests immediately and the residual of the Demise would keep new nests from forming all summer.

And if you dust again in the fall, you should be protected throughout the entire winter so that any coming around to hibernate won’t be able to survive in the abandoned nests. This should keep them away from your home and out of your basement.

Lastly, even if you do a good job of dusting this spring, I strongly recommend you spend some time going around the outside of the home looking for any carpenter bees flying around soffits, overhangs, gutters, etc. Now if you find bees in any of these areas, I would expect these areas would be entry points. So to make sure they’re not using them as entry points, you’ll need to treat them with the Maxxthor talked about in our article here:

Carpenter Bee Spray: https://www.carpenterbees.com/carpenter-bee-control.html#carpenter-bee-liquid-repellent-spray

No doubt vinyl siding can present a bit of a problem when treating for nesting bees but it’s nothing a good amount of Demise Dust can’t handle. And since this treatment will work on all pests, it’s a great way to stop anything that might want to nest under it. Get your siding treated as explained and I’m sure you’ll be able to knock out any carpenter bee nests present and keep new ones away all summer.

Give us a call if you still have questions.

Technical Support
1-800-877-7290

larger than normal bee

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I’ve been seeing this huge bee flying around my house.  It’s at least twice the size of a normal bee. It’s black and kind of has an orange color on its rear end. Do you know what kind of be that is and if its harmful to animals or humans?

Sounds like a valley carpenter bee. They can be found out west. They can grow to be quite large and no doubt at least twice as big as a normal bee. You can read up on them here:

Orange Bee: https://www.carpenterbees.com/that/are-orange.html

Now like any carpenter bee, they typically don’t pose much of a threat to people or pets. However, they will drill holes and make nests. This drilling can be damaging when it occurs on house siding, soffits, overhangs, fences, etc. If you find them doing so on or around your home, treat as explained in our article here:

Carpenter Bee Control: www.carpenterbees.com

Give us a call if you still have questions.

Technical Support
1-800-877-7290