Drilling through cavity wall to run dual sat cable

slinky2000 · 29-01-2016 4:20pm #1

I've to run sat (dual) coax cable to a few rooms and I'll have to drill a few holes outside to inside.

At the moment I've an dewalt 18 volt hammer drill. Will this be up to the job?

Or will I go and hire an SDS drill for the day to get the job done.

I suppose I'll need possibly a 16mm * 450mm drill bit which I can only find in SDS fitment. Can I still use them on a normal hammer drill? Would that even be long enough?

Thanks

Robbie.G · 29-01-2016 8:16pm

slinky2000 wrote: »

I've to run sat (dual) coax cable to a few rooms and I'll have to drill a few holes outside to inside.

At the moment I've an dewalt 18 volt hammer drill. Will this be up to the job?

Or will I go and hire an SDS drill for the day to get the job done.

I suppose I'll need possibly a 16mm * 450mm drill bit which I can only find in SDS fitment. Can I still use them on a normal hammer drill? Would that even be long enough?

Thanks

The cordless probly wouldn't be up to it your cavity walls depth are normally 300mm so a 350-450 drill bit would be fine
It's possible to use ads bits in a normal chuck but it can be difficult to line them up right you would be better off using a ads drill

_Brian · 29-01-2016 10:23pm

Also drill with a slight fall on the line iof the hole to the outside, this ensures no damp follows cable into house.

Cerco · 29-01-2016 10:40pm

_Brian wrote: »

Also drill with a slight fall on the line iof the hole to the outside, this ensures no damp follows cable into house.

Use a cable cover and form a drip loop tp prevent rain runing along the cable and into the opening. A drip loop will cause the rain to drip off the cable and not enter the cavity block.

K.Flyer · 29-01-2016 10:54pm

slinky2000 wrote: »

[...]

I suppose I'll need possibly a 16mm * 450mm drill bit which I can only find in SDS fitment. Can I still use them on a normal hammer drill? Would that even be long enough?

Thanks

No, you would be wasting your time and your money.

Do yourself a huge favour and hire both the drill and the bits needed.
Measure the thickness of the wall and add a few inches for the bit needed.
The SDS bit on the end of a good machine will go through the walls like a hot knife through butter. Hire shops tend to stock high quality equipment, so you get that benefit for a reasonable fee.
Before you hire, work out exactly where you want to drill and double check if your pipes and cables are near drilling points.
Know how to turn off the water beforehand both from the tank and mains, just in case!
If you hire and get it back to the shop immediately that you are finished, you will usually get a discount for a quick return. If you prepare well, you should have it back within a couple of hours.

fred funk }{ · 29-01-2016 11:01pm

Is 16mm not a bit bug for two coax cables?

Stoned Since 2011 · 29-01-2016 11:03pm

fred funk }{ wrote: »

Is 16mm not a bit bug for two coax cables?

Be grand just lube the cables with a bit of fairy first.

Steve · 30-01-2016 4:50am

Cerco wrote: »

Use a cable cover and form a drip loop tp prevent rain runing along the cable and into the opening. A drip loop will cause the rain to drip off the cable and not enter the cavity block.

A good squeeze of tec7 in beside the cables and nothing will get in

slinky2000 · 31-01-2016 12:22am

Thanks lads. I'll hire an ads drill in the next week or so. I know where I've to drill and I'm 99% sure I'm clear of everything

ted1 · 31-01-2016 2:57am

For a cavity wall a big standard plug in 750w drill will do, no needy I hire a expensive drill, just get along a drill bit of screw fix , if you haven't orderedftom themadd it to your basket process it and cancel before they charge it and they'll offer you free postage via email or if you are near killiney you can borrow s drill a Nd large drill bit that'll do the job

Remember a 9 inch cavity block only has like 2 or 4 inch of block

ted1 · 31-01-2016 3:02am

Stoned Since 2011 wrote: »

Be grand just lube the cables with a bit of fairy first.

He asked is 16mm too big , not to small. Generally for a twin cable that does sky plus s 10mm cable will do

Hotblack Desiato · 31-01-2016 11:32am

A few holes??

You only need 4 cables and a quad LNB on the dish to feed any number of TVs/PVRs with a multiswitch. Better to drill one hole and bring the 4 cables in through that to a central distribution point e.g. cupboard or attic and then run as many cables as you need internally from there.

Ask on the satellite forum about sat TV distribution, you can put an aerial feed into the multiswitch to bring Saorview to all the TV points as well.

'Shotgun' (narrow twin) cable is best avoided as it causes signal loss. Use the best cable to you can get, double copper (copper braid and foil) e.g. Triax TX100, do the job once and do it right. The cable a lot of Sky installers use is crap. Aluminium shielded cable is best avoided.

slinky2000 · 31-01-2016 4:43pm

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

A few holes??

You only need 4 cables and a quad LNB on the dish to feed any number of TVs/PVRs with a multiswitch. Better to drill one hole and bring the 4 cables in through that to a central distribution point e.g. cupboard or attic and then run as many cables as you need internally from there.

