How to Keep Pests Away From Your Firewood and Home
You’ve got a stack of wood ready to go in the fireplace. Next step: sit by the crackling fire with a piping hot beverage. Unfortunately, you’re not the only one enjoying themselves. Pests enjoy it just as much.
Firewood often acts as a vehicle for many different types of pests. Follow our tips to make sure you’re not unknowingly inviting unwanted guests into your home.
What Pests are Attracted to Firewood?
Here are some common pests that are often found in or around firewood:
- Termites: These insects are well-known for feeding on wood, including firewood. They can potentially transfer to your home’s structure if the firewood is stored too close.
- Carpenter Ants: They don’t eat wood like termites but create nests inside wood, including firewood piles.
- Wood-Boring Beetles: These beetles lay their eggs in wood, and their larvae burrow through it as they grow.
- Spiders: While spiders are not attracted to the wood itself, they are attracted to the shelter it provides and the other insects that are drawn to the wood.
- Earwigs, Pillbugs, and Centipedes: These pests are attracted to the moist environment under and around firewood piles.
6 Ways to Keep Your Firewood Pest-Free
Pests are attracted to firewood because it provides a suitable habitat for various insects and pests, offering them shelter, moisture, and sometimes food. Pests are attracted to firewood because it provides a suitable habitat for various insects and pests, offering them shelter, moisture, and sometimes food.
1.) Keep Firewood (At Least) 20 Feet From Your Home
When it’s cold, it can be tempting to keep firewood close to (or even inside) your home. Don’t do it. Pests love to hide out in wood piles and keeping firewood close to your home is like an open invitation into your space.
2.) Cover it Up
It’s crucial to protect firewood from Mother Nature’s elements to keep it dry because wet firewood attracts insects. Consider using a tarp to cover your wood pile.
3.) Keep Firewood Off the Ground
It’s tough to keep firewood dry when it’s directly on the ground. Instead, place it on some sort of support or firewood holder. If you have extra lumber or cinder blocks around, transform these materials into a spot to store your firewood. If you don’t have these materials, you can always buy a structure that’s designed to hold firewood.
4.) Don’t Play Favorites
If you’re always using the wood you place on the top of the stack and refilling the pile before you reach the pieces on the bottom, the aging, unused firewood could make a new home for pests. By rotating the pile and using all the wood on a regular basis, you’ll lessen the risk of pests infesting the stack.
5.) Avoid Pesticides
Do not spray your firewood pile with pesticides — ever. Even if pests are overtaking the pile, applying pesticides could cause them to burrow deeper into the wood. And if you do end up burning the wood, the pesticides will release harmful chemicals that could be a health risk.
6.) Make Two Trips
It’s convenient to bring in extra wood for the fires you’re planning to light today and later this week. It’s also a great way to invite pests inside. Leaving wood lying around your home could result in a dozen ants crawling around your kitchen. Avoid the problem altogether by only bringing in what you need and take another trip later in the week when you need more firewood.
Stay Cozy and Pest-Free with Plunkett’s
If your firewood has brought unwanted guests into your home, call Plunkett’s Pest Control. We have over 100 years of experience in eradicating pests and are equipped with trained professionals that will provide you with top-quality service. Contact us today to schedule a service.
