What To Do About Carpenter Bees On Your Plano Property

At first, carpenter bees are often ignored. One reason for this is that carpenter bees look like bumblebees. They are big, fuzzy, black, and yellow insects. The key difference between bumblebees and carpenter bees is that a carpenter bee has a shiny, black, visibly hairless abdomen.

If you see a carpenter bee on your Plano property, it is a good idea to take action immediately. Given enough time, the problems carpenter bees create will start to be hard to ignore. What action should you take? If you're in Plano, Texas, you should reach out to All-Safe Pest & Termite. Let's look at the problem, discuss a few preventative steps you can take before these bees move in, and why it is important to contact All-Safe Pest & Termite when these bees establish a home inside your property.

Big Fat Bee, Big Fat Problem

When a female carpenter bee comes into your yard, it is going to look for an appropriate location to create a home. Her idea of a great place to live is inside the structural wood of your home.

Stage 1

One female bee creates a circular tunnel into a wood beam. This initial tunnel will only be four to six inches in length, and the hole is likely to be underneath, so you won't see it.

Stage 2

Each year, carpenter bees will come into your yard and use old tunnels. This will result in four-to-six-inch tunnels turning into tunnels that span several feet. Since these bees are attracted to established tunnels, your property will be more interesting to these bees and more tunnels will be created.

Stage 3

You might start to notice breaches in tunnel walls. As carpenter bees create their tunnels, they sometimes expose the tunnel to the open air. This damage can look like the dots and dashes of morse code. If you don't see evidence of tunnels being created, you may begin to hear the unsettling noise of carpenter bees boring through your wood.

Stage 4

Over time, wood stairs can become compromised, deck boards can split, and railings can give way. All of these have the potential to cause bodily injury. If carpenter bees get into your home and do extensive damage inside structural wood, it can cause floors to sink and walls to bulge. Usually, infestations are corrected long before this happens. These bees are far too annoying to go undetected long enough to do extensive damage.

Stage 5

When carpenter bees tunnel in your home, they can emerge inside your home. Fortunately, male carpenter bees don't sting, and females are not prone to sting. But their appearance in your home can still present a stinging hazard as a female will not hesitate to sting you if you sit on her.

Carpenter Bee Prevention

Now that you understand the nature of the problem, let's look at what you can do to prevent these bees from targeting the wood of your home.

• Painted wood is resistant to carpenter bees.

• Putting a metal cap on the ends of deck boards can prevent these bees from tunneling in.

• Removing flowering weeds from your lawn and landscaping will remove the food source that makes carpenter bees want to live near you.

• Sealing entry points in your exterior can prevent these bees from getting inside your home and from boring into structural timbers. Pay particular attention to your roofline as this is a common entry point for these pests.

How To Address A Carpenter Bee Infestation

If you notice that these bees have started to create tunnels in your property, it is best to contact All-Safe Pest & Termite if you live in Plano. It is possible to make your problem worse by attempting to spray entry holes or by plugging them. When trapped, a female may attempt to tunnel her way out. This can cause her to create a tunnel that is a lot longer than four to six inches. This happens quite a bit when DIY treatments are performed because carpenter bees create an L-shaped tunnel.

A sprayed product won't reach the back of the tunnel unless you use a hose nozzle that curves. But before you do this, keep in mind that this will only address tunnels you've detected. Our technicians perform inspections, properly treat tunnels, and take steps to prevent future infestation. If carpenter bees are in your Plano property, reach out to us today for effective home pest control or commercial pest management services instead of taking chances with a DIY treatment. It really is the best solution.