bumblebees and house framing

I was up on a ladder looking at the hole I made for my AC drainhose, for the portable AC, and I noticed that in the townhouse next to mine, a bumblebee was going inside, in an empty space in whatever the builder had used at the bottom of the 2nd floor-overhang, between it and t he brick wall that is the facing of the first floor.

And his daughter was right there so I pointed it out, but later I began to have doubts about how much that would be a problem, since it's just an empty area between the bottom of the overhang and the floor of the second floor, and between the joists, which is only 8"H by 14 or 16" wide, by about 15" deep.

But then it started to seem serious again when I thought that that empty space is deeper than that and extends 1/3"" the lenth of the house, and maybe sideways too if there are holes drilled for heating ducts or wires or pipes.

So what is his remedy? To patch the hole and let the bees stuck inside at the time fend for themselves? A euphemism, but I cant think of any other remedy, and even though my flowers could use more bees, he can't afford to have an open door policy for his sub-floor, right?

When is the best time of day so that the fewest number of bees will be trapped inside? 10 to 4? When the sun is out, no rain? Not even overcast?

**IIRC the house is about 40 feet long, and the joists above most oif the laundry room are about 14 feet long, and in the basement, the joists rest on an I-beam. Right next to the end of one is the start of another, which goes to the next I-beam, and I'm sure there starts another of about the same length (The other room has a finished ceiling)

In a townhouse built in Baltimore in 1979, would they have used steel I-beams above the first floor to support the second floor? I've always assumed since the weight supported is just a little more than half (because the attic and bathtub are supported too, but the refrigerator isn't.) that there is no need for steel above the first floor. Right?

But the length of the joists would be the same, right? Resting on studs that rest on the steel I-beams

hey rest on a so how long would the

Reply to
micky
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They are carpenter bees and can cause wood damage. I spray them, spray in the hole and plug the hole. Better to trap them in the hole as if loose they will come back and bore in again. They do not eat the wood but build nests there.

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Reply to
Frank

Don't worry about it right now . Bumblebee colonies are rarely more than

150-200 beess , and come winter they'll condense to just a handful . Plug the hole this winter . They don't store honey and the few left will not make much of a stink as they rot next spring .
Reply to
Terry Coombs

Maybe I was wrong and Frank is right. I thought it was too fat to be anything but a bumble bee, but it didn't have an orange band like, checking google images, it seems they all do. I saw it mostly from the side and it was awful fat, as fat as it was wide.

If not a bumble bee, what else could it be? Much bigger than a honey bee. I had a few carpenter bees but that was 10 years ago, and they made their homes by tunneling into a litlte board on the second floor eave in front of the house, the north side.

This bee went in through a one-inch wide slot, bigger than what he needed, and probably made by 35 years of weather, on the south side of the house and no way to tell if there is any wood eaten inside. Why tunnel into wood when they're already safe inside, in the dark? So was it even a carpenter bee?

Very interesting,

Reply to
micky

Carpenter bees around here make their holes where there's daylight. In a garage-door header but not the rafters inside. In the rafters of a neighbors patio roof, where it's light, but not the rafters of the adjacent carport, which is darker.

Sawdust and loitering males tip me off. I seem to have killed them all by using a stethoscope.

Bumblebees like to build a nest where the sun won't overheat it. A bee flying into a dark space sounds like a bumblebee.

Reply to
J Burns

How does one kill bees with a stethoscope?

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

They can't stand the cold.

Reply to
taxed and spent

When you check for a heartbeat you crush their thorax...

Reply to
bob_villa

Where I live, carpenter bees are sort of "balding". Much of their topside is black, while bumblebees are furry. For reasons unknown, the former seems to have nearly replaced the latter here.

Carpenter bees will dig holes, but they're harmless. The holes don't go inside. The hole itself is the nest. I've never seen such a hole in a place where weather could get at it. They tend to look for protected areas.

