Do carpenter bees cause damage to homes and decks if not treated?
In nature, carpenter bees serve a special purpose in that they recycle dead wood. Around the home, this practice is both destructive and costly. Man (home builders) have learned to protect wood with various treatments including paint, stain, chemicals and other agents. In general these do a fine job of staving off unwanted insect and wood destroying mold. But over time most all these treatments will weaken and insects are quick to find such weak spots. Once identified these locations can be exploited and though most insects seem to prefer “raw” wood over wood with a finish, there is no doubt even a painted surface can be vulnerable to mother nature.
To combat the ever present and very real potential for damage from any wood destructive pest, man has developed a wide range of pesticides. We are distributors of many such products and over the years have learned which work best for certain pests. When it comes to carpenter bees, they no doubt do not like CYPERMETHRIN. When sprayed early in the season onto wood where bees are active, they’ll move away and in general stay away. Most areas will need at least two treatments per season; some homes require more to hold off this potentially destructive pest. We have also learned the INSECT REPELLENT discussed at the end of our CARPENTER BEE CONTROL ARTICLE can be a great additive used in paint and stain to help fight this cause. Applications done this way can last a year or two so the need for spraying Cypermethrin can be put on hold for awhile.
So to answer your question above: “Do carpenter bees cause damage to homes and decks if not treated?”, the answer is no doubt they can. Of course we can’t say with 100% certainty they will but no doubt untreated wood is likely to be attacked when left outside. This applies to wood in the forest, around the home or on the home itself. But more importantly, even wood with a painted or stained surface – what we would call “treated” – can be damaged. So it’s important to understand if any of these invasive and wood destroying insects like carpenter bees, carpenter ants, termites, powder post beetles, pine borers, wood wasps or some other decides it want’s “in” on your wood, the only thing that is likely to stop it will be a chemical pesticide treatment.
Here are direct links to the information and products mentioned above:
Cypermethrin: www.bugspraycart.com/insecticide/liquid/viper-cypermethrin
NBS Repellent: https://www.bugspraycart.com/exempt/additive/nbs-paint-additive-16-oz
Carpenter Bee Control Article: www.carpenterbees.com
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