An easy way to prevent carpenter bees from drilling into your deck or siding

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There is an easy way to prevent carpenter bees from drilling into your deck or siding that does not involve extermination. These noisy insects live up to their name: they like to burrow into wood and create a complex network of tunnels, A carpenter bee nest in your yard. This can be quite annoying. If you have mastered A DIY Homeowner’s Guide to Deck BuildingYou probably don’t want to ruin all your hard work — even if it’s by such a good pollinator that’s nice to have around! An easy way to keep carpenter bees out is to prevent them from having easy access to wood. You can do this by sealing any imperfections, such as cracks and holes, in its surface with wood filler, wood pegs or caulk. If the bees can’t reach weak parts of the wood to start drilling, they may make somewhere more suitable, like a nearby stump.

Any nicks or damage on the surface of the planks (like dents from a recent hail storm, for example) can provide bees with a great starting place to drill into to build their nests. For small bits like screw holes, you can use wood filler, eg Minwax Color-Changing Natural Wood Filler. It prevents insects from drilling because it is a thick putty. It clogs the hole with non-woody material, making the bees uninterested and unable to dig. Be sure to choose a filler that’s designed for the outdoors, as you don’t want exposure to the elements to undo the preventative measures you’ve taken.

At their core, these insects love to bore into unstained, unstained softwood – add holes and cracks to this and they’re in heaven. Any type of barrier between bees and wood is an effective preventative measure. Just remember that before you take any steps to seal the holes, make sure there aren’t already carpenter bees inside.

In addition to wood filler, you can use caulk to prevent bees from boring into your deck or siding. There may be long, straight gaps to fill, and latex caulk in particular seals them easily. Go slow, so you don’t have to learn How to fix messy caulking Later if the hole in your deck or siding is too large for wood filler or caulk to cover effectively, you can keep carpenter bees out by using small wooden pegs to fill the space instead. You can buy these ready-made. They are sometimes called dowels. After measuring the size of the hole to make sure the dowel fits snugly, secure the outside of the peg with exterior wood glue to hold it in place.