UPVC Trimming for Doorbell

FreeBear

A packing strip in white uPVC either side of the trim - No need to bodge with tubs of sealant.

A regular drill without hammer action will breeze through uPVC like butter.

molerat

A hammer drill is for hard substances such as concrete etc, a normal drill will do. For little pilot holes in PVC I have a drill chuck fitted with a wooden file handle and do it by hand.  You could always use plastic washers underneath the unit to hold it firmly and not bending whilst spacing it away from the frame then, as mentioned above, fill with a bead of silicon.

greenface2

A123r566 said:

Thanks for all the replies. And many thanks for the drawing. Yes I understand. Of course, if I cut that trim, there's essentially no going back. What about drilling through it? (Photo- Black dots roughly where the screws would go just to show the jist of it.)

Of course, the trim is slightly raised, so the bell would be slightly angled facing towards the door, but would it still work? And what about the cosmetic damage if I ever want to change doorbells. Would it be easy to fill the holes? Just brainstorming ideas, I'll eventually resort to the brick wall if nothing looks feasible.

Or would I even need to drill holes in UPVC? Or can you just screw the screws. Maybe with small pilot holes? You can tell I'm not very good at this haha.

That maybe not be H section . it maybe a cover strip on a metal coupling . Either way looking at the pic just bridge it with screws either side don't fully tighten it must be raised only about 3mm . you could get a double sided tape to surround it 

Bendy_House

A123r566 said:

Is a hammer drill better for drilling into UPVC or is it better to use a regular drill? I have both but I'm not 100% sure of the difference, I bought the hammer drill for drilling into brick.

Lawdie! You are new to this!

You have the fixing screws sup[plied, yes? Cool - hold one up, and look at the threaded portion. There is a solid shaft in the middle, with a spiralling thread going around it, yes? Choose a pilot drill bit that's around the size of - or slightly thinner than - the 'shaft' bit. 

Drill at a slow speed without 'ammer. It'll go through like a hot whatsit through thingy.

Bendy_House

FreeBear said:

A packing strip in white uPVC either side of the trim - No need to bodge with tubs of sealant.

A regular drill without hammer action will breeze through uPVC like butter.

Yes, that is probably the best solution - if A123 could get hold of a piece of suitable PVC trim, and then cut, shape and finish it to look decent.

If they could cut a piece, probably lightly larger than the Ring, then cut a neat slot out the back in order to fit over the raised trim, then we're talking. But not for the faint-hearted :-)

casper_gutman

Don't use hammer action for drilling the PVC. I'd avoid using a masonry drill bit too - they usually have a flat cutting part at the tip which will chew up the plastic and could overheat/melt it if you go too fast. You'll see some drill bits marketed as suitable for UPVC, but others will do the job fine too. I'd go fairly slowly with a drill bit meant for wood, or a drill meant for metal would probably do the job fine too.