Recently I received a question from One Hundred Dollar a Month reader, Cheryl, asking about carpenter bees that are boring into her house. She wrote,
Hi. How can I stop Carpenter Bees from boring holes in the exposed wood on my property? My husband built a swing with cedar stating that bugs would not bother cedar wood. There are carpenter bee holes in the cedar swing, the trees, and any other exposed wood (even painted/stained). A contractor said that he had a cedar sided home and had to take the siding off and replace with brick. We have tried filling the holes with caulk/silicone and the bees rebuilt their hole.
Thank you for your time.
Enjoy your day!
Cheryl
Right off the bat, I have to admit, I have spent most of my days figuring out how to bring bees to my garden, not remove them. I have never had a carpenter bee problem {knock on wood–or um, bore through it, I guess? :)}. Soooo, that being said, I had to ask around a bit.
There are, of course, the usual chemical routes where you can spray the house with insecticide, but I personally am not a fan of blanketing the house/property in chemicals. Though, with a little research, you may be able to find safer options.
Second, I read that a lot of people have had success using WD-40. They stick the straw-like extension on and blast all the holes. If you’re lucky, this will kill the larvae and keep the bees away for good. If you’re not, they’ll go bore holes in a new location on the house or surrounding property.
Ultimately, all I can do is speculate on what might work. Since I am not very versed in this, I thought I’d open the question up to my readers. Surely, some of you have dealt with and conquered the problem before? So, how about it? Any of YOU have a sure fire solution for Cheryl?
~Mavis
angela says
My husband’s favorite sport is hitting them with a tennis racket. : )
Kris says
This just happened to my Dad’s house! The “Bee Man” that came out gave him a few options. The first and most expensive was to take off the siding and relocate the bees. This ensured their survival. The downside with that is that in his experience they almost always come back. The second was like the first, only killing them. Third, as much as he hated to do it, but based on $$$, shoot spray in the hole. It might smell for a while with them decomposing. Any way you look at it, it stinks!
Jen Y says
We’ve always had carpenter bees & living in a rural area we will never get rid of them. Our old back porch was riddled with holes made by them.
We built a new screened in porch last winter. It was one year old last April so we’re going into our 2nd summer with it. Though we still have carpenter bees around the property they haven’t bothered our new porch. I assume it’s because we used treated lumber? We bought the Yellow wood brand because we wanted to try to keep it a light color & we’re in the process of sealing it now.
Maybe there are enough untreated sources around us that they don’t bother it?
Jane says
Carpenter bees love our old barn. I didn’t even know they were there until we moved pigs into the barn this spring. At first I thought they were honey bees scouting out a new home but then realized they were entering little holes all over the place. So far, they haven’t bothered us so we haven’t bothered them. They’re pollinators, too, so we’ll likely let them be. I can see how they would be a nuisance if they congregated in an area where people are a lot…our barn’s wood is old, soft and untreated- maybe this is why they like it so much:-).
Lana says
We have greatly reduced the population by swatting them with a tennis racket like in the above comment. We stuff any holes with steel wool and that stops them cold on that particular hole. The only place we have really had trouble lately was the bottom of our picnic table so hubby finally just stapled screen to the underside. We have had a white cedar swing and frame for about a year now and they have not bothered it. They also do not bother our house.
Monica says
I had this problem at my last house. We lived there for five years. The first year was the worst. We used chemical spray to kill the flying ones, and each year they became fewer and fewer. This past year we only seen one. We lived in an Urban/City area and they were directly outside our back door on our porch where we would go in and out of the house, which made it difficult and scary at first.
Judy says
Mavis…I live in the North Georgia Mountains. They are everywhere!! Every Year!! I have hung the “Carpenter Bee Traps” around the house. They are a mason jar that is suspended onto a wood house like a box that has pre drilled holes the size that the carpenter bees like. They think they are taking over anothers home, go into the hole and drop down into the jar where they die because they can’t back out due to the angle the holes have been drilled.
They work very well. I also will swat a few if they happen to pass me in the garden. They really are a nuisance and can riddle your house/log cabin with holes. No wood, raw, stained, or painted is sacred!
