hy guys...been debating drilling two holes thru my bedroom wall to the ouside as as to have minimum ducting (stealth) and also to have a fresh air intake/outake (or the possibilty to use one or the other).I was going to ask if this is safe for a start?a few details:my troom is located on the second floor and the wall in question is an outside wall (as in if you drilled thru it you would be ouside).Now my house has got a V roof ( i think that is the name....two sloped sides that join at the top and the other two parralle sides are perpendicular....go straitgh up and join the sloped sides...still with me... )anyways,is it safe considering the roof is on the floor above (as in would this create weak points so to speak...drilling roughly 2m from floor and total height of room is 2,60m,intake hole would be about 30cm off floor,so the holes would be 30cm off the floor and 60cm from the roof/joists).Now i went into hss(hire firm) to see what they had on offer,i got advised to get an anti-wrench (i think that was the name ...its a function so as the drill does not rip your arm off when you are drilling,in case it "grips the wall so to speak).My walls are double walls (again,so>>>wall...airgap...wall<<<,is how it would look from the side).would i have to drill from the ouside as well as the inside? if this is the case (don't really want to go on a ladder whilst using a drill!!would rather be able to get a deep drilling bit that would go straight thr both walls,less faffing around to line em up also...).Finally,how do i find out if any water pipes are running thru the walls as is the same with electrical cables?,im really sorry for the detailed and head fucking post ( well hope it isnt to much).thanks for reading guys and i hope to hear from your opinions...the more the merrier...speaking of wich,merry christmas to you all

Ps..or am i better off bording up on of my windows,(stealth from ouside obviously,as in blinds rolled down) and extracting and/or(or both even) intaking from it?look forward to your replies and opinions...atb

sorry mate, not gonna give you advice as I dont know the structre of your house and im no pro builder either... but with mine, its pretty simple, you just expose the interior wall by breaking through the plasterboard and start drilling from the inside(mines just 1 layer of bricks), but like i said it could be different. if your worried about pipes damage etc, then just gently drill through until your through the first layer of brickwork (unless you have more layers of brickwork, at least then you can see what is behind the first wall)

as for structre damage, you will need a GOOD drill, a shit drill might rip the wall apart and not give a clean hole, which could weaken the structre if there snt much torque/meat in the drill you are using.


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another safer option,
do you have a flue in your attic you could vent out to? ie a bathroom extract as you can split the connection.

or another way, is to go up into attic and drill through the exposed wall up there, at least then you wont have to remove plaster/board and if it does go tits up, well a hole in attic is better than a hole in bedroom

good luck mate

personally i do fine extracting into attic and bringing fresh air from my house, there are plenty of draughts to get nice air in, as you open your doors/windows daily, it does to job for me, no need to drill holes... just get a good ruck.

If your going through brick a core drill is about the neatest option

Now bang, seems a little radical but It's more than possible, don't worry about the structural integrity of the wall as brickwork is self supporting at 60 degrees.

What you wish to do is no different to what a plumber would do to fit a new flue for a combi boiler, hire a core drill with 110 mm diamond cutter, maybe cost around £25.00, you will be able to drill both leaves (of brickwork) from the inside, use very little pressure to keep the cutter cool especially when getting near to the end of the cut, this wiil also save you from "bursting" the outside face as It's very unsightly.

Personally If that's the road you want to take I'd only cut 1 hole for the extraction and just use passive for the intake (1 hole where you mentioned at 2m wont look suspicious with a flue vent or similar on, 2 would start to look outside of standard practice to anybody in the know...

There won't be water pipes or cables in the cavity (the 50mm gap between the brickwork leaves) but check inside the room for electrical sockets as the cables would normally be buried shallow in the plasterwork and run straight down the wall to them (If possible borrow a small battery powered cable finder for peace of mind).

Any questions fire me a p.m.

Good luck.

Woody

I agree with woodbutcher other than to say two holes would not look suspicious. If a boiler was fitted into a small room or cupboard, it would need two holes. One for extracting and one for fresh air intake. It is more than likey that your internal skin of the cavity wall is going to be thermal blocks which are easy to drill through. The external skin will be brick and more difficult. Like woodbutcher says, when you are nearly out through the external skin, really apply little pressure or you will force the brick to brake out before the core bit has drilled through and this will look like shit.

all good advise this mate, just make sure you spend a few quid on hiring some decent kit in, and not your old mans black and decker!

Spot on.

Core drill is the neatest & easiest option.

Weeds

Got to agree with kopchoir.. I just used an SDS drill bit and pepperpotted all the way round... Not my best idea, the inside hole was about the 6" I was after where as the outside hole was nearly 9" just becuase of the bits of brick it pushed out.

Also, choose carefully what style of plastic vent you put on the outside of the wall as I read somewhere that some kind of vents give bad air flow...