PSA: Check for bees before sanding outdoor furniture.

I learned this the hard way when a swarm erupted from my patio chair.

4 comments

4 Comments

Damn right. Read in some home magazine that carpenter bees will tunnel into old wood furniture to nest. They said the vibrations from sanding or drilling can really set them off. Makes total sense now.

the_finley1mo ago

Yeah that part about the nest entrance being the real trigger is spot on. I had something similar happen where drilling didn't bother them but just leaning something against the hole made them go nuts. It's like if you block their front door they have no choice but to come out fighting. Mornings seem worse too, maybe because the whole colony is still inside. No joke, better to poke around for holes first than learn the hard way lol.

patel.morgan22d ago

My old boss always told me it was the loud power tools that made them angry. After reading this, I'm starting to think he was totally wrong. The entrance being blocked makes way more sense as the real problem. It explains why I got stung last year just from stacking some firewood near their spot in the shed. I guess they really will put up with a lot of noise, but you touch their front door and it's war.

the_shane1mo ago

Matthew walker mentioned that magazine bit about vibrations setting them off, but I've had the opposite happen. Last summer I sanded an old bench for two hours with zero issues, then got swarmed the next morning just moving it. In my experience, it's less about the sanding itself and more about the time of year and if they've already moved in. The vibrations might annoy them, but disturbing the actual nest entrance seems to be the real trigger. Maybe carpenter bees are different, but mine were just regular honey bees that picked a rotten leg.