How to Keep Your Home Safe From Carpenter Bees

These 2-inch insects build their nests by making tunnels in wood, like the planks in your patio. And wouldn’t you know, the females sting.

A carpenter bee buzzes around the garden at the Bayer North American Bee Care Center in Research Triangle Park, N.C., on Sept. 15, 2015. Ted Richardson/AP Photo

Carpenter bees are a large species that excavate wood, potentially damaging homes. California carpenter bees can range from 1.5 to 2 inches in length, and are most active in warmer climates.

Lynn Kimsey, a retired professor of entomology at the University of California–Davis, told The Epoch Times carpenter bees like to burrow in dead or soft wood. Females excavate about 6 to 12 inches to nest.