Oh, BEE-have!

Welcome to bee season folks!  Yes, it comes every year and no, there isn’t a cure!

Feel better?  Probably not, but while there isn’t a cure for carpenter bees there are a few things you can do to prevent damage and ward off future infestations.

First, let me start by saying that these little devils will only be around for a few more weeks.  Their lifespan is fairly short and while you may think they are being destructive, they simply think they are being good parents.  The urge of parenthood is strong with these little guys – thus….the birds and the bees.  Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

Carpenter bees bore holes in wood to create tunnels in which they lay their larvae.  They will be doing this until sometime around July when they die.  The larvae will gestate in these tunnels until next fall where they will begin to develop and ultimately find their way out of the tunnel and into the sunlight only to start the process over again.  You probably didn’t think that your eaves would ever be considered a womb did you???

So, the matter at hand isn’t what a great parent these critters may be, but how do I stop them from boring holes everywhere?  Carpenter bees can be a serious issue if their tunneling begins to compromise a structure.  You should make every attempt to plug a bee’s hole when you find one.  Moreover, it’s just as important to seek and destroy any larvae that may be in the tunnel prior to your reclamation of the kingdom!  This can be done in multiple ways, most commonly with insect spray or bee butter.  The use of insect spray is fairly straight forward – insert straw and spray.  The use of bee butter is not.  Bee butter is not a deterrent, but will kill the bees once they get it on them.  A small dab of bee butter in the hole will surely spread to the bee and larvae in an active tunnel.  Bee butter may also be a better choice since the bee will spread the butter throughout all of the tunnels.  There may be more tunnels than you think and spray may only get to some of the lair.  No matter which way you choose, you should always plug the hole.  A vacant hole is another bee’s opportunity to move in.  This can be done with a quality caulk or you can drill the existing hole out slightly to fit a piece of wooden dowel rod that can be glued into place.  The use of dowel rod will give a more uniform fix depending on where the damage is and how important appearance is.

The other option (and highly recommended) is to put Carpenter Bee traps around your home where you see Carpenter Bee activity.  The premise of bee traps is simple.  As I said before, Carpenter Bees will be more than happy to take up residence in an existing tunnel.  This saves them a lot of energy!  Bee traps are designed to provide an easy entry into a wood structure that isn’t so easy to get out of. 

If you are handy, you can make your own traps reasonably cheap.  The internet is loaded with design options and instructions on how to build them.  The other option is to purchase them.  The General Store at Coosawattee has traps that are built locally.  I opted to purchase the traps as it saved me time and helped support our local economy and our neighbors.  Truthfully, I'm not sure I could build them for what I bought them for.

It’s also important to know where to put the traps and to inspect for damage.  Keep in mind that Carpenter Bees are attracted to bare, non-painted wood.  If your house is painted wood and you have seen carpenter bees buzzing around you may want to inspect around deck railings or under decks where the wood may be unfinished or only stained.  These are also VERY important areas to keep structurally sound.  Painted surfaces deter these little guys, but this is not a guarantee that you won’t have problems.  Painted wood siding is still susceptible if you have worn, thin, flaking paint or areas where the siding has been compromised by water, sun, etc.. 

Another tactic you can try is the old ‘bait and switch’.  You may try baiting the bees away from your home by strategically placing pieces of untreated wood around your property to provide quiet tunneling zones for the bees.  Simply purchase (most of us have a stock laying around from projects) some clean untreated wood.  This could be pieces of 2X4's, 2X6's, etc.  Next, drill some holes into the wood at various angles.  Bees never bore straight into the wood, but typically at an upward or sideways angle to the grain of the wood.  This angle boring protects the tunnel from rain.  You have just created a convenient home for any discriminating bee to take up residence!

