# repairing woodpecker damage



## dale rex (Jun 10, 2012)

I need to repair some woodpecker damage on a cedar sided house I will working on soon. The woodpeckers are putting holes in the corner boards only, towards the soffit, nothing in the clapboards. I repaired the damage 4 years ago with wood filler and re-stained, only to have them come back and peck holes in the same areas again. The homeowner even filled the holes once last year only to have them put new holes in the same area again. This time I want to replace the corners with new material, but not sure if I want to use cedar again for fear of them putting holes in the new boards again. I think they are actually trying to find carpenter bees that drilled inside the wood, so Im wondering if I can use another material other than wood that wont allow the carpenter bees or the woodpeckers to destroy it again. My thoughts are leaning towards PVC(Azek) or possibly fiber cement based trim(Hardieboard). any thoughts on this odd problem?


----------



## Tom Struble (Mar 2, 2007)

Boral seems to be the popular answer for that these days


----------



## dale rex (Jun 10, 2012)

Is that a brand name or a material? Not familiar with it. Or do you mean Borate?


----------



## Tom Struble (Mar 2, 2007)

http://www.boralna.com/trim/tru-exterior-is.asp

your local lumber yard or siding place can get it for you


----------



## pappagor (Jan 29, 2008)

replace with wood there are treatments you can use to keep them away 
not even cockroaches like plastic:clap:


----------



## dale rex (Jun 10, 2012)

I know that Borate is an insect treatment, but will it repel the woodpeckers too?


----------



## fourcornerhome (Feb 19, 2008)

wood peckers are there to eat the insects


----------



## Tom Struble (Mar 2, 2007)

sometimes..sometimes they are nest building and sometimes they are just jerks..


----------



## asgoodasdead (Aug 30, 2013)

yeah, the bees bore into the wood then the woodpeckers come. prevent the bees and you prevent the Woodys


----------



## dale rex (Jun 10, 2012)

that's my thinking also. It would definitely be easier for me to use cedar corners and pretreat with borate solution, then stain and install. I'll have to explain that to the homeowner and hopefully the damn peckers wont be back for supper. LOL


----------



## 66 Shelby (Jan 11, 2009)

Tom Struble said:


> sometimes..sometimes they are nest building and sometimes they are just jerks..


15 years ago I had a WoodPECKER pecking on my Aluminum siding at 2:00 every morning, right outside my window. Did that chit every night for a week, until me and Mr. Ruger decided we'd had enough. End of problem, although my neighbor (A DNR agent) later informed me they're a federally protected species. Oops.


----------



## TBFGhost (Oct 9, 2008)

Tom Struble said:


> Boral seems to be the popular answer for that these days


I love this stuff


----------



## tenon0774 (Feb 7, 2013)

dale rex said:


> that's my thinking also. It would definitely be easier for me to use cedar corners and pretreat with borate solution, then stain and install. I'll have to explain that to the homeowner and hopefully the damn peckers wont be back for supper. LOL


Borate?

Did you even READ one of these posts?

Yeah, okay!

Borate!


----------



## Tom Struble (Mar 2, 2007)

woodpeckers sometimes just peck..territorial thing..


----------



## tenon0774 (Feb 7, 2013)

We just did a cedar siding repair on a 5000 sqft house.

What we noticed is, the carpenter bees destroyed the wood behind the downspout.

75% of the carpenter bee damage was behind the downspouts, probably to avoid the woodpeckers.

Hmmm.

Maybe because the ones that didn't seek "cover" were eaten.

There's a Darwinian lesson to be learned here, but that may get this thread sent to the basement, so...

Borate!!!!


----------



## mikeswoods (Oct 11, 2008)

I read that the woodpeckers often head vibrations from inside the house and peck away---that makes sense--the holes are often in a row--following a framing member.

They eat up a lot of houses in this area---a neighbor blow off a section of facia and gutter with a shot gun---oddly enough he's divorced now------------


----------



## dale rex (Jun 10, 2012)

made a few calls to try and find Boral in my area and nobody knows anything about it! Checked the Boral website for the closest supplier in my area. Will call and find out what they have. Im still considering all the options. Scott? you don't think Borate would offer any protection at all? Aside from Boral , if I cant find it locally, what else would you suggest I use? The house is stained a dark grey color, can Boral be stained?


