LESLIE: Alright. Now we’re heading on over to Rhode Island, where David has got some unwanted visitors in the attic. You’ve got some bees, huh?
DAVID: Yes.
TOM: What kind of bees, David?
DAVID: I believe – I’m not 100-percent sure but from talking to people, I think they’re called “carpenter bees.”
TOM: Carpenter bees, huh?
LESLIE: Oh, OK.
DAVID: They burrow through a little – I think it’s slightly smaller than a dime.
TOM: Right.
DAVID: They form …
LESLIE: It’s perfect dowel size.
DAVID: Yes. Yes.
LESLIE: It’s amazing how they do a 5/8-of-an-inch hole every single time; it’s beautiful.
DAVID: It really is beautiful. So I have an agreement with the bees; it’s like a 15-, 17-year-old agreement: “You don’t sting me and you can stay.” Because they’re not in the living quarters; they just burrow through and they’re in between the living space and the outer wall.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm. Now …
TOM: Right. So, let me tell you something. I’m glad …
LESLIE: Well, they have an agreement with everybody, because they don’t sting, David.
TOM: Yeah, they don’t sting. They don’t have stingers. That’s right.
LESLIE: They’re just large and imposing.
TOM: They’re large and they …
DAVID: Well, I have been told that, also: that they don’t sting.
TOM: Yeah, they will intimidate you. They’ll fly at your head and things like that but they don’t sting.
But carpenter bees, if they are there long enough, they can do serious damage to the rafters. So it’s not something that you want to put up with forever. What you want to do is have them treated and then fill those holes. Otherwise, they’ll come back.
DAVID: Really? So I have been possibly compromising the 2-bys – the rafters and the floor joists?
TOM: If they’ve been infesting the attic for 15 years and they’ve been drilling into your rafters, well, they’ll – they drill in from the edge grain, then they turn and they run horizontal to the ceiling rafter or to the roof rafter and they lay eggs and then come back out. So if they – if your rafters have now hundreds of holes in them from the carpenter bees, yes, you could compromise them.
So, I wouldn’t put up with this; I would definitely have them exterminated and then seal the holes. And this way, they’re gone for good.
DAVID: Alright. Well, thank you so much.
TOM: You’re welcome. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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