… well, in a couple days I am needing to have a hole through an 18-20″ stone foundation wall to bring in a 1″ black poly water line. can anyone suggest what tool(s) I might look to rent (or borrow) to accomplish this with a minimum of cursing and groaning. I had thought earlier that I would be digging under the footing, which seemed less daunting, but realized today that it’s probably going to be much more of a pain to go that route … so I’m hoping that there’s a realtively straightforward way to drill such a hole
thanks – Roy
Replies
For the least cursing and groaning, call a concrete cutting/coring company- they do that kinda stuff all day. Most of them do mostly commercial work, so one 1" hole through a 20" wall is a no-brainer for them.
Best part is, the heaviest thing you've gotta lift is the pen to write the check....lol.
Bob
... only problem is it's 70 miles to the nearest such company ... and the check for that might get a bit prohibitive. I've got feelers out for someone local with such equipment/skills and I'm still imagining that I might end up trying it myself if the equipment is available.
a tow behind air compressor and a small air-hammer will do. Don't forget the ear-muffs.
you know, I'm not much familiar with pneumatic tools. Would an rental air hammer likely have long enough bits to reach through a 20" wall? And would a shop-type compressor be big enough to handle a tool like this. I'll be able to pose these questions to my local tool rental shop in the morning, just wanting to go in with as much info as possible ...
Mortared or stacked stone...
Rent at least a Bosch 1-9/16" combination hammer and use a 2" coring bit with a 2' extension...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
mortared
go rent the Bosch CH and et a 2" core bit and have at it...
Mostly a time... The coring bit will cut pretty quick...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
sounds like an adventure. thanks to all for the thoughts! Roy
It's not... it's cake and pie...
we drill major holes in a lot worse than your foundation...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
rented the Bosch hammer drill as recommended and did the job. nice tool!only snag was when after breaking through into the as yet unexcavated earth, the bit augered out into the dirt and while trying to twist the drill to back it out (no reverse), the bit unscrewed from the extension. rental place was nice enough to not charge extra for the bit coming back a day late after the backhoe and shovel did their work.thanks for the advice all!Roy
I did mine with a Bosch SDS Max and a 2 1/2" Relton bit. IIRC, it took about 30 - 45 minutes to get thru 22". This was downward at a 45 degree angle, so I was stopping to clear the powder out of the hole a lot. Let it build up, and it holds the heat on the bit, plus it makes it hard to pull out. This was also done in the crawl space. The Bosch and Relton combination was just a tad over four feet long, and just barely fit. Interesting to do once, but not so much fun that I'd want to do it again.
-- J.S.
They make hammer drill bits for that. My brother was just me showing me his 2" hammer drill bit that he uses to go through foundations. We use two and three foot long ones all the time to drill through bank vaults.
Who Dares Wins.
Coin toss..
which one of shows and knocks it out...
for a consultation fee of course...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
start a hole at a joint in outer wall in stone , when you hit next layer of stone get a steel shaft 2" dia. and pound it with a sledge hammer & it will knock out the inner stone . I live in a stone home & have done this numerous times after someone else showed me.
I just did this ... my foundation turned out to be double wall ... stone on both sides and dirt in the middle. I used my big hammer drill with a 3/4" bit 22" long. My bit should have been 1" or 1 1/4" so I had to do some reaming and some fancy fishing to get the pipe through. The long bits (of the proper size) run about $80. Any splined hammer drill should handle it. If you can rent the proper bit do so, but it is not prohibitive to buy the bit and rent the tool (I happen to own such a driill anyway). I sealed the hole with "Great Stuff" urethane foam.
What kind of stones you talking about? Local stone around here is so hard, drilling is prohibitive.
If possible, don't drill at all. Just find an area where stones are of managable size, and knock them out with a big hammer and chisel. Run a galvanized or PVC conduit through your hole. Fill gap around conduit with mortar and small stones as needed. Run water line through conduit later.
I'm always poking holes in my stone foundation for various things.