Thread: Honey in the attic ?

In your professionnal opinion, assuming that during my inspection I did find a bee hive, can you agree that the orange stuff in the attic is most probably honey ?

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Originally Posted by Christian Tag

In your professionnal opinion, assuming that during my inspection I did find a bee hive, can you agree that the orange stuff in the attic is most probably honey ?

Looks like sap to me. Bees work pretty hard for their honey and are not likely to be that sloppy.

Difficult to say from the photos, but the nests on the exterior appear to be wasp nests not bee hives. However, I am not an expert in wasps or bees.

I agree with Gunnar, looks like sap. There's no way bees would put honey there - they put it in combs. I also agree that it's a wasps' nest.

I'm throwin down w/ Gunnar. Looks like a serious pitch pocket and the exterior nest/s are not honey bee nests, ( hornets or wasps ).

Yep, pitch pocket and wasp nest. No honey or bees.

Christian,
What makes you think that it is a bee nest?

Originally Posted by Christian Tag

In your professionnal opinion, assuming that during my inspection I did find a bee hive, can you agree that the orange stuff in the attic is most probably honey ?

Christian, you need to get out more.... big difference between wasp and honey bees.

I know you are fairly new to the profession but you might want to get with an experienced inspector in your area and tag along with them for a week or two. You can get a ton of help from online discussion boards, but it can only go so far.

Just so we don't all jump on you at the same time, thanks for posting.
Next time you see something you can't identify, take a closer look, poke it with a screwdriver, maybe. Unless it's a wasp nest.

There's so much to learn in this biz, and one of them is to know your local pests and insects. Bees keep busy gathering nectar. Wasps are predators and don't store food.
Correction: They do build nests and store a bit of food. A comb without the paper cover, hanging up in an eave is probably an empty wasp nest. The larvae have hatched and left long ago. I have come across wasp's nests as big as basketballs in attics around here. They were not dripping with honey.

When people are bothered by "bees", they should learn that those are wasps. My step dad kept honey hives behind his house in the suburbs. Every time a kid in the hood got a wasp sting, it was his fault.

Generally . . . Attics get too hot for bees or hornets. In fact most any insect won't last long up there.

Craw spaces are too cool for bees or hornets but plenty of spiders might call it home.

But in between floor joists is wonderful for hornets.

Christian,
I think you asked a trick question. We were supposed to comment on the row of nails that missed the truss. No windstorm insurance for this house.

Our Mesquite trees here in South Texas drool sap seasonally. When it is still "semi-fluid" it is very sticky and hard to clean from clothes.
But, I remember from my youth; it does not taste like honey.
Doesn't tree sap eventually become a rock-like subtance called amber?

Remember, the only dumb question is the one you don't ask. Everyone in construction had to learn about sap (and everything else) at some time in their experience. Nobody was "born" with the knowledge.

no, its not a honey

I'm not a home inspector. I'm a molecular biologist. But I agree with everyone who said the gooey stuff is sap, not honey. And, it's not a problem. In the long term, as the sap oozes the wood will dry and could warp. But, as long as the rafters is held immobile by the cross members, it should remain straight.

Honey would be ONLY within the hexagonal honeycombs of a honey bee nest.

The nests outside of the house are not the nests of honeybees. It is difficult to see the details of the nests outside of the house. But they look much more like nests of paper wasps or hornets, not honey bees. Honey bees tend to build their nests inside a protective structure (such as hollow trees) and would not leave their nests exposed as the nests in the photo.

Beehive - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I was wondering when someone would notice the missed nails in the second photo. Hopefully the framer hit the truss on the second attempt.
Good example of where a photo of one potential problem sometimes illustrates a different potential problem that you might not have noticed.

I'm in the same camp as most, that's sap not honey. I've seen honey in hives and once the hive is touched it begins dripping. There's not enough there to be honey.