Carpenter Bee Control

Carpenter bees drill clean half-inch round holes in unpainted or weathered wood — deck rails, fascia, pergola beams, shed trim, and the wood siding common on older homes around Old Town Fairfax. The hole you see is the entrance to a tunnel that runs with the grain, and woodpeckers chasing the larvae are what turns a small hole into an open gash. Treatment targets the galleries, and the honest follow-up is that plugging and painting or sealing the wood afterward is what keeps next spring's bees from reusing the same tunnels.

Activity is heaviest in April and May when overwintered adults emerge to nest. Structural repairs are outside this scope, but the affected boards are photographed and listed so a carpenter can quote from real information.