I am looking for the best way to penetrate foundation and reseal?

[ixlr8]

Hi,
I am about to run the 100amp electrical service out to my shop, about 100ft from the house. I would rather put a hole in my foundation below grade than a hole in the siding on my house. I plan on a 1.5" conduit for the power, 1" conduit for phone/cable, 3/4" PEX for water supply.
- What is the best way to put the hole in the foundation? I can't imagine what the cost would be to hire a concrete coring company to drill 2 holes!!
- What is the best way to seal it back up? Would expanding concrete be enough or is there something better?

TIA

[Steevo]

My plumber used a small electric jack hammer and a demolition hammer (Bosch) to poke a hole through my basement wall for the sewer connection to my shop.
He then sealed around the finished plumbing with a plastic-cement mix from a bag that he mixed in a bucket. I didn't get the brand or product name, sorry. On the outside, he used black mastic waterproofing that he brushed on liberally to seal any voids.
He did a similar hole in another wall for the 1" water piping, but I don't have a picture available for that one.

[Falcon67]

Water cooled core drill is the best way for a clean hole, you might be able to rent one. If you use an electrical contractor, they will probably have one. Otherwise, it's a "great escape" type operation - jackhammer, etc.

[dipper]

a water cooled core drill is a bit extreme for a couple of 1.5" or 2" holes thru a concrete block.
A regular hammer drill with a decent core bit will make quick work of those holes. When I drilled mine, they took about 1 minute each. I was lucky enough to borrow the core bits and drill from work. Ask around or call a rental place.

regular mortar mix on the inside and outside will do a good job of sealing up the holes.

[malibu101]

I agree on just renting a roto-hammer and bits.
On sealing, after running the pipe through patch with hydraulic cement(some trade names are quick-rock and fast-plug). When it dries it expands ever so slightly and seals the penetration very well.

[tfi racing]

As long as you have good drainage around your house,you should be fine,if you have damp basement issues,I would advise going thru above grade.Rent a hammer drill and bits,some expanding grout or compound and tar for the exterior should do the job.

[ixlr8]

Thanks for the info, guess it is time to see what the rental place has, fire up the backhoe and start digging, if they have what I need. There is only one rental place within 35 miles (50 minutes) of me. If there are any more ideas.. please share.

Thanks

[east_tn_emc]

I did the exact same thing to my floor. I rented a DeWalt Hammer Drill and a 3" drill from United Rentals (not endorsing them, but that is who I used). I had to drive about 40 miles to get it. The local rental place only had a 1" bit. This place had up to a 4" bit. I had 10-12" concrete around the edge of my pad and it took me about 20 minutes of drilling to get thru. I had a neighbor hold a hose on a slow-mist to keep the bit cool. It made a nice clean hole.

Use hearing protection and eye protection!

[tab2]

A core drill would be the cleanest but definitly would be overkill, and using one without seeing it done would be intimidating. Whatever method you use to penetrate the wall, good luck but I will not offer any advice without seeing the situation. I also recommend plugging the whole with hydraulic cement, making a nice cone out from the wall, and covering with a water proofing material. When I worked for a custom home builder who does everything to the T and more, we used a Tremco product, TREMproof 250 GC. It came in a big 5 gallon bucket would be overkill for you, but I'm sure it is available in smaller amounts.

Good luck with the outcome.

Agreed with the protection as well.

[east_tn_emc]

Here is a pic of the bits I used to drill thru my concrete floor. One bit was for water and telephone/cable conduit. The larger one was for electric conduit.

Second pic is of us actually doing the drilling. I have the conduit for everything coming up in the void-space of several of the concrete blocks.

I think the rental for the drill and the two bits was ~50 bucks for 24 hours.

[Charles (in GA)]

Slab, basement, or crawl space? Poured wall?, block wall?

I'm kinda surprised at all the answers considering they don't know what you are going thru.

Charles

[LoneGunman]

Originally Posted by Charles (in GA)

Slab, basement, or crawl space? Poured wall?, block wall?

I'm kinda surprised at all the answers considering they don't know what you are going thru.

Charles

Yup, poured or block is going to be a big difference. If it's block and I didn't have a large hammer drill I'd just use a big chisel and a 5lb hammer, if it was poured you'd be there for ever, I'd want a 2" core bit with the appropriate large drill for a poured foundation.

[ixlr8]

Originally Posted by Charles (in GA)

Slab, basement, or crawl space? Poured wall?, block wall?

I'm kinda surprised at all the answers considering they don't know what you are going thru.

Charles

8 inch thick poured foundation wall in the basement, sorry i was not clear in OP. Sometimes what is clear in my head doesn't make to the 'paper'.

[Charles (in GA)]

Originally Posted by ixlr8

8 inch thick poured foundation wall in the basement, sorry i was not clear in OP. Sometimes what is clear in my head doesn't make to the 'paper'.

I know what you mean. Its in my head, can't you see in the crystal ball? lol! I'm bad about writing something and later when I go back to it.......... left out major facts.

Charles

[dipper]

Well, since it's a poured wall you'll probably need some nice core bits like I had access to from work.



And a good hammer drill:


Drilled this hole thru 10" block in about 30 seconds. And they'll go right thru rebar too.



Too bad you weren't closer to rochester, it'd probably be a freebie rental for ya, or at least a couple of PBR's

[larry4406]

I did similar, except it was to bring a sewer thru the basement poured concrete wall from my detached garage.

I rented a core drill which had a base plate. I used Red Head anchors to bolt the base plate to the wall. This kept the core drill perpindicular to the wall and I did not have to fight the weight of the core drill.

I used a link type seal http://www.farwestcorrosion.com/ccp/insuseal/link01.htm

The link seal is basically a chain link with the links made of rubber and the link pins are a bolt. The link size, number, of links, etc, are size based on the pipe OD and the hole in on the concrete. This determined the core bit I needed to use. As you tighten the pin bolts, the link radially expands to seal.

After boring the hole, the pipe was inserted, and then the link stuffed into the annulus and installed per instructions. I have high ground water. No leaks in 5 years with this system. The seals are not cheap (~$30 per penetration). This system is nice because it will set when wet.

Many will blow a hole in the wall with a jack hammer followed by parging with hydraulic cement and a tar seal; I have had bad experiences with this technique.


Good luck.

[ixlr8]

Local rental place carries concrete hole saws from 1/2" to 8", not cheap though.
Cost for;
--------4hrs-------all day
Drill----$35 ------- $50
2" bit---$25 -------- $35
1.5" bit-$25 -------- $35
1" bit---$25 -------- $35

total---$110 ------- $155

More expensive than I thought they would be... but this way they will be clean holes and easier to seal back up.

Thanks for all the thoughts and suggestions.