Dozens of pinholes in vinyl liner

[frank1234]

Hi

I have a 18x36 vinyl liner inground pool suranded by a pressure treated wood deck. The pool and the deck are about 20 years old. Last year we replaced the liner because we could not find where the pool was leaking. When the new pool was installed they put in a hard bottom and a pool base then the liner. The walls were covered in foam. Over the winter we continued to lose water and had to fill the pool every couple of weeks. At one point we stopped filling and waited until the water level went below the light but the was only about a foot and a half left in the shallow end so we refilled again. This summer we lose about a half inch a day.

We we had a technican come over with a leak teac and he found about a dozen pin holes along the bottom wall on one side of the pool. He suspects termites. I am having an exterminator come tomorrow and will try to patch the holes. But can termites get through the pool base and foam?

Has anyone had an issue like this? Do I need to remove the liner to treat?

please help

 

[gwegan]

 

[CJadamec]

Ants and termites can and will chew thru foam like candy. The last piece of advice my PB gave me before leaving was to treat around my pool for ants multiple times a year to prevent damage to the liner. According to him most of the liner replacement jobs he gets are from insect damage. The base under the pool makes a great ant home its warm and dry and generally full of nice compacted sand for them to make a nest in. Eventually they will tunnel into the liner and either try chewing thru it or work around it.

 

[frank1234]

Thanks for your reply. Should I just patch the hole treat the area around the pool and hope for the best.

 

[CJadamec]

If you can find all the holes and patch them go for it I'm sure its cheaper than replacing a liner. Definitely make efforts to stop ants/termites if you keep getting more holes you will eventually have to replace the liner and address the pest problem under the pool.

 

[frank1234]

Thanks. Any idea how to treat the bugs. We had terminx out today and they will only do the house, not the pool. Can I place the traps myself?

i patched the 18 holes today, they were tiny. But I assume they will keep comming

 

[CJadamec]

Saturate the ground around the pool with a ant/termite treatment following the directions on the bottle. There are a number of products at your local home depot or walmart. I prefer the ones applied with a pump type garden sprayer for large areas. You can also get the ant bait traps for an active ant population. The ones that use boric acid are cheap and effective they will help kill the colonies under the pool where the spray wont reach. I would use both traps and sprays at first then just the spray once the ant activity in the area dies down. Remember to read and follow the directions on the bottle to limit your exposure to the chemicals and do you best to avoid hurting none target insects.

 

[frank1234]

Thank you for your help! I will see what I can buy at Home Depot for now. There is a wood deck aripoind the pool and concrete pool deck so I will need to pull it up. The holes are about 4 feet down. Do you know if the treatment will go down they far or do I need to dig a trench