drilling through external wall

longwalks1

im planning on installing virgin or sky multi room to my 2 bedrooms, but will run the cable myself as having just decorated, i dont want sky/virgin engineer comnig round and clipping the co-ax around the skirting boards or shortest run

If i drill through the external wall (I'm mid terrace), so they can feed their cable through, up outside of house, then back into bedroom, what do i do with the space in the hole drilled? fill it? or grommets?

Any ideas?

SailorSam

It doesn't have to be filled, but to save draughts a bit of filler; mastic; cement, whatever you have handy. But don't forget to drill at a slight angle, the rain can't run upwards.

parallax_20

SailorSam wrote: »

It doesn't have to be filled, but to save draughts a bit of filler; mastic; cement, whatever you have handy. But don't forget to drill at a slight angle, the rain can't run upwards.

Thats a really good tip...never really thought about drilling upwards on external walls.

The contractors who installed Sky for me, squirted clear silicone into the hole and surrounding area and stuck a plastic cover over it to protect it from the rain. Unfortunately the plastic cover has fallen off....doesn't appear to stick too well to silicone sealant, but they've put enough around the hole it self to ensure its water seal. I should get around to putting that cover back on at some point.

Inactive

A drip loop is important, a small loop of cable lower than the entry hole will make sure that any water running down the cable drips off lower than the entry point.

diable

Can you lift the floor boards up and run the cable in the void or are your floors solid?

iamcornholio

And always drill inwards from the outside not outwards from the inside - which will blow the face off the brick as the bit exits.

Most (all?) installers insist on drilling outwards in case they hit a pipe or cable - and then make a right mess as they use a whole tube of clear silicone to hide the broken brick