Drilling through wooden window frames...

[WH16]

Advised or not? I'm installing Starlink at home at the ideal entry point for the cable is by this window. The wall here is >0.5m solid stone (no cavity AFAIK). I know it is easy enough to go through walls like this but I thought the window frame would be a neater solution.

Inside


Outside


The frame edge is around 70-80mm. I need a 25mm (1") hole for the cable.

Anyone know if this is going to cause me any problems with the window frame or glass integrity?

Am I better to just bite the bullet and go through the wall?

Any advice gratefully received.

[JoshSm]

Through the frame is easy, but it's not good for the frame and a right pain to patch up around the cable and if you change your ideas later.

Through the wall is easy enough if you have the gear and *much* easier to patch up, more flexible for position and *much* less visible.

[wolfracesonic]

Not the end of the world drilling the frame, angle the hole downwards towards the outside, some caulk around it…but it would look a bit naff; another option drill the hole directly under the window cill through the wall, the frame is likely bedded on mortar so drilling will be easier than through the stone, the entry and exit hole will be partially hidden by the internal and external cills. A 600mm sds drill bit would make short work of it.

[UpTheIron]

25mm hole? What is the cable?

[Antony Moxey]

UpTheIron said:

25mm hole? What is the cable?

Something with fat connectors attached at each end?

[steveo3002]

cant see why a wooden frame would be hard at all to patch up if you ever needed to , about as easy as it gets

[WH16]

Antony Moxey said:

UpTheIron said:

25mm hole? What is the cable?

Something with fat connectors attached at each end?

Yeah, it is just a weatherproof ethernet, but the ends are a bit chunky.

[catso]

We had a Starlink a few years back before fast fibre-optic internet was available here.

As I fitted the 'dish' to the chimney to avoid any potential blockages due to rooflines/trees etc., the easiest way was to drill trough the wall into the attic (we also have thick stone walls) but shoving a flexible cable with a plug on the end through a rough hole that may be partially or even fully blocked by an internal 'collapse' due to rubble moving around (old stone walls are often a 'skin' of stone either side with an infill of rocks) is not easy so I got some thin-walled steel tubing and set a length of that through the wall.

Cable slides through nice and easily and hole sealed with some silicone. Of course now that we're no longer using the Starlink, it's not so easy to get the cable out without damaging the plug so I've not bothered.

That said a wooden window frame is easy to drill and repair afterwards if necessary but it won't win any beauty prizes.

[JoshSm]

steveo3002 said:

cant see why a wooden frame would be hard at all to patch up if you ever needed to , about as easy as it gets

It'll always show. Mortar & plaster not so much.

[Simpo Two]

Flat tyre?

[WH16]

Simpo Two said:

Flat tyre?

Just an odd aberration in the glass.

[Danm1les]

Could you cut the ehternet connectors off one end and reterminate once inside? Just to make it a smaller neater hole? Can get the equipment on Amazon easily.

[Foss62]

JoshSm said:

steveo3002 said:

cant see why a wooden frame would be hard at all to patch up if you ever needed to , about as easy as it gets

It'll always show. Mortar & plaster not so much.

It's a painted window frame. A bit of dowel or home made version glued in, filled (if necessary) with plastic wood and then painted would be near enough invisible or at worst just the equivalent of a knot.

[UpTheIron]

I went down this rabbit hole after I posted above and yes it appears you can, it's just a RJ45 connector on each end from my 60 seconds of investigation.

[LooneyTunes]

UpTheIron said:

I went down this rabbit hole after I posted above and yes it appears you can, it's just a RJ45 connector on each end from my 60 seconds of investigation.

It wasn’t on mine…?