Now that patio season is winding down, you might be thinking it’s time to move your outdoor furniture into storage for the winter. Before you bring everything into your garage, shed, or basement, give your chairs, tables, cushions, and umbrellas a quick pest check.
Outdoor furniture provides plenty of small, protected spaces where insects and spiders can shelter. Finding one doesn’t necessarily mean you have a pest problem. In most cases, a quick inspection and cleaning is all that’s needed to avoid accidentally bringing a few unwanted guests indoors.
What Pests Hide in Patio Furniture?
The pests you find will depend on where your furniture has been sitting, how it’s constructed and whether it has been covered. Furniture near gardens, decks, trees and shrubs is especially likely to have a few insects hiding underneath.
Here are some of the more common things worth checking for.
Spiders and Egg Sacs
Spiders like quiet, protected areas where they won’t be disturbed. The underside of a patio table, a hollow furniture frame or a fold underneath a chair can provide exactly that.
Look for webs and small silk egg sacs attached to sheltered surfaces. You don’t need to panic if you find a spider outside. Spiders are a normal part of Alberta’s ecosystem and help control other insects. The goal is simply to avoid moving them into your basement along with the patio set.
Ants
Ants may explore furniture while searching for food or use protected spaces around patios and decks for shelter.
Pay particular attention to furniture that has been sitting directly on the lawn or near an active ant colony. Check hollow legs, cracks and the undersides of furniture before moving anything indoors.
Seeing a couple of ants doesn’t necessarily indicate an infestation. If you’re repeatedly finding ants in or around the house, however, it may be worth determining where they’re coming from.
Wasps
Wasps can occasionally build nests in surprisingly small protected spaces. Hollow furniture frames, storage boxes, umbrellas and other outdoor items can provide shelter.
Check these areas visually before reaching inside or moving furniture. If you discover an active wasp nest, don’t disturb it just to get the furniture packed away for winter. Give the wasps some space, and first determine the safest way to deal with the nest.
Beetles and Other Insects
Outdoor furniture can also harbour beetles and other small insects, particularly when it sits close to vegetation or remains covered for long periods.
Most of these insects have simply found a convenient place to shelter. They aren’t necessarily trying to infest your house, but bringing them into a warm garage or basement isn’t particularly helpful either.
Don’t Forget the Patio Cushions
Cushions deserve their own inspection.
Remove them from the furniture and check the seams, zippers, folds and undersides. Look underneath removable covers as well, particularly if the cushions have been stored outside throughout the summer.
Shake them out outdoors and clean them according to the manufacturer’s instructions before storing them.
Make sure cushions are completely dry before putting them away. Damp fabric stored for several months can create moisture problems, and a dry, clean storage area is generally less attractive to many pests.
How Should You Check Patio Furniture for Pests?
You don’t need to turn this into a major project. A simple inspection while you’re cleaning up the yard is usually enough.
Before bringing patio furniture inside:
- Remove cushions and inspect seams, folds and undersides.
- Look underneath tables, chairs and furniture bases.
- Check hollow legs, tubing, joints and other protected spaces.
- Look for webs, egg sacs, nests or clusters of insects.
- Brush or vacuum away loose debris and webs.
- Clean the furniture before storing it.
- Let everything dry completely.
- Inspect furniture covers, umbrellas and outdoor storage containers too.
Whenever possible, do this outside. It’s much easier to discover a spider underneath a chair on the patio than after you’ve carried it downstairs.
Does Finding a Bug Mean You Have an Infestation?
Usually, no.
Patio furniture spends months outdoors, so finding a spider, beetle, ant, or other insect on it isn’t unusual. Many are simply using the furniture as a temporary shelter.
What matters is what you’ve found and how much activity you’re seeing.
A single spider under a chair is very different from discovering numerous insects, an active nest or repeated pest activity around the same area. Identifying the pest first can help you decide whether you need to do anything at all.
That’s also why we don’t recommend immediately reaching for a pesticide every time you find a bug. Prevention, identification and targeted treatment are generally better approaches than treating something unnecessarily.
Not Sure What You Found? Send Birch a Photo
Sometimes the hardest part is figuring out what you’re looking at.
If you find an insect, nest, egg sac, or something else you don’t recognize while packing up your patio, take a clear photo of it before removing it.
Birch Fumigators offers free pest identification. You can send us a photo through our contact form, and our team can help identify what you’ve found and explain whether it’s something you need to worry about.
Sometimes the answer really is: it’s just a bug that lives outside.
And that’s good news.
Keep Outdoor Pests Outdoors This Fall
A few minutes spent inspecting patio furniture can prevent insects and spiders from hitching a ride into your garage, basement or storage room.
If you discover something that needs more attention, Birch Fumigators can help. We’re a locally owned Canadian pest control company serving Edmonton and surrounding communities, with a focus on prevention and environmentally friendly insect treatment options.
Found something hiding in your patio furniture? Send Birch Fumigators a photo for free pest identification, or contact our team for help with a pest problem.