You may attach these chunks of wood to trunks of trees around your home with bungee cords or ratchet straps.  Just be careful when hanging them that you have the angle of the holes in the right position.  Bees will not occupy a tunnel that fills with water.  Once bee season is done, remove them and enjoy a campfire!  Just make sure you put these convenient bee condos in areas around your home that show bee activity.  HOPEFULLY they'll choose your peace offering over your deck stringers!

So, take a deep breath and a good look around your home.  Take care of those tunnels now and get them sealed up before they give birth to the next generation.  You can take some relief in knowing that we will only be dealing with these little guys for a few more weeks along the Coosawattee River.

Till next time,

Chris

Spring Has Sprung Along the Coosawattee - And Summer Will be Coming!

Well, I know it's been some time since I've posted.  Spring's coming has led me outdoors (more often) and to a myriad of usual springtime chores.  There just hasn't been much reason for me to be inside on the computer!  The weather's change toward spring has me outside every minute I can be with my mind wandering to the activities of the coming summer......

 

I find that the cool, refreshing spring air is a motivator for me to get outside and get the projects done before the balmy summer days move in.  Heck, I don't want to be working in the summer, anyway.  There are simply too many things to do in North Georgia during the summer months.

 

One of my favorite activities is tubing down the Coosawattee River.  Nothing beats jumping into the sometimes startling cold water of the river and embarking on a couple hour journey down the rapids on a 90 degree summer afternoon.  I have to be honest, I am always a bit disappointed as we round the final bend in the river to see the take-out point approaching.  We have so much fun navigating the rapids and boulders and occasionally sabotaging each other into water-born traps that the end of the trip kind of feels like taking the tree down after Christmas!  Nonetheless, we can always board our tubes and set sail another day.

 

I'm also looking forward to getting down to Foxhound Pool this summer.  Sadly enough, I never had the opportunity last summer and it's practically in my backyard!  As I've mentioned before, I purchased a foreclosure that needed some work to get it back to par, therefore my weekends were spent on one project after another (see my archived posts).  However, I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel and am looking forward to doing a little relaxing this summer and enjoying all the activities that CRR and the surrounding areas have to offer.  Aside from river tubing and enjoying a little pool time I hope to get the ATV's over to Blairsville and blow off some steam at Beasley Knob.  I hear there are some double diamond trails that should test the equipment - and my back!  My other goal (one of these days) is to get the motorcycle up to North Carolina and try my hand at the Dragon's Tail.  I've heard plenty of wild stories, but have yet to experience it myself.  So much to do, and so little time do it all in.

 

I plan on putting up more posts in the near future.  A few projects I intend to start are installing 'blow foam' insulation in the basement and wiring in a ventilation system to draw fresh air through the basement.  I'll make sure to share the details of all the projects so check back periodically!

 

 

 

Till next time,

 

Chris

Rebuilding a Deck

It’s probably safe to say that 95% of the homes in Coosawattee River Resort have some sort of deck.  And it’s safe to say that they will all need some repair or reconstruction at some point in time.  This post will address some key points that will hopefully help you should you tackle a project on your own – which I always recommend.  Nothing beats the personal satisfaction and the peace of mind you get when completing a project on your own.  I have to be brutally honest, if the builder had taken the care that I took during reconstruction when he was originally building the house, I would not have had to do this project.

 

Let’s start with the basics: 

1.     Screws (not nails) and TREATED wood.  I’ve seen too many decks that are nailed together.  Nails do not hold and over time work their way out of the wood.  ONLY use a good coated deck screw. 

2.     It should go without saying that you ALWAYS use treated wood.  Amazingly, my deck had some boards that had been replaced by the previous owners and they used untreated pine.  You may as well flush your money down the toilet and say your prayers as you may end up getting really hurt when that wood lets go.

3.     Always use a stain and or sealer.  I love the look of virgin wood, but it won’t be long before that beautiful clean looking deck turns grey.

4.     Use 2X6 boards for the top of your deck.  Many home improvement stores sell 5/4” decking (inch and a quarter in thickness) BUT 2X6’s are cheaper and you won’t have nearly the flex in the wood as it is an extra quarter inch thicker.

