How To Keep Pests Out Of Firewood

When the temperatures drop, we all need to figure out ways to keep warm. Often, it’s turning up the thermostat, but for others, winter weather is a time when you burn some firewood in your fireplace and cozy up at night.

Unfortunately, firewood can attract pests that invade the firewood, which will infest your home when you bring the firewood indoors. Even if it may not look like the wood houses an infestation, they may be burrowed deep inside a gallery that you cannot see.

In this guide, we will cover some of the more common pests that infest firewood and show you how to protect your firewood from these pests using our treatment tips and techniques.

Common Firewood Pests

While we use firewood to keep us warm in the winter, pests enjoy it just as much. This is especially true when weather conditions become much colder, as insects will be scanning for sources of shelter and warmth.

Below are some of the most common pests that live in firewood:

Termites

Termites are well known for feeding on wood and destroying wooden structures. But just because they commonly invade homes and other buildings, they don't pass up a chance to munch on piles of firewood.

Termites will travel from their underground nests and tunnel into the firewood, foraging for the cellulose within the wood. It doesn't take long for a colony of termites to completely infest stored firewood, and if left untreated, they may migrate to other sources of wood around your property -- most likely your home or other structures.

Carpenter Ants

Carpenter ants are commonly introduced to properties through store-bought firewood. These ants behave similarly to termites but don't feed on your stored firewood. Instead, they will chew through wood and create extensive galleries where they will nest and aid in their travel from spot to spot.

This is why you want to keep stored firewood far away from your home or structure (more on that below). Like termites, firewood will continue to migrate to your home or structure, quickly infesting walls, the roof, and floors. 

Woodboring Beetles

Woodboring beetles include a variety of beetles that consume or tunnel in wood, most commonly powderpost beetles and bark beetles. These beetles typically infest dead trees or other sources of decaying, untreated wood like firewood.

Most woodboring beetles rely on old wood for nutrients and shelter, which makes them no strangers to firewood piles in winter. Often, these beetles may already be residing in the wood before it is even cut and processed for use.

Rodents

We have to worry about more than insect pests. Rodents like Norway rats, house mice, and pack rats see firewood piles as suitable and attractive nesting spots.

While the typical rodent will opt to invade basements, attics, and crawlspaces for their relative stability and warmth, they will not overlook a large pile of firewood to keep them safe from the elements. The last thing you want is for the rat to use your wood pile in the backyard as a base of operations. 

Other Occasional Invaders

Other occasional invaders, like spiders and cockroaches, will inhabit firewood piles for shelter or because there are ample food sources (like fungus or other insects). And just like opportunistic carpenter ants or termites, these pests can use your wood pile as a launching point to invade your home or structure.

The wood's moisture level may also attract springtails, centipedes, crickets, and others.

Preventing Firewood Pest Infestations

So, how do you keep pests out of firewood? No matter which pest may be infesting it, you don’t want them crawling literally out of the woodwork when you bring your firewood in for burning.

Here are some things you can do to keep bugs and other pests away from firewood:

Place Wood Away For Your Home

While it may seem tempting or convenient to keep your firewood close by or leaned up around your home, we strongly advise against doing this. The farther away you place your wood from your home, the less likely pests will invade the wood and transfer over into your home to infest and explore.

We recommend placing the wood 20 to 30 feet away from your home's foundation. If your property doesn't extend that far, pick a point further away from your house, away from other surfaces or pieces of wood (fencing, etc.).

Elevate and Cover your Firewood

Sticking your firewood on the ground makes the insects' job of infesting the firewood easier. It would be wise to place firewood on a platform you can build with brick, cinder blocks, or lumber pallets. You could shop for firewood racks online or at your local department store.

Raising your firewood also helps reduce the chances of accumulating moisture so it stays dry. Elevated firewood is also easier to tarp off and cover. Use enough material to cover the top and a few inches down the side. This will prevent the wood from getting wet from rain. For fully seasoned firewood, use a tarp to cover all sides.

Rotate The Woodpile

Do you have a stack of firewood and always find yourself just using the wood on the top of the stack? The wood on the bottom may be at risk of being infested as it ages. Older firewood is always more vulnerable to infestation, so it should always be utilized first.

Rotate the firewood pile so the older firewood logs are on top, and the newer restocked logs are at the bottom.

Purchase Firewood Locally

If you purchase firewood instead of chopping it yourself, make sure you purchase firewood locally. Non-local wood can contain invasive insects that will be introduced to your property and cause trouble over time.

