Can a Carpenter Bee Damage Your Home? 3 Facts You Need to Know

Have you seen big bees hovering near your home? Do you have piles of sawdust in places you haven’t drilled holes? You might have an infestation of carpenter bees. 

They are native to Maryland and Virginia, so if you live here, you’ve probably seen these bees at some point. If you see them hovering around your home you need to take action now. 

Left untreated, carpenter bees can damage your home. Get up to speed on some of the basic facts about carpenter bees. That way you’ll know if you have them and need to have your house treated.

Take a look around your home for carpenter bee damage. As you do, here are three things you should know.

What You Need to Know About Carpenter Bees

If you’ve discovered you have a carpenter bee infestation, you will want to get rid of them. If you choose to use a pest control company, choose one that will take care of your carpenter bees in an environmentally friendly way. 

Carpenter Bees Don’t Eat Your Wood

Carpenter bees are not termites. They don’t eat your wood. They do, however, drill it out.

When a female is looking for a suitable nest site, she prefers untreated, exposed, or weathered wood. It’s a softer wood and easier for her to drill out her nest.

The weather conditions and the environment in Maryland and Virginia weather wood quickly. And our buildings use a lot of wood in their construction. With lots of older homes, too, the conditions are conducive to her drilling.

Female carpenter bees drill a 1/2 to a 1-inch hole that’s about 6 to 10 inches long. 

Because they don’t eat the wood you’ll find piles of sawdust below or near the hole. That will be a good indication of carpenter bee damage.

Carpenter Bee Damage to Your Wooden Home

Carpenter bees try to return to the same spot each year to nest. So if you only have one or two females drilling into your home you won’t have too much damage. However, if they are left to nest in peace they will expand their tunnel network. That network could damage your home.

The feces of carpenter bees can also stain your siding. It’s difficult to remove this stain. Look for tan or black stains. If left untreated or removed the waste turns black from mold. 

Unlikely to be Stung by a Carpenter Bee

Although they can damage your home, carpenter bees are not aggressive and won’t sting unless directly provoked. 

Males cannot sting. Females can sting but typically will not do so. The bees you will most often see if you have carpenter bee damage are the males. They hover near their nest to protect it from intruders. 

If you’re working with a pest control group you won’t need to engage with the bees yourself. While you wait for them to remove the bees, remember that you and your family are unlikely to get a painful sting from these insects. 

Now You Can Deal With Carpenter Bees!

No one wants carpenter bee damage to their home. But they are fascinating creatures even so. Their ability to form perfectly round tunnels through wood is amazing!

Still, they can damage our homes so they do need to be treated for.

Get in touch with us today to learn about our environmentally friendly pest control services.