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 tend to attract pests that invade the firewood, which in turn 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 as well as show you how you can 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 will enjoy the firewood 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 doesn't mean they will pass up a chance to munch of piles of firewood.

Termites will travel from their underground nests and tunnel into the firewood, foraging for the cellulose found 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 they 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) because, like termites, they 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 stranger to firewood piles in winter. Oftentimes, these beetles may already be residing in the wood before it is ever even cut and processed for use.

Rodents

It's not just insect pests we have to worry about. Rodents like Norway rats, house mice, and pack rats see firewood piles as suitable and even attractive nesting spots.

While the typical rodent will opt in for invading 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 rat to be using your wood pile in the backyard as a base of operations. 

Other Occasional Invaders

There are other occasional invaders, like spiders and cockroaches, that will inhabit firewood piles for shelter or because there is 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 moisture level of the wood may also be an attractant for springtails, centipedes, crickets, and others.

Preventing Firewood Pest Infestations

So how do you keep pests out if firewood? No matter which pest may be infesting, you don’t want them crawling literally out of the wood work 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 in our around your home, this is something we strongly advise against doing. 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 the further point from your house away from other surfaces or pieces of wood (fencing, etc.)

Elevate and Cover your Firewood

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

Raising your firewood up also helps to reduce the chances of it accumulating moisture so it stays dry. Elevated firewood is also easier to tarp off and cover. Just 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 located 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 they should always be utilized first.

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

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 will cause trouble over time.

Our Recommendations

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

Before applying any of our product recommendations, make sure you have on the proper PPE in the form of 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 that is 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 to 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 a half 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 up 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 to 9 oz. of Ficam.

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

Step 3 - Monitor for Rodents with Easy Set Snap Traps

If you have been dealing with rodents infesting your firewood, 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 invasions of rodents.

To use, add bait to the bait cup found on the snap trap and then set the trap by pulling the upright bar back until it is locked in place. Place the 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 and if a rodent if caught, you can pull back on the release base to release the rodent. Clean then reuse to continue monitoring for rats and mice.

What To Do About Infested Wood

In cases where 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 because if the pests are burrowing insects, they will just 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 off the bugs on the wood and save the wood for another day. The log should be wrapped in cloth and then placed in freezing temperatures for at 72 hours.
• Oven bake the Firewood - if your log can fit, put it in the oven and kill the pests with high heat. Set the oven at a temperature of 140 degrees Fahrenheit and bake it for at least 7 hours to ensure all bugs will die. Afterward, you should thoroughly clean your oven of any bugs that may have jumped off the log.
• Burn it outdoors - If either solution above doesn’t interest you, don’t discard the wood. Burn it outside in a fire pit. You could even choose to make it fun if you want and create a bonfire and make smores. This will certainly kill any bugs that may be on the wood.

Key Takeaways

• There are many pests that can occasionally infest Firewood such as carpenter ants, termites, rodents, and others.
• You can keep pests away by keeping firewood stacked away from your home, elevating the firewood on a rack or some sort of support, and rotating the firewood so the old wood get 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 for continued protection in warding of firewood pests.