Wood Destroying Insects

Wood destroying insects are of the utmost importance with homeowners and business owners because of the damage that they can cause to various types of structures. In fact, these organisms cause more damage to structures than all other natural disasters combined. This is why banks and mortgage companies usually require a qualified inspection of the property for these organisms prior to the purchase.

There are several categories of wood destroying organisms. They are subterranean termites, non-subterranean termites, wood boring beetles, carpenter ants, and carpenter bees.

Subterranean Termites

Subterranean termites are the most common termites in the United States. They live underground and come out of the ground to feed on cellulose material (wood and wood byproducts). The signs that certain damage is subterranean termite damage are the presence of mud tunnels on the foundations and mud inside the galleries (tunnels chewed away at inside the wood). Subterranean termites use this mud to keep their work areas temperature and humidity controlled.

Wood-Boring Beetles

Wood boring beetles can be very destructive to structures. There are many wood boring beetles, but we are concerned with only those that may be found inside structures. There are several identifying characteristics that will help in determining which beetle is infesting wood. Beetles tend to enter wood by the adult laying eggs in crevices. The larvae enter the wood and feed on the starch content within the wood. They pupate into adult beetle. These adult beetles will burrow out of the wood, leaving an exit hole. The presence of this exit hole and usually fine frass shows that there is a wood boring beetle infesting, or was infesting, the wood.

Carpenter Ants

Carpenter ants are the largest ants in North America. Frass is sawdust-type material that the carpenter ant leaves behind when making their nests. This sawdust-type material will be mixed with small pieces of ants and other insects. This will also help in locating the nest.

Carpenter Bees

Carpenter bees resemble large bumblebees. In the east, the carpenter bee is black in color and marked with areas of yellow hair, but the dorsal sides of the abdominal segments have no area of hair. Other species of carpenter bees will be black, green, or purplish in color, and are variously marked with whitish, yellowish, or reddish hair. They build their nest by boring long tunnels into wood and divide these tunnels into cells, where they leave their eggs and food. There nest is noticeable by the presence of a 5/8 inch perfect hole (as if someone took a drill and made the hole) along with yellowish dropping near the hole.