Although we all like to curl up next to a warm fire during the wintertime, the luxury of keeping firewood to do so often comes with unwanted pest problems. If you aren’t careful about the way that you store your firewood, all sorts of insects and even rodents can take advantage of a temporary shelter, and even move inside your home to get warmer. Over our decades of service in Northern Utah & Southern Idaho, we’ve learned the best ways to protect your woodpile and keep pests out of your home. Read on for advice from our expert technicians at Rentokil.
What Types of Pests Do Woodpiles Attract?
A good number of pests that you might find around your woodpile in the winter will do no harm to your family or your home. Boxelder bugs, moths, earwigs, some species of spiders, and other pests might be a nuisance, but cannot cause damage to your property or spread diseases. However, there are a few pests that you should watch out for around your woodpile:
No one likes the sound of having bees or wasps around their property, but with carpenter bees, the potential for property damage is present, too. Additionally, termites, powderpost beetles, and carpenter ants all bore through our homes’ wooden structures, whether to eat the cellulose within in the wood or to make nests. Termites are one of the worst pests you can have in your home—in the United States alone, subterranean termites cause an estimated $5 billion in property damage every year!
How to Keep Pests Out of Your Piled Firewood
If you leave your woodpile in a vulnerable state for too long, you will certainly develop a pest infestation of some sort. Here are Rentokil’s three best pieces of advice to stop this from happening:
- Keep your firewood elevated and covered: Woodpiles left on the ground can attract carpenter ants and termites that live in the soil beneath. Keeping your woodpile stored in a rack off the ground will reduce your chances of an infestation developing.
- Keep it at a distance: Your woodpile should not be left resting against the side of your home. The further away you store it, the less likely your home will become infested.
- Burn older wood first: When you take wood inside to start a fire, make sure you pick the older logs to burn first. Older logs are more likely to be infested, but if you get them into your home and burn them quickly, the pests shouldn’t spread around your home.
Winter Pest Control in Northern Utah & Southern Idaho
If you want to feel certain that your woodpile isn’t the reason for any pest infestations this winter, reach out to your local pest control company. Our technicians at Rentokil can perform a complete property inspection to find any vulnerabilities or potential causes of a pest outbreak. We can also help you take preventative measures to keep pests out of your home in every season.Don’t wait until it’s too late to stop pests this winter—reach out today for a free quote!
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