Our Recommendations

If you’re worried that pests will be an ongoing problem with the firewood you store and keep, there are products that can be effective in keeping them away.

Before applying our product recommendations, ensure you have the proper personal protective equipment (PPE), such as gloves, a mask, and protective eyewear.

Step 1: Treat soil underneath Firewood and surrounding areas with Sylo Insecticide

Wherever you decide to elevate and store your firewood, we recommend first treating the soil with Sylo Insecticide. This is a great synthetic pyrethroid labeled to treat many different problem pests, like wood-destroying carpenter ants, and can discourage pests from approaching your firewood. Sylo is a residual insecticide, meaning it will continue to kill insects long after application, between 30 and 60 days.

To apply to nearby surfaces like walls, fences, or tables, mix the Sylo Insecticide at a 0.1% emulsion (0.5 fl. oz.) in a sprayer at the rate of 1 gallon per 10 square feet. Fill a gallon sprayer with half a gallon of water, add the Sylo Insecticide, and then fill the sprayer with the remaining half of water. Agitate the sprayer until the product is well-mixed.

Lightly coat outdoor surfaces with the product or create a barrier application around your structure or fenceline 3 feet up and 3 feet out.

For soil treatments, mix the Sylo Insecticide at a 0.25% (1.3 oz.) to 0.50% (2.6 oz.) emulsion in a sprayer at the rate of 1 gallon per 10 square feet. 

Apply the Sylo Insecticide to the soil, making sure the soil is well saturated. Afterward, you can set up your rack or support and stack your firewood.

Step 2: Apply Ficam Insect Bait Around Woodpiles

If your sole concern is carpenter ants, use Ficam Insect Bait. Ficam Insect Bait is a ready-to-use granular insecticide that controls many different types of insects that may infest your woodpiles. You can choose to either apply the bait around the perimeter of where you have your woodpile or go ahead and treat your entire yard.

Ficam Insect Bait can be used at a varying rate of 2 to 4 pounds per 1,000 square feet (3.2 to 6 oz. per 100 sq. ft.). So, if you measured a treatment area of 150 sq. ft., then you would need to use between 4.8 and 9 oz. of Ficam.

Ficam can be shaken out from the container, or you can use a measuring cup or spreader to disperse the Ficam Insect Bait evenly around the area. For larger areas, water the ground before application.

Step 3: Monitor for Rodents with Easy Set Snap Traps

If rodents have been infesting your firewood, you can capture and remove them with the help of Easy Set Snap Traps. The Easy Set Snap Trap is reusable and can be utilized to monitor rodent invasions.

To use, add bait to the bait cup on the snap trap and then set the trap by pulling the upright bar back until it is locked in place. Place the trap near your woodpiles, preferably in a bait station, to protect it from weather and to keep children and pets from accidentally triggering it. Set each trap 10 feet apart and out of the reach of children and pets.

Check the trap periodically. If a rodent is caught, pull back on the release base to release it. Clean the trap and reuse it to continue monitoring for rats and mice.

What To Do About Infested Wood

If you find that pests are actively infesting your wood and want them gone, the option should never be to treat the firewood directly with insecticides. One reason is that if the pests are burrowing insects, they will dig deeper into their galleries to avoid the pesticides.

Secondly, if you burn the treated wood, the pesticides you sprayed could be a hazard by creating harmful fumes that will disperse into the air while the log burns. Here are some alternatives if you want to get rid of the bugs in your firewood and salvage the logs:

• Freeze the firewood—Putting the infested wood log into a large freezer may kill the bugs and save the wood for another day. The log should be wrapped in cloth and then placed in freezing temperatures for 72 hours.
• Bake the firewood in an oven. If your log can fit, put it in the oven and kill the pests with high heat. Set the oven to 140 degrees Fahrenheit and bake it for at least 7 hours to ensure all bugs die. Afterward, you should thoroughly clean your oven of any bugs that may have jumped off the log.
• Burn it outdoors—If neither solution above interests you, don’t discard the wood. Burn it outside in a fire pit. You could even make it fun by creating a bonfire and making s'mores. This will certainly kill any bugs that may be on the wood.

Key Takeaways

• Many pests, such as carpenter ants, termites, and rodents, can occasionally infest firewood.
• You can keep pests away by stacking firewood away from your home, elevating it on a rack or some sort of support, and rotating the firewood so the old wood is used first.
• We recommend applying Sylo Insecticide to the soil where your firewood will be stacked, applying Ficam Insect Bait around woodpiles, and monitoring rodents with Easy Set Snap Traps to protect and ward firewood pests.