Cutting a 4" hole through a wall.

[Goochie]

Our house has 9" solid brick walls. I would like to fit an extractor fan in the bathroom that will need a 4" hole putting stright through the wall.

Whats going to be the best way to do this? I dont really want to chain-drill it then knock out the middle bit!

[MikeyT]

Buy the proper cutter and make sure you have a drill big enough and strong enough to do it ...

If you don't want to splash out, chain drilling it is the only way ...

[Plotloss]

http://www.transtools.co.uk/store/prod_3535/diamon...

[sleep envy]

Plotloss said:

http://www.transtools.co.uk/store/prod_3535/diamon...

with a massive drill and a weekend to do it in

st job

[Rower]

You can rent a cutting tool that will do the job , probably best to rent the drill unit as well , it is unlikely that your usual B and D will be man enough for the job.

Have fun !

[mel]

Hire shop, diamond core drill bit and the correct drill to go with it with water cooling, it wont be expensive and will go through like a hot knife in butter, make sure you get the water pump and keep the flow good as they charge you by the mm of wear on the bit when you return it.

[Rotaree]

mel said:

Hire shop, diamond core drill bit and the correct drill to go with it with water cooling, it wont be expensive and will go through like a hot knife in butter, make sure you get the water pump and keep the flow good as they charge you by the mm of wear on the bit when you return it.

Depends a bit on what you mean by expensive - they often have a standard wear charge of around £70 for the core drill bit on top of the charge for the hire of the equipment so you can reckon on about £100 - £150. (Unless they saw me coming last week! )

[BlueEyedBoy]

also make sure you make sure your bathroom is empty and the door is closed, as the dust will get everywhere.

[mel]

They did! You could buy a top end 4" drill bit from someone like Golz for considerably less than £70 and it'd be yours to keep at the end of it, without even considering the 2 bob shyte ones that plotty linked to, you were well and truely bum raped mate.

[mel]

BlueEyedBoy said:

also make sure you make sure your bathroom is empty and the door is closed, as the dust will get everywhere.

????? not with the water cooling running it shouldn't!

[Goochie]

Just spoken to the hire shop and he says he has "just the thing for that job" and it'll be £30 for a weekend.

SOunds like a bargain to me but I'll have to check for the wear charge!

[Plotloss]

Piss off, first one I could find to exemplify the concept.

[tonyvid]

Plotloss said:

Piss off, first one I could find to exemplify the concept.

[mel]

Plotloss said:

Piss off, first one I could find to exemplify the concept.

You can always tell the standards of a tradesman by the quality of his tools

[BlueEyedBoy]

mel said:

BlueEyedBoy said:

also make sure you make sure your bathroom is empty and the door is closed, as the dust will get everywhere.

????? not with the water cooling running it shouldn't!

Unless you are a master at cutting large holes in walls, you will create a fair amount of dust, water cooling or not. Plus the guy above was done, it cost me £17 to hire one for the day.

[mel]

And of course the big question is now, should he go from the inside out, or the outside in

[mel]

BlueEyedBoy said:

mel said:

BlueEyedBoy said:

also make sure you make sure your bathroom is empty and the door is closed, as the dust will get everywhere.

????? not with the water cooling running it shouldn't!

Unless you are a master at cutting large holes in walls, you will create a fair amount of dust, water cooling or not. Plus the guy above was done, it cost me £17 to hire one for the day.

See the last question, because the answer is a small SDS+ pilot hole to centre from the inside out, then core drill from outside in, the reasons being that you can then use plenty of water (proper core drill will be electrically double insulated and on an RCD) to keep dust down, any dust will be outside, and when you break through patching plaster is much easier to do than trying to stick back bits of solid wall that will look horrible.

[Simpo Two]

SDS drill, 4" core bit, extension shaft - bosh, done.

ETA: SDS drills from £29.95 at Screwfix, core bits about £5 at The Range.

Edited by Simpo Two on Monday 27th October 10:30

[ALawson]

Could you not just take it up through the ceiling into the attic, run some ducting across the loft and then down through the u/s of the facia boarding thing.

[catso]

mel said:

And of course the big question is now, should he go from the inside out, or the outside in

Depends which side he wants the bulk of the mess and in particular the 'exit wound' which will be harder to repair on external brickwork. I'd go outside in if possible, perhaps drill a small pilot hole from the inside first to get the correct positioning though.