Charlie:
Andy’s in Northwest and he’s a preventative measures kind of guy. He wants to prevent termites so he’s putting in these Termidor stations. He has a slate patio into which he believes he has to drill holes so he can apply the Termidor underneath the patio. He says, “I know to use a hammer drill with an 18″ bit along the driveway but what kind of drill do I need to get through slate without chipping it or cracking it?”
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Tom:
First off, I want to say that Termidor doesn’t work if you don’t have termites. It’s not a preventative. I think he needs to talk to some people about that unless they’re selling him a job. You can put all the Termidor down you want …
Charlie:
This sounds like Andy’s doing it himself.
Tom:
I know and I’m surprised because you can’t buy Termidor unless you find a “source” down the street. You know?
Charlie:
I see, okay.
Tom:
I would tell him not to do it at all, but if you’re going to drill through tile, use just a regular masonry bit to go through it. Go through the tile first and then go ahead with the heavy …
Charlie:
Slate.
Tom:
Slate, it’s a stone it’s the same thing.
Charlie:
He’s probably going to go real slow through that, don’t you think?
Tom:
No. It’ll be all right. He’s going to have holes in it now anyway and you can’t drill a nice clean hole in anything so when it’s masonry.
Charlie:
You’re going to have a hole …
Tom:
So, the only thing he can do is go through with a masonry bit and just go through it and hope for the best.
Charlie:
But you say …
Tom:
He’d have to have a hammer drill so you can’t go real slow, it’s going to be pretty rough going through it. It’s the same drill if you did a tile shower or out of slate, a slate shower and you’re going to put grab bars. You still going to go through the tile and what you do is you use the same bit anyway.
Charlie:
Okay.
Tom:
So, it’s a masonry bit.
Charlie:
Now, you say … Let me go back to what you said in the first place about preventative measures with Termidor. Isn’t part of it … Isn’t there like a bait part of the Termidor?
Tom:
No that’s Centercon.
Charlie:
Oh, that’s Centercon.
Tom:
Termidor is a poison.
Charlie:
What I’m driving at here is, I’m worried that putting this down might even attract termites.
Tom:
Centercon does and you put those out in the yard. Then you can alleviate the colonies. That’s more of a preventative if you wanted to do something like that. He wouldn’t have the opportunity to do it himself. Termidor if he has it, that’s one thing, but that is a poison that you actually have to poison the termites. It’s not a barrier like the old chlordanes were. If you don’t have termites you’re just wasting your time. By the time the termites come that Termidor might be long gone. You have to find where the termites are, put the Termidor there and then they’ll spread it to the colony and kill the colony.
Charlie:
I’m thinking that’s what his thought process was.
Tom:
It’s just overkill. People do a lot of stuff they shouldn’t be doing. If you just do your termite inspections every year you won’t get termites.