I have an old steel, vinyl liner IG pool, a concrete deck surrounding it, with metal coping that is fixed to the concrete, and I have an ant problem.
They are living *underneath* the concrete deck and swarming all over the expansion joints and the coping. It appears that dirt under some of the concrete pads has washed away or settled over the years (sorta hollow under some of them), and the pads have heaved a bit and caused pieces of coping to separate slightly - the ants are pushing dirt from under the pads into the pool through these gaps. It looks like they are behind the liner as well - it is coming off in some places, and I see dirt and ants in the liner channel (like a little ant highway around the pool).
My question is, how can I safely eradicate them, given that they are so close to water that my family swims in?
I have purchased food grade DE and put it in the expansion joints and around the coping, but after a week it has not really done a whole lot. I am considering a scorched-earth approach, but don't want to contaminate my pool. Any ideas? Wife isn't happy
They are living *underneath* the concrete deck and swarming all over the expansion joints and the coping. It appears that dirt under some of the concrete pads has washed away or settled over the years (sorta hollow under some of them), and the pads have heaved a bit and caused pieces of coping to separate slightly - the ants are pushing dirt from under the pads into the pool through these gaps. It looks like they are behind the liner as well - it is coming off in some places, and I see dirt and ants in the liner channel (like a little ant highway around the pool).
My question is, how can I safely eradicate them, given that they are so close to water that my family swims in?
I have purchased food grade DE and put it in the expansion joints and around the coping, but after a week it has not really done a whole lot. I am considering a scorched-earth approach, but don't want to contaminate my pool. Any ideas? Wife isn't happy
