Reply to: Large hand-held drill for 1 metre thick stone wall

[DoctorStrangelove]

Any serious DIYers here?

I need a large hand held drill with a diamond core drill attachment, to drill a small (about an inch or 2.5 cm) hole through a roughly metre thick stone wall.

Searching, I can see only carpy little Black and Decker drills or, at the opposite extreme, huge diesel-powered drills on trailers, no doubt costing thousands.

What do bank robbers use to drill through thick concrete walls? That's the kind of thing I'm looking for, although I'm not planning to drill into a bank vault!

TIA

Oddly enough, I have a set of metre long SDS drills I bought from Lidl(tm) for no readily apparent reason.

Combined with the Lidl(tm) SDS drill or the Titan (screwfix) drills they'd do the job.

Dunno what would happen if the core of the wall is rubble though.

Dick Strawbridge seemed to have some considerable trouble with his chateau which had rubble filled walls.

It burned stuff out.

[Paddy]

The more fun thing as a kid was been asked to help by knocking down an old lath and plaster (complete with horsehair IIRC) wall. As in, given a hammer and crowbar and left to it.

Done it once and never again. If there is a next time I will use mesh wire and batons and then plasterboard.

[vwdan]

The more fun thing as a kid was been asked to help by knocking down an old lath and plaster (complete with horsehair IIRC) wall. As in, given a hammer and crowbar and left to it.

Oh God, flashbacks. We (or, really, I) removed every single lath & plaster ceiling and wall in this house - which was all of them. So 7 rooms, plus hallway and top of the stairs plus 2x stud walls. Just the worst stuff ever

[d000hg]

Sounds about right. That and the walls were full of rubble inside. They left me to it on one big stone that needed to come out for a fire escape on the top floor. I spent a couple of hours drilling holes through it so it could be cut through with the power chisel then realised it was holding up half the gable end. That caused a few problems

The more fun thing as a kid was been asked to help by knocking down an old lath and plaster (complete with horsehair IIRC) wall. As in, given a hammer and crowbar and left to it.

[OwlHoot]

Apparently it was a Hilti that the Hatton mob used.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-new...-first-5571661

qh

Ah now that looks the ticket. I wonder if one can use it in hand-held mode, without needing muscles like Arnold Schwarzenegger!

[quackhandle]

Must've taken an age - I core drilled 2x 110mm diameter holes through 300mm of wall and it took me hours and hours! Hard not to appreciate who audacious it was, really

Apparently it was a Hilti that the Hatton mob used.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-new...-first-5571661

qh

[DaveB]

Not to mention that individual stones could take 2-3 people just to lift... I remember helping take down a wall as a lad, I was given a crowbar and left to it. Paid 50p a barrow-full or something

Sounds about right. That and the walls were full of rubble inside. They left me to it on one big stone that needed to come out for a fire escape on the top floor. I spent a couple of hours drilling holes through it so it could be cut through with the power chisel then realised it was holding up half the gable end. That caused a few problems

[OwlHoot]

Use a small archaeologist's pick because the prison officers might get suspicious of a drill.

That's no use. It'll take too long - l'll be out in a month anyway!

[d000hg]

Had a similar experience as a teenager in Cornwall. Got a job labouring on a site renovating an old granite built manor house into a care home. Trying to put in new doorways or make holes for new pipework and electrics was a nightmare. If there wasn't space to go through the mortar it could take an hour to drill a single hole.

Not to mention that individual stones could take 2-3 people just to lift... I remember helping take down a wall as a lad, I was given a crowbar and left to it. Paid 50p a barrow-full or something

[vetran]

Get your accountant to do it

-- NLUK

FTFY

[DaveB]

When we moved to Cornwall, I learnt vicariously through my dad how horrible drilling granite was when we moved into a 500 year old farmhouse with walls 2-3' thick. He burnt through several drills before getting a professional Bosch SDS but even that was barely adequate and we're talking 8/10mm holes here. I still have the drill 20 years later which is pretty impressive, I have drilled perhaps 50-60cm holes.

A 1 inch hole is BIG though. Did you say what type of stone... granite, sandstone, ... makes a big difference.

It does sound like if this is a one-off job you either want to hire something or someone to do it. You could contact or visit your local tool hire place and tell them what you need to do, and they should be able to tell you what you need to do it.

Had a similar experience as a teenager in Cornwall. Got a job labouring on a site renovating an old granite built manor house into a care home. Trying to put in new doorways or make holes for new pipework and electrics was a nightmare. If there wasn't space to go through the mortar it could take an hour to drill a single hole.

[d000hg]

If you don't even know all about the types of drill available and how to use them then you shouldn't be contemplating this yourself.

-- NLUK

[SueEllen]

It does sound like if this is a one-off job you either want to hire something or someone to do it. You could contact or visit your local tool hire place and tell them what you need to do, and they should be able to tell you what you need to do it.

Hire someone - you can afford it!

[d000hg]

When we moved to Cornwall, I learnt vicariously through my dad how horrible drilling granite was when we moved into a 500 year old farmhouse with walls 2-3' thick. He burnt through several drills before getting a professional Bosch SDS but even that was barely adequate and we're talking 8/10mm holes here. I still have the drill 20 years later which is pretty impressive, I have drilled perhaps 50-60cm holes.

A 1 inch hole is BIG though. Did you say what type of stone... granite, sandstone, ... makes a big difference.

It does sound like if this is a one-off job you either want to hire something or someone to do it. You could contact or visit your local tool hire place and tell them what you need to do, and they should be able to tell you what you need to do it.

[vwdan]

The guys who did the Hatton Park job got their drill from the Toolstation in Twickenham. My local!

Must've taken an age - I core drilled 2x 110mm diameter holes through 300mm of wall and it took me hours and hours! Hard not to appreciate who audacious it was, really