----------



## dale rex (Jun 10, 2012)

called around and found 3 sources for Boral today. Unfortunately they are all at least a 45 minute drive from my area. Going on Saturday to pick up some samples and talk to a sales rep about it. Looks like a promising product for this project and future work. If its as stable as they say it is, and can be painted dark colors I would prefer using it over Azek. Thanks to everyone who suggested this product.


----------



## pinwheel (Dec 7, 2009)

dale rex said:


> I know that Borate is an insect treatment, but will it repel the woodpeckers too?


Get rid of the food source & they won't have any reason to visit.


----------



## fjn (Aug 17, 2011)

dale rex said:


> I need to repair some woodpecker damage on a cedar sided house I will working on soon. The woodpeckers are putting holes in the corner boards only, towards the soffit, nothing in the clapboards. My thoughts are leaning towards PVC(Azek) or possibly fiber cement based trim(Hardieboard). any thoughts on this odd problem?




Peel the wood off the building,save for fall bonfires and brick veneer the place !:laughing:


----------



## aaron_a (Dec 18, 2013)

Borate. Aka borax is a salt crystal. It repels insects because it either irritates or damages their exoskeletons. I wouldn't imagine it would work for woodpeckers, they might even like the stuff because of the salt.


----------



## tenon0774 (Feb 7, 2013)

dale rex said:


> made a few calls to try and find Boral in my area and nobody knows anything about it! Checked the Boral website for the closest supplier in my area. Will call and find out what they have. Im still considering all the options. Scott? you don't think Borate would offer any protection at all? Aside from Boral , if I cant find it locally, what else would you suggest I use? The house is stained a dark grey color, can Boral be stained?


I was making a smart a&& comment about the fact that Tom suggested Boral, and you went off on Borate.

I have no idea if the stuff will work.

I do know the magic potions you can put in the paint or stain don't last long.

As many other posters have said:

Woodpeckers eat wood boring insects, you get rid of the wood (which is not always possible), you get rid of the insects and therefore; get rid of the woodpecker problem...
(although, not always.)

Boral.

Let us know how it works out.


----------



## dale rex (Jun 10, 2012)

Gonna give the Boral a shot. Only problem is the cedar clapboards are stained with a semi-transparant oil based stain. The Boral will have to be painted with a matching paint color. Im sure if this is the best solution for the carpenter bee/woodpecker problem the homeowners will agree to the having the corners look slightly different than the rest of the siding. Actually Im glad I found out about the Boral here. On the same job I have some rotten brickmold and exterior window sills to replace. I would typically use Azek or generic equivalent for the repairs, but the windows are painted dark brick red. The dark color on PVC trim is bad news, so I'm going to use the Boral to make my sills and brickmold which can be painted with any color with no ill effect. Thanks Tom Struble for suggesting Boral.


----------



## Tom Struble (Mar 2, 2007)

np..it's what i do..


----------



## JAH (Jul 27, 2014)

Last year I had a customer who had wood pecker issues. After replacing the damaged siding I made 90 deg brackets and used wire to hang small pieces of copper and aluminum flashing. Wood peckers dont like moving objects or anything shiny. The brackets were hung below the eve on the back corners of the house. So far the wood peckers have not returned.


----------



## Tom Struble (Mar 2, 2007)

ive seen people use cd's hung on fishing line


----------



## JAH (Jul 27, 2014)

Tom Struble said:


> ive seen people use cd's hung on fishing line


I like that idea! Plus its a good place for my wife's Eminem cds.


----------



## slowsol (Aug 27, 2005)

Tom Struble said:


> ive seen people use cd's hung on fishing line


I think I'd rather have damaged siding.


----------



## Tom Struble (Mar 2, 2007)

:laughing:


----------



## NYgutterguy (Mar 3, 2014)

Wrapping fascia on house tomorrow because of the bee/woodpecker issue. The bees are only damaging the back of the cedar fascia where it meets the soffit. The rakes and front of fascia in same material always untouched strangely enough on this house. Guess they prefer being covered


----------

