What Does Carpenter Bee Damage Look Like?

It can be hard to tell what is damaging your home. There are many pests that damage wood. Carpenter ants chew irregular troughs in softwood. Wood-boring insects create many tiny holes in hardwood. Woodpeckers chip away large holes in any type of wood. Mice and rats gnaw holes in window and door frames, foundation sills and other locations where wood can be softened by water damage. Carpenter bees are just one of many. Fortunately, these bees create fairly distinct damage. Today, we're going to talk about what this damage looks like and where you're likely to find it.

Three Common Places to Find Carpenter Bee Damage

• If you look under your deck or exterior stairs and find holes that are about the size of a dime and perfectly circular, you have a carpenter bee problem. These bees prefer untreated and unpainted wood, and they commonly fly upward and cling to horizontal surfaces to bore their way in.
• If you notice holes that appear to run in a straight line, following the grain of the wood on a deck railing, you have a carpenter bee problem. Carpenter bees create tunnels that go upward and turn at an angle to follow the grain of the wood. Usually, this is a 90-degree angle. As she bores her tunnel, the carpenter bee will sometimes chew through the tunnel wall. This can produce damage that looks like dashes and dots of mores code.
• If the ends of your deck boards look like someone bored some holes in them with a large drill bit, you have carpenter bees. These insects often target the ends of boards, especially board ends that aren't painted.

Sometimes carpenter bees do damage that can't be seen. If these bees find an entry point into your home, you won't see the damage they're doing. All you'll see is fat bees with black abdomens going in and out of your exterior walls. If you have enough bees, you may hear them boring through your wood—that is a very unsettling sound.

When you find carpenter bee damage or see carpenter bees going in and out of your New Jersey home, remember that Arrow Pest Control provides industry-leading pest control solutions for New Jersey homeowners and business owners. We can help you protect your property from the influence of carpenter bees and all those other wood-destroying pests. Reach to us for immediate service. We're here to help.