Ask on the satellite forum about sat TV distribution, you can put an aerial feed into the multiswitch to bring Saorview to all the TV points as well.

'Shotgun' (narrow twin) cable is best avoided as it causes signal loss. Use the best cable to you can get, double copper (copper braid and foil) e.g. Triax TX100, do the job once and do it right. The cable a lot of Sky installers use is crap. Aluminium shielded cable is best avoided.

I've to run 2 separate sets of cables to 2 downstairs rooms outside the house. I've already ran another two sets to 2 upstairs rooms via the attic and down the interior walls. I'm unable to get them downstairs internally without ripping out floorboards and possibly part of the ceiling, I'm not going to do that at this time.

I've a quad lnb and an aerial outside. So for now I'm running 2 separate cables to each room. One sat and one saorview.

I'm aware of the multi switches and I'll be looking at them before my upgrade to bring dual sat cables into a few rooms at some point. It's either that or an octo lnb. At that point I'll combine the saorview and sat signal into one cable to save me running another cable to each room.

Hope that makes sense!

masculinist · 04-02-2016 10:43pm

My drillbits were long I thought but not long enough for a similar job as yours OP. I didnt' want to make yet another journey to the store or spend a tenner on a larger bit so I drilled from both sides of the wall and managed to connect the two holes. I pushed a coat hanger through and duck taped my cable to the end of it. I kept the hole as small as possible and it was higher on the inside with a drop to the outside but anyway I was very liberal in my usage of Tec7. My cavity is full of expanded polystyrene beads for insulation. I made sure not to lose any of those. My drill is PARKSIDE brand 10 years old from LIDL, and came in a case full of drillbits and has been used a lot but is still going strong.

slinky2000 · 05-02-2016 10:47am

Done it this morning, thought I would give it a go with a hammer drill (I've already got before I went and rented a proper sds drill) and a 16 x 450mm sds drill-bit I got myself. (great price here http://www.freetv.ie/sds-drill-bit-16-x-450.html)

Took me a while to get the drill bit aligned in the hammer drill but managed to get it eventually. Once drilling it took a few minutes of pushing hard but got through in the end. Looking back 16mm is possibly a tiny bit too big but not by much. I'll make sure it's sealed properly once I run the cable through later today.

slinky2000 · 05-02-2016 10:47am

Done it this morning, thought I would give it a go with a hammer drill I've already got (before I went and rented a proper sds drill) and a 16 x 450mm sds drill-bit I got myself. (great price here http://www.freetv.ie/sds-drill-bit-16-x-450.html)

Took me a while to get the drill bit aligned in the hammer drill but managed to get it eventually. Once drilling it took a few minutes of pushing hard but got through in the end. Looking back 16mm is possibly a tiny bit too big but not by much. 450mm was just enough to get through my wall. I only had maybe 20mm left. I'll make sure it's sealed properly once I run the cable through later today.

BunkMoreland · 05-02-2016 10:57am

Of course your existing hammer drill did the job. It's just a matter of time and pressure.

Why is it advice on the internet is always blown way out of proportion.

Even the stuff about waterproofing it. Just seal it with tech7 or other. Simple stuff.

masculinist · 05-02-2016 5:09pm

I might get that drillbit myself. I started drilling my own hole inside with the Parkside drill just above the skirting board and my longest drillbit wasnt even half the width of my wall. I measured it ten times using a vent as a reference for both sides and drilled at the same angle upwards. The cable wouldnt go through but I found a threaded bar and gave it a whack with a sledgehammer outside. By some miracle it bent and found its way up and inside joining hole to hole. A very tight sloping hole but nothing beats the peace of mind of having the right tool.

slinky2000 · 06-02-2016 12:22am

masculinist wrote: »

I might get that drillbit myself. I started drilling my own hole inside with the Parkside drill just above the skirting board and my longest drillbit wasnt even half the width of my wall. I measured it ten times using a vent as a reference for both sides and drilled at the same angle upwards. The cable wouldnt go through but I found a threaded bar and gave it a whack with a sledgehammer outside. By some miracle it bent and found its way up and inside joining hole to hole. A very tight sloping hole but nothing beats the peace of mind of having the right tool.

This is exactly what I wanted to avoid, I knew It would be almost impossible to get the holes to join up.

I'm a fan of using the the right tool for the job even if it does cost a few quid.

Cerco · 06-02-2016 7:45am

BunkMoreland wrote: »

Even the stuff about waterproofing it. Just seal it with tech7 or other. Simple stuff.

Yes, waterproofing is simple stuff so why ignore it?

Do you think it is better to to have to address damp patches later on instead of doing a proper job in the first instance?

masculinist · 06-02-2016 6:32pm

slinky2000 wrote: »

This is exactly what I wanted to avoid, I knew It would be almost impossible to get the holes to join up.

I'm a fan of using the the right tool for the job even if it does cost a few quid.

Yeah I definitely wouldnt do the job the same way if I had to do it again. It was successful though whether it was luck, genius or just blind arrogance that got me through and successfully joined both sides without destroying the wall.

Drilling through cavity wall to run dual sat cable

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