Here’s some advice for woodburning homeowners. As winter gives way to spring (may seem like a long way off) and the fireplace or woodstove sees less use, wood brought indoors may not be burned right away. Any insects that came in with the wood respond to the warm temperatures indoors, become active and leave the wood, and the homeowner suddenly finds him- or herself host to some unexpected house guests.

Most of the insects that come indoors on firewood are harmless.  The most common are long-horned wood-boring beetles, metallic wood-boring beetles and bark beetles. Others may include spiders, several non-stinging wasps and other beetles. Some may have been present in the wood in immature stages; others as overwintering adults.

The chances of any of these reproducing indoors or damaging woodwork, structural timbers or furnishings are next to zero.  They won’t become pantry pests or bother humans or pets. They’re just nuisances to have indoors. And they really don’t want to be there -- they want to be outside where they can get on with their lives, finding mates and completing their life cycle.

A few firewood-infesting insects can cause problems indoors, however.  Carpenter ants, termites and powderpost beetles can come indoors on firewood, and any of these can move into structural timbers or furnishings.

The carpenter ant is the most common of these and the same precautions to keep it out of the house will be effective against the others, also.

The first step in preventing invasions of firewood insects of any kind is to store firewood outdoors at least 50 feet away from any heated building. Storing wood on the porch or just outside the backdoor is convenient, but not just for the homeowner -- insects and even rodents may find the woodpile a convenient place to hide until they can find a way inside.

Step two is to bring only small amounts of wood indoors and burn it right away. Rapid turnover of wood stored inside heated buildings is especially important in late winter and early spring when insects’ biological clocks are ticking toward spring emergence.

Step three is to check any wood that comes indoors for tunnels, holes or other borings or signs of insect activity. Burn them first.

If insects do emerge indoors, control by sweeping with a broom and dustpan, swatting or vacuuming is usually all that’s necessary.