Carpenter Bee/Woodpecker Hole Damage

Many of us go on jobs where we see this damage and it seems to cause issues for some folks on how to handle these. There are times when a piece of wood or baluster needs to be replaced, many times this is the easiest thing to do depending on the damage. When the carpenter bees lay the eggs the woodpeckers can do a large amount of damage trying to get to the eggs. One of the easiest ways to deal with this is to fill the holes with stainable/paintable wood putty. Most people will leave it like this and just stain over it but then when finished it stands out badly. Try getting a solid or semi-solid stain that is close in color to the sealer you are using and then pre-stain these areas with a small brush and allow to dry. Then when you seal the wood they do not show up as much, many times they will blend in like a knot would. Another way is to use a wood marker or pencil that is the same color as the sealer or stain and color the wood putty first and then seal. Both ways the finished result will look better than just filling the whole with putty and sealing over it. Anyone else have any tips on they handle this type of damage?

Seven dust sprayed in and around the holes will deter the bees to come back to the holes. Now stainable putty never looks good when stained with the Gray Away I use. So if I'm staining cedar if you take cedar sawdust and wood glue mix together then fill the hole then stain.


Hope this helps!

I have done that twice with sawdust, again on a minor repair. The key with treating for carpenter bees is to apply a residual and then reapply in 30 days. Reason being is that the initial treatment will not effect the eggs. By reapplying in 30 days you will take care of new bees as well. I have always used borate powder for carpenter bees. Great tip Shane!

Thanks Everett ...

That also works for missing knots like I had for these cedar logs ..

Everett Abrams said:

I have done that twice with sawdust, again on a minor repair. The key with treating for carpenter bees is to apply a residual and then reapply in 30 days. Reason being is that the initial treatment will not effect the eggs. By reapplying in 30 days you will take care of new bees as well. I have always used borate powder for carpenter bees. Great tip Shane!

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Sawdust and glue are an old cabinetmaker trick. I would use it when I did not have the correct color filler.

I use a special hard wax of a specific color that is applied tp the damaged area.
After this wax hardens, the surface is treated gently with a spatula.
Then sanitized place is covered with the colorless spray and is ready for the next layer coating. This also aligns the difference in gloss levels and as a result there is a universal optical effect. For larger damages, using a mastic wood replacement based on epoxy resin is preferred.