Wood is one of the most favorable materials of choice that homeowners use when they decide to create a fence or deck because it is versatile, beautiful, and inexpensive in comparison to other types of building materials. The bad news is that wood that is untreated will quickly become a magnet for hungry insects and carpenter bees which use wood to build their nests. As a building alternative, pressure treated wood is offered which will keep the pests from withering away at wood. Pressure treated wood will not put a permanent end to your termite, carpenter ant, and carpenter bee problems, but the insects should be kept away for some years.
While repairing a portion of my pressure treated fencing that had been damaged by a tree that had fallen, I was surprised to find that carpenter ants had moved into some of the pickets and a 2 x 4 on the pressure treated wood fence. The carpenter ants used the hole which contained a nail and enlarged it slightly so that they could come and go with ease. As I pulled the undamaged picket off of the broken 2 x 4, thousands of ants poured out of the nail hole carrying eggs as they tried to escape the danger that they were in. At a minimum, this piece of wood clearly contained a “nursery” gallery. Not wanting to invite the carpenter ants near my home or into other areas of the fence, we decided to toss all wood pieces far into the woods behind our property.
Pressure treated wood is said to keep pests away for 10 years. Unfortunately, my pressure treated fence only made it 7 years. It makes me wonder how much more of the fencing is being damaged by carpenter ants.
It is important to keep carpenter ants away from your home by hiring a Monmouth County, NJ exterminator.