The only thing I know of that's a threat to houses is termites. (And powder post beetles, to some extent, but I've never actually seen those in house timber.)

I've never understood the attitude many people have that insects are trespassers and should be annihilated. It seems to be a sort of suburban ninnyism. Like using "air fresheners" made of noxious chemicals. People see it on TV and just do it without thinking.

People often ask me about carpenter ants, having heard they're destructive. I regard carpenter ants as a helpful early warning system. They only chew wet, rotted wood, so if they're around it's a warning that something needs to be fixed. When it's fixed they'll leave. There's no need to go to war with them.

I have sugar ants right now in my kitchen. Last week it was in the 2nd floor shower. (!) I don't know why. Maybe it's a bad Summer for them. But they're doing no harm to me, and they'll undoubtedly be gone next week. So what would be the sense in trying to torture/kill as many as possible?

Reply to
Mayayana

+1 on that...poisoning children, and killing beneficial bugs also.
Reply to
bob_villa

I hear that, doc.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

I see bumble bees and carpenter bees are different. Maybe like hard to differentiate between regular bees and yellow jackets.

Guess if you go after the nesting area, you will not be mistaking the two.

Reply to
Frank

That was true of what I saw.

Like the rest of you who have bought a house, I had a termite inspection before I bought this one. I was disappointed to learn they only inspect the parts where the frame shows. If the laundry room were finished, and some are, there would have been nothing to inspect.

OTOH, I'm glad he didnt' make holes in my walls.

You make a couple good points here. And your view here seems consistent with your views on personal computers. It's wierd, that I probably know you and a few other people on the net better than some of my personal friends.

I treat the ants that way, pretty much. Ants come in three basic sizes, small, medium, and large, though sometimes the large one refers to themselves as husky.

The two smaller sizes are relatively cute (relative to the large ones, which are ugly.) When I'm lying in the grass and one or two walk on me, it tickles and feels good. When a large one walks on me, it would probably feel good if I didn't know how ugly it was. It's like kissing an ugly girl. If your eyes were closed from the beginning it would probably be as good as kissing a pretty girl, because you couldn't tell the difference.

And in bed sometimes there are little flying things walking on me, and that tickles too, but if I think it's a stink bug, it's disgusting and I wake up trayig to swat it away. (No stink bugs this year. Very few last year.)

What's remarkable is that this year I have had the window in the front,

2nd floor of the house open 10 or 12 inches since April or early May**, and I haven't seen a single insect on the second floor. in prior years, even with the screen in place, I'd get insects. Maybe the screens attract insects, or when they see them they break in because of spite? **The screen came out last fall when I was pulling the ivy off of it, and I bent the frame in the process, but it would still fit fine if there were more room. There are four channels in the sliding window frame, and the window is two panes wide, so there are windows in each of two channels and storm windows in each of two others, and that means the screen has to be inserted next to a storm window, where it's not really wide enough to accept it, without bending the frame a little bit. Normally I don't take the screen out so it's not an issue. .
Reply to
micky

| > I've never understood the attitude many people have | >that insects are trespassers and should be annihilated. | >It seems to be a sort of suburban ninnyism. Like using | >"air fresheners" made of noxious chemicals. People see | >it on TV and just do it without thinking. | | You make a couple good points here. And your view here seems | consistent with your views on personal computers. It's wierd, that I | probably know you and a few other people on the net better than some of | my personal friends.

Interesting observation. I suppose over time people do express their personal style a great deal. Though I sometimes have trouble remembering who said what. :)

Reply to
Mayayana

One more question:

Is there a queen bee inside their house? One of those things two inches long with oodles of baby bees coming out of her?

Does it matter if it is carpenter or bumble?

Reply to
micky

How does one do that?

Reply to
micky

For sure, I have lots of trouble with that, and in my personal life too.

Frr example, I know one girl broke up with me, but I"m not sure which one it was!

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Reply to
micky

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