In dealing with an ant problem, I’ve been noticing ants everywhere. In particular, in my driveway in the rotting wood expansion joints.

After reading a little bit about my options for replacing them, I opted for using backer rod and some sealer made for expansion joints. I figured that it would be more durable than wood in this environment and it seemed relatively easy.

Some of the wood was pretty well rotted out, and removing that stuff was easy. Mostly breaking it to pieces, getting out large sections where possible. But not all the wood was rotted and some of it took quite some doing to get it free. The rotted sections often pulled back to reveal medium-sized ant colonies. Had I been in more of an entymological mood, I would have liked to capture some of the eggs and ants to watch them develop.

Once freed from it concrete prison, I vacuumed out all the trenches, laid down an ample layer of borax (hoping to discourage future ant colonies, though I have no idea how well this will work), backing rod and started applying the sealant.

It was very difficult to get it to look nice and smooth – there’s a real art to it, apparently – but in the end, it works, it’s functional, and that’s all I needed it to be.