Purdue News

November 13, 1998 Firewood should be stored outside, entomologist says WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Firewood left inside the house for more than a few days may bring unexpected surprises in the form of emerging insects, warns Purdue University entomologist Tim Gibb. "The problem is that there are a lot of insects that by their nature feed on dead or decaying wood," Gibb said. "Dead wood is attractive to termites, wood borers, earwigs. It also serves as a hiding place for a myriad of other insects. In the fall people bring firewood into the living room or basement, and all at once they start finding insects crawling all over their house." Gibb said that when the warmth of the house reaches their hiding places inside the log, the insects think it's springtime and emerge, alarming homeowners. Gibb offered these suggestions to prevent bringing a wild kingdom inside your home with the firewood: Bring firewood inside only as needed. Firewood should not be stored in the house for more than a couple of days. Do not stack wood against the house or garage. Gibb recommended allowing at least three feet between the wood and a building. "This keeps the insects away from the house and also allows better air circulation, which dries the wood faster," he said. Do not stack the firewood on the ground. Some insects, such as termites, are attracted to wood that is on the ground. Stacking the wood off the ground reduces the number of infestations and also allows the wood to dry more quickly. Gibb also warned that it may be dangerous to try to control an insect problem by spraying firewood with insecticides. "The problem is that if you treat the wood and then burn it soon after, there's a chance that the chemical can volatilize and release poisonous fumes into the house," he said. Also, chemical controls don't work on insects that have entered the wood, he said: "There is little that can be done to protect wood from borers, and there is no practical way to kill them once they have entered the wood." The most common insects to emerge from firewood are various beetles, carpenter ants, termites and miscellaneous pests that have taken refuge in the woodpile, such as spiders, wasps, ants and flies. Although many of these insects feed on dead and decaying wood in nature, most of them, even termites, will not attack dry, seasoned wood such as the lumber in a home. In Indiana, residents may have to fight a new pest in firewood this year, a small beetle known as the earwig. Although earwigs primarily were found in the northern third of Indiana in past years, Gibb said that they have spread throughout the state over the past two years. Earwigs are black, roughly the size of a small cricket, with large pincers at the back of the abdomen. This insect, which gets its name from a false belief that they crawl into people's ears, can bite and pinch, although the bites seldom break the skin. Still, Gibb said that it is worth a small amount of effort to ensure that the pest is not unintentionally invited into the home. "They're a nuisance pest and may leave fecal markings when they live in large colonies," he said. More information about this topic is available from the Purdue Cooperative Extension Service publication E-67, "Insects in Firewood,"; which is available at county Cooperative Extension offices or on the World Wide Web. Source: Tim Gibb, (765) 494-4570; e-mail, Tim_Gibb@entm.purdue.edu Writer: Steve Tally, (765) 494-9809; tally@aes.purdue.edu Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu To the Purdue News and Photos Page