5.     You need a lot of energy!  Like many decks in the North Georgia region, mine is about 15 feet off the ground.  Not a distance you would want to fall and climbing around on one and a half inch stringers gets tiresome!

The first thing I had to do in my project was to eliminate a great deal of the existing deck.  I can only guess that it was original to the house and it had not been cared for on a regular basis.  Eliminating the top deck boards can be a challenge, because you want to leave enough boards to still be able to walk on – BUT you also need to do any repairs required to the stringers – so let the fun begin.  You can see by the picture below that a chainsaw, circular saw and sawzall all came in handy to ‘segment’ the deck.  I was fortunate that my stringers were in decent shape, and with the exception of one, were all usable. 

The first thing you should always do when re-decking is to examine your ledger board.  The ledger board is the board that attaches to the house and the stringers attach to it.  The ledger board carries the majority of the load of the deck, so you want to be sure it is in good shape.  I coated my ledger board in tar while the top boards were removed to help seal it from the elements.  It is treated wood and in good shape, but since it was fully exposed I took the extra time to completely seal it.  I also opted to add additional stringers. 

I was quite amazed when I examined my stringers to find that they were only toe-nailed into the ledger board with two nails each.  Now, granted, it had stood for 23 years at that point, but the idea scared the hell out of me.  Before installing the additional stringers I purchased double joist hangers to secure them.  Joist hangers are galvanized metal brackets that screw to a header or ledger board and the stringers set inside.  The stringers are then screwed into the bracket from the sides.  Since I was doubling up my stringers I purchased hangers that would accommodate two 2X6’s side by side.

Finally, the top deck was stripped and fresh stringers installed next the existing ones.   

It was finally time to add the new top deck.  Now, before you start decking, make sure you put some thought into the length of your boards.  You DO NOT want your seams to land in a row (think laminate flooring).  You want to be sure that your board seams are staggered AND the staggering is copasetic across the deck.  I bought a mix of 12’ and 10’ 2X6’s and had to cut each one down a bit to stagger my seams equally.  You may choose to add a bit of a gap between your boards for easier cleaning.  I caution you to not go TOO BIG on the gap.  Your new boards will dry out and continue to shrink after installation.  Your gap is likely to DOUBLE in size.  If you do add a gap a really easy way to do it is with a couple of pencils.  Simply put the pencils between the boards when you lay them down.  The pencils are a perfect spacer.  However, I prefer to butt the boards up snug to each other and let nature create a smaller gap.

Adding the top deck is the fun part.  You finally get to see the fruits of your labors start shaping up.  The final step you have is to protect your work and invest in a good sealer/stain.  I prefer Thompsons since almost everyone carries it and it is easy to color match when I have to re-stain next year.

Now, I actually prefer to wait a couple of weeks before I stain a new deck.  First, as I discussed before, the boards are going to dry and shrink a bit.  You want to be sure you get that sealer all the way down between the boards.  Allowing the boards to shrink and spread a bit will make it easier.  Second, the boards are pretty damp with treating when you get them home.  It is best to let them dry out a bit so they soak up that sealer.  One thing to remember about stain and sealer is that you don’t want to get it on your siding – it will not come off.  I always brush the stain on up close to the house and spray the remainder with a pump up sprayer (commonly used for weed killer or pesticides).  The sprayer makes it much easier to get into all the small spaces.  If you use a sprayer make sure to clean it thoroughly and IMMEDIATELY after using it.  Stain and sealer is pretty sticky stuff and will ruin your sprayer if allowed to dry.  I typically buy a cheap and sacrificial sprayer from my local home improvement store.  A one gallon sprayer can be found for around $10.00.

Well, spring is just around the corner and soon the brilliant green buds will begin making themselves seen along the Coosawattee River.  It’s time to grab a brush, a sprayer and some stain and make that deck look like a winner!

Till next time,

Chris