Drilling core through cavity wall for bathroom and kitchen extractors

Red brick should at least be soft and easy to drill.

Up a ladder? You obviously know all the reasons why this is not recommended - drill twisting, etc. But I guess as long as the ladder is fully secured - tightly tied - to prevent any sideways or outwardly movement, and you also lash yourself to the ladder, you at least shouldn't kill yourself...

I think you plan for drilling sounds good. You might even want to drill all the way through the inner skin from the inside, so all needs from the out is one brick's depth cutting - as long as you are lined up.

Although I suspect your choice of cutter will be panned, I bet it'll easily do this job - red brick is nice soft, even stuff. Usually.

Simply take it easy - light pressure only. My personal thoughts are you'll manage this fine.

(Is it usual to drill at a slightly downwards slope towards the outside even for such large holes? I'm not sure - chust asking.)

 

Safer to drill completely from the inside, if the core bit got stuck while drilling up a ladder, you could get thrown off.
You shouldn't get any serious breakout, but drill pilot from inside right the way through, then using core bit drill about 25mm deep from outside will save any breakout, then do rest from inside. And no hammer action is needed with a core bit.

What you drilling hole for?

Not all red brick is soft, got some here,found it hard as nails when I put a 152mm core drill through it.

I reckon you be better off hiring a 4kg SDS drill to do the hole, you'll find it hard going with your 2kg drill.

 

Your drill is only rated for a 50mm core bit.

 

Kitchen extractor fan ideally should be a 6" fan, & a cooker hood again 6" hole.

Hire the proper drill & core bits, you'll burn your drill out.

The Marcrist core bit you linked to are the better ones to use.

 

I use a independent hire shop here, cheaper than HSS & other big names.
Most cooker extractor hoods now use 150mm, & I'm sure they recommend 150mm extractor fan in a kitchen in the building regs.
Just about to fit 150mm wall fan in the kitchen here, don't ever buy a Silavent, it needs a 170mm hole through the wall, compared to 152mm hole for other 150mm fans, so much hassle.

Have a look at the linky, all about ventilation requirements, etc, free to download.

http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/buildingregulations/approveddocuments/partf

 

Yes, just 4 screws, one each corner.

I sometimes use clear sealant, depending on wall colour.

 

I would not attempt it with my Makita SDS Plus drill which was £120 on offer at Screwfix . It will be way over capacity. My only experience of hiring a big drill from HSS is that they would throw in the use of a large drill bit for free, but it was so blunt it took ages to drill two holes. The only other alternative was to buy a new one from them.
Have you considered getting a quote for a builder to cut the two holes for you?
My experience in renovating my house is that I do what I can easily do to a standard that satisfies me and I get professionals in to do the rest.

 

I have a small local independent hire shop which I use, service is top notch, cheaper prices, & it puts the big names like HSS to shame.

 

I totally understand the good advice above. And it obviously is the 'right' thing to do.

HtC, if you are going to go for the larger 150 cutter, then absolutely hire the equipment (or get someone in to do the job).

However, if you are going to stick with the 110mm size, and the cutter you have already bought, then you may decide to chust go for it.

But it's your call.

But it's what I would do.

Because it's only 2 holes.

I'm a DIYer, and have renovated the 3 last three houses we moved in to. My tools are cheapo, but have done the job. This is the way I look at it - if I had your Dewalt SDS drill and knew it was rated at max 50mm core drill size, I would still go ahead because I know it's only 2 holes, and I know I will be taking it easy anyway. And I know I simply will not burn out the drill - I will listen to what the drill is telling me, and will ease off if there is any hint of it struggling.

You just take it easy. This means that there will be no strain on either the drill or your arms, and also makes it very unlikely that the core bit will bind. Slow, gentle - withdraw regularly. A bit like, um, er, mixing egg whites...

The chances are the red brick will be a relatively easy cut, and both the drill and the cutter will survive with absolutely no issues. As hopefully will you. But, if it doesn't prove to be like this - if it's really tough going - then simply stop and hire the 'right' stuff.

You will at least have cored a good inch into the outside skin, so can now do the rest from the inside.

But it's your call. And should only be done if you are secured to the ladder - and the ladder to the house - to the extent that if you do have to drop everything, you will not come to harm.

(Or, invest in a cheapo 5kg SDS like the Titan or even Energer that our hosts sell. They work extremely well - and you'll have an extra tool to play with.)

 

Two things come to mind, the core drill isn't deep enough to go through even a single course of bricks, so you will have to drill from both inside and out and more than likely have to punch the last bit of brick and block into the cavity, assuming it has one, if it hasn't then you in for a hells own job trying to drill it, drill a bit, punch it out, drill some more, punch it out etc etc, if it is a solid wall it will be cheaper to get someone in rather than buy all the right tools to do just 2 holes.

Just out of interest I drilled 120mm hole through my extension wall (cavity) with an 18v cordless and a 120mm core drill, that made the motor smell. .

 

I've just done a 150 for a kitchen extractor. It took a full 15-20 minutes to go through the red brick outer leaf - hard ******* bricks - and about 2 seconds to go through the concrete block inner. Hire the kit. Make sure the safety clutch is set up for 100 -150mm or whatever - my hire shop took care to do this when I picked up. Take it steady. Not sure I would want to be up a ladder.

 

I am not a builder, but when I have done the odd extractor hood hole in the past, I just drew the circle for the hole on the inside and drilled a center hole, and then a circle of 10mm holes around the outside of the circle with a sds,(checking to see that the holes coming through on the outside are aligned with the centre hole) and then just cut it out with an sds chisel .Simples!

 

Also what I have done is drill from both sides so there is no breakout and drill at a slight angle (around the circle outwards) so you are guaranteed the resulting hole is not too small.

 

As you are close to the hire shop If they lend you a blunt drill just take it back and ******* them.

 

Sorry, that was "Bullock" them as in Sandra Bullock