Termites and/or carpenters ant advice

[hurricane2730]

Hi,

I'm in my first year of firewood stocking, so i apologize for any newbie like tendancies.

I recently got some free firewood from a neighbor and thought it was pretty sawdusty, but have since researched it to be some sort of frass.

I'm starting to panic that maybe i've invited termites or carpenter ants to be a bit too close to my home and/or wood pile. Unfortunately, we have a pretty small back yard and the furthest I can keep firewood from the house is about 5 feet and if we did put it there it'd be directly next to our fence.

Here's examples of the evidence i'm talking about

I've split a good chunk of it so far and haven't found any nests of anything - so that's good I hope.

I've decided to keep it elevated on some bricks, separate from the rest of my other wood, and sprinkled diatomaceous earth around it in hopes that if there is anything still there that would take care of it. I know people say to split it and over time they'll go away since it's no longer moist, but with my piles being close to my house, I wan't to make sure I'm doing everything appropriately.

My wife thinks we should just chuck all of it and it isn't worth any infestations down the road. I just don't know where I'd be able to haul it and it would be a pain to load it all back up.

Any advice on what to do would be great! Thanks!

 

[Franny K]

For me those ants or termites kind of come with the territory in dealing with log length firewood. If you get it cut split and delivered should not be a problem. I am not sure what to tell you as I can process the wood at a good distance and only stack near the dwelling enough for a few months or so when transporting from main pile might be problematic. Break it up so no evidence of ants before stacking. There must be a queen to have a colony. Your pictures did not load. I might ask is your house on a concrete or block foundation that sticks out of the ground 18 inches or more?

"My wife thinks we should just chuck all of it and it isn't worth any infestations down the road. I just don't know where I'd be able to haul it and it would be a pain to load it all back up." If it isn't oak the whole piece will deteriorate, oak seems to rot from the edges or the center and what is not rotten is pretty much good as new once dried. At least common firewood species, walnut, maybe some others, seems similar to the oak, can have sound right next to rotten to nothing left.

 

[Streblerm]

Get it cut, split, and stacked on pallets or something to keep it off the ground. As it dries the pests will leave. They only seem to like wet, rotting wood. Unless your house is made of wet rotting wood I think the danger of an infestation is minimal.

My dad keeps all his wood in the basement. He splits it then almost immediately stacks inside. Pest infested splits stay outside for a short period until the critters leave, then get stacked inside. He's been doing it that way for as long as I can remember, probably longer.

I like my wood to dry outside before I bring it in. I have split many pest infested pieces but after the wood is dry they are always gone.

 

[hurricane2730]

thanks for the advice!

"Your pictures did not load. I might ask is your house on a concrete or block foundation that sticks out of the ground 18 inches or more?" tried to upload again

our house is stone on the bottom for about 18" and then we have siding on the back - so i assume that's high enough that it won't be an issue?

in terms of wet rotting wood - none of the logs or pieces look like they are rotting on the outside, so it's hard for me to see where the frass is coming from. they just look dark and seasoned to me, honestly. they had been drying underneath a guys deck on a cinderblock wall for two years apparently.

 

[Chuck Oppermann]

Hi,

I'm in my first year of firewood stocking, so i apologize for any newbie like tendancies.

I recently got some free firewood from a neighbor and thought it was pretty sawdusty, but have since researched it to be some sort of frass.

I'm starting to panic that maybe i've invited termites or carpenter ants to be a bit too close to my home and/or wood pile. Unfortunately, we have a pretty small back yard and the furthest I can keep firewood from the house is about 5 feet and if we did put it there it'd be directly next to our fence.

Here's examples of the evidence i'm talking about

I've split a good chunk of it so far and haven't found any nests of anything - so that's good I hope.

I've decided to keep it elevated on some bricks, separate from the rest of my other wood, and sprinkled diatomaceous earth around it in hopes that if there is anything still there that would take care of it. I know people say to split it and over time they'll go away since it's no longer moist, but with my piles being close to my house, I wan't to make sure I'm doing everything appropriately.

My wife thinks we should just chuck all of it and it isn't worth any infestations down the road. I just don't know where I'd be able to haul it and it would be a pain to load it all back up.

Any advice on what to do would be great! Thanks!

I don't know if I should or not, but I spray Bifen IT which is an insecticide termicide on the wood periodically as I stack it. If I split an infected log and there are big ants all over it I throw it off to the side and spray it with home defense also. I nardly ever throow wood away unless it is infested and rotten. Works for me.

 

[hurricane2730]

Thanks for the advice everyone. In terms of when I split the wood, should I be finding tons of these? Because I split more today and only found one or two veins with termites in them. Hopefully that means I made a big deal of nothing and this is all normal?

They weren't moving or anything when I split the wood, so maybe they are dead already? Just trying to figure out if I can stack any of the wood I'm worried about with my other wood since I have limited space.

 

[cantoo]

Life hands you lemons then make lemonade.
http://www.termite.org.uk/recipes.html

 

[unclemoustache]

I often spray while splitting and stacking, but I don't worry too much about the ants and termites. They would rather stay in the firewood than go find a new home.
And they will eat perfectly dry wood as long as they have access to ground or water nearby.

 

[FireHHZ]

I carried such wood in a garage once and it was a total mistake... It took a week or so for termites to infest my garage. A lot of wooden parts was damaged and I had to spend a lot of money for the extermination. Here are some methods to keep your property safe from those insects. Now I always have some boric acid just to be sure that I'm ready for new termites appearance.