I buy the traps locally but you can order them online from Amazon, ebay, just about anywhere.
Bonnie Turner says
Thanks!Mine is a fly swatter!
Diana says
I’ve been having this problem for a few years, now. I just bought a trap specifically made for them from my local farm store. It’s basically a block of wood with a hole the same size they bore drilled into 3 of the sides (4th is to mount on the wall) and a larger hole at the bottom so that a bottle can be screwed into it. You mount it high – near where they’re doing their boring. They didn’t go in for a while, but once the first one went in, several more followed. And they don’t come back out. 🙂
For the ones that ended up nesting, I’ve been debating what to do. I’ve pretty much decided to take a dowel rod a little smaller than their hole and poke it in to kill them, then fill the hole with expanding foam. Once that’s dry, shave it off level with the wood and paint to match the rest. I’ve got a ton of holes. Hopefully it’ll work.
Donna says
I haven’t tried this, but someone told me that they mix diatomaceous earth with some water and “paint” it around the hole and cover other areas you want to protect. When the “paint” dries, the DE works great. Big bonus: No dangerous chemicals and no worries about harming children, animals, or the environment. Plus it is very inexpensive.
randyb2004 says
did this work?
Rachel says
Sounds great!!!! How’d it work over time?
Mary Ann says
I’m heartbroken that so many people think it’s okay to kill these bees. They ARE pollinators and we need them.
I have given up our chainsaw carved bear bench to them. It sits on our front porch and they come and go as they please. They don’t bother anyone, ever. They’re just busy collecting pollen and bringing it back to their nest. I see no reason to kill them.
Sadie says
Mary Ann, I don’t want to kill them, but at the same time, my wood siding is riddled with holes to the point where it will likely need to be replaced. If I could get them to only bore into a bench or could relocate them I would, but that’s not the reality.
angela says
Mary Ann, I don’t wish to kill anything either, but I can’t let our home be destroyed. Would you seriously let termites eat up your home? It is no different to the damage they do here in Ga.
Kate says
She has no clue. I’m in GA too & they have torn up our fence & started on our home. We sold that & are building & they are already tearing up the new house!
Debbie says
Mary Ann, I would not normally kill bees but the carpenter bees have literally ruined my beautiful cedar entry. It’s going to cost a lot to repair or replace the cedar that is full of unsightly holes.
Kate says
You obviously haven’t seen the damage they can do! I mean I never knew in my life bees could tear up wood like they did with our wooden fence. We lived in our last home for about 8 years no problem, then they came & tore apart our fence. Now we are building on our land & they are already attacking the brand new house! It stinks.
Jeanette says
They are ruining.my home!!! They are also flying in my family’s faces and following them can’t enjoy our own yard! I’m killing them!!!
Jen says
I have them too, they bore into my mailbox. Since the males have no stingers and the females will only sting if they are caught, bothered or whatever I found it was best to just let them “bee”. Our mailbox sits right near our blueberry and herb gardens and they are great pollinators! They have been a bit intimidating to the mail carrier since they don’t know what they are. If they entered the siding on our house it would be a different story I’m sure!
jill says
What about putting up a home that is attractive to them? Then other deterrents might be more sucessful.
Connie Murray says
Hate to kill bees too but I have my roof sprayed EVERY year — carpenter bees are very persistent. I have them sprayed after the apple trees blossom. I also make bee blocks to house orchard bees — these have been very popular with the bees who don’t make honey and don’t sting but do pollinate!
Holly Gardner says
Hi Mavis,
A friend once told me that ‘nesting tubes’ are her solution. Because these bees are non threatening pollinators she would not kill them, but they where eating her horse barn, soooo… She discovered that they return to their birth hole, preferring that to drilling another. If there is another hole nearby they will just adopt that rather than drill. I am not sure where she bought these tubes but they are glass and can be cleaned yearly and remounted for the next brood. No new damage five years now.
Lyn says
Because the bees seems to prefer the first board just under the vinyl soffit and facia and our house is tall so that board is not easily accessible , we
replaced each of those boards with vinyl which was stained to match the cedar siding. This really cut down on the number of bees. We took this step after woodpeckers pecked holes in the cedar boards in an effort to get to the bee larvae.