Four Reasons to Use Beetle Kill Pine
Using Beetle Kill for Fencing, Accents, & Cladding
Beetle-kill pine and its characteristic blue stains
When we replaced our fence, we did do in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. Lumber was in short supply, but we had to replace it. The fence was more than 60 years old and was literally falling down. It took us nearly a year to find a fencing contractor to do the job, and the cost estimates were so high we actually considered doing it ourselves. But this was a DIY that we felt was beyond our abilities. So we looked for other ways to save money. And we found it in sourcing our own lumber for the fence -- using beetle-kill pine from a local lumber mill.
Many of the forest fires in the western United States are fueled by stands of dead trees -- trees killed by the Mountain Pine Beetle.
what is beetle-kill pine?
The Mountain Pine Beetle is a destructive plague that has lived in our forests for centuries. As average winter temperatures have risen in the last 40 years, the beetles have spread and flourished with a longer breeding season causing wide-spread damage.
The beetle bores under the bark of pine and Douglas Fir trees, damaging the trees and leaving them susceptible to a fungal infection which the beetle leaves behind. It’s the combination of the beetle’s damage and the fungus which eventually kills the trees and leaves the blue stain in the wood. If you have driven through the mountains of Colorado and Wyoming, I am sure you have seen mountainsides covered in dead trees — the work of the pine beetle.
The beetles have killed more trees than can be harvested -- and often in remote and hard-to-log areas. Part of the problem is that there isn’t a commercial demand for beetle-kill pine, so the trees aren’t removed, and the dry, dead wood becomes tinder for raging forest fires.
Why build a fence with beetle-kill pine?
Beetle-kill pine isn’t standard in fencing, but we are convinced that should change. We chose this particular wood for several reasons.
Beetle-kill pine cost 60% less than traditional low-end fencing products
Cost
The price of lumber has tripled in the last year. The beetle-kill pine we sourced cost about 60% less than using traditional fencing products. Seriously.
We purchased the beetle-kill pine directly from the lumber mill. We cut it to length ourselves which was a bit of work, but with the three of us and a chop saw, we got it done. Our fence installers could have done that, too, but we saved money doing it ourselves.
The pine boards are thicker and straighter than many fencing products available.
Quality
While they were doing the installation, one of the fencing guys asked about our “fancy” wood — why we wanted such a fancy fence. Most fences in the US are made from Cedar or Redwood. But the trees harvested are young. Therefore the wood isn’t full of the oils that make old-growth Cedar and Redwood better against the elements. You end up paying a premium for something that isn’t actually better. By contrast, our pine boards are very high quality, thicker than standard fence pickets, and are clean and straight — fancy without a fancy price tag. This is a high-quality wood product, and our fence should last for a very long time!
Note: we only used beetle-kill pine for the pickets. Even younger cedar and redwood outperforms pine in moisture resistance from ground contact and pest resistance. Therefore, only the pickets are beetle-kill pine. The rails and posts of our fence are cedar. We also went with cedar posts as opposed to pressure-treated lumber as it is less likely to warp and twist as it weathers and we avoided the chemicals used in the pressure treatment process.
DIY-ers should strive to be as environmentally-conscious as possible.
Environmental & Local Impact
These dead trees are ready fuel for forest fires — but they are also trees which can be harvested and used in other ways. However, there isn’t a large market for this wood because of the blue stain. So here’s a local product that needs to be harvested and doesn’t have to be trucked across the country to us. Using it for our fence pickets was a much better environmental choice than any other fence product. And since it is local, the money spent stayed closer to home as well.
Over the summer months, the beetle-kill pine changed color, losing some of its characteristic blue stain.
Aesthetics
I absolutely love beetle-kill and how it looks. The lumber we bought had some waney-edged pieces with bark still attached. We didn’t use them on the fencing, but my husband picked a piece for the side gate — a small reminder of the wood’s origins. I know the blue stain isn’t for everyone, but I think it is beautiful. I am very excited to watch it weather, too.
Several of my Instagram followers asked if we will stain it. The answer is: probably. We need to let the wood cure and dry out, but I imagine next spring we will be adding a clear-ish stain to help preserve the wood. At this altitude, that’s particularly important.
Beetle-kill pine is an unconventional choice for a fence, but we love how it looks. And we are thrilled that our eco-friendly choice is helping our local economy and resulted in a strong and beautiful fence.
In the end, we bought extra wood knowing how high wood prices have risen. Some of that extra wood is cladding The Greenhouse, and we used it to make the windows, too. Be sure to check out The Greenhouse build to see beetle-kill pine in another application.
By the way: I am not compensated in any way for this. I am keenly interested in helping spread the word about beetle-kill pine. We need to harvest this wood to help prevent forest fires, but to do so there must be a market for the wood, too.
The Greenhouse under construction with some beetle-kill pine cladding.
Windows made from beetle-kill pine on The Greenhouse
