Drilling & Wiring Through Stucco

[Ferrino]

I need to pass some ethernet network cabling through the stucco wall of my garage (and other areas of my home) and was wondering what the best practice for this is, please? Should I simply drill a hole from outside and then pass some PVC conduit through the hole, sealing any surrounding gaps with some sort of caulk? Also, what is the best way of neatly securing the conduit along the stucco wall? I guess it's pretty simple, but I really want to avoid any potential ingress of moisture into the wall cavity... Thankyou!

 

[PRH44]

What is the substrate your stucco is applied to.. masonry , foam on wood framing?
How thick is the stucco?
Yes you may drill a whole and install a section of conduit referred to as a sleeve. A sleeve is best as it allows for future cabling with out drilling more holes. If you are going to install conduit on the out side as a race way use an LB on the outside it will alow the conduit to lay flat on the wall.
Then seal around the perimeter with a latex/acrylic caulk, pure silicone is not paintable if that doesn’t matter silicone can be used.
Once you install the cable through the sleeve or LB you will need to insert a putty/sealant to keep outside air from passing through to the interior. Duct seal is best as it is re-enterable and will not degrade the cable jacket.
Anchoring to the surface is done in different ways depending on your structure and or the thickness of your stucco.
If masonry best way is in the form of an anchor called a tapcon. You predrill a hole with a masonry bit and the tapcon will self-thread its self in the hole. Tapcons are available in ¼” or 3/16” diameters and in various lengths.

If you have a thin Stucco on foam, well not a very strong surface hopefully it has an exterior plywood behind the foam.
You would then use a galvanized or stainless wood screw long enough to penetrate the stucco and substrate and enter the stud framing or plywood.
If cannot locate the studs or if the plywood is thin and/or week or no exist at all you may need to drill through the stucco entering the stud cavity and use a toggle bolt. Do not over tighten as it will smash the stucco if its thin.

 

[PRH44]

Usa a washer on your anchores and apply a small amount of caulk behind the washer before you finish tightening them and it will seal the penetration.

There are specific exterior siding screws with a rubber back metal washer already on to the screw. More expensive and little more difficult to locate at the hardware stores but a fine product none the less.

 

[MrMark]

If he's in California, odds are there is nothing on the other side of the stucco except air. Here, they build em as cheap as possible and the stucco is plastered right over some chicken wire stapled on the studs. All I've ever seen on a stucco house is a hole drilled straight through. It might get some caulk, most don't.

 

[Ferrino]

Thankyou for the replies - yes, MrMark is right, I'm in Southern California and it's stucco on a wooden frame - not sure how thick it is. Is there not typically a sheet of plywood between the chicken wire and the studs? I'm new to this type of framing (I'm from the UK) and the only parts of the house where I've been able to look into the cavity are in the loft space and in the garage - the garage had a sheet of plywood, whereas the loft didn't.

And yes, on the couple of locations where a coax cable has gone through a hole made by previous owners, they just drilled a hole and passed the cable through, with no caulk or anything! I'd like to do it properly though.

I will plan to use the 90-degree LB thing you suggested and give it a good caulking to seal the perimeter. Re. the Duct Seal - do you mean you shoot this stuff into the conduit to seal the space surrounding the cables?

And regarding the securing of conduit to stucco using siding screws - are you saying the screw always needs to go through into the substrate - i.e. it can't just screw into the stucco? This would make sense base on what I've seen of the stucco - it appears to crumble very easily and I can't imagine getting a secure fitting.

Thankyou very much for your guidance!

 

[paranoid56]

If he's in California, odds are there is nothing on the other side of the stucco except air. Here, they build em as cheap as possible and the stucco is plastered right over some chicken wire stapled on the studs. All I've ever seen on a stucco house is a hole drilled straight through. It might get some caulk, most don't.

lol yep. my stucco has doz of holes from the damn local cable companys being lazy when they install their cable. i probably have over 4000 ft of that **** around our house. each time they come they just cut the old and rerun new. lol.

 

[35mastr]

Normally in this area. Its OSB,Papered,Wired and then Stuccoed over. So there should at least be some sort of plywood over the studs.

 

[MrMark]

Normally in this area. Its OSB,Papered,Wired and then Stuccoed over. So there should at least be some sort of plywood over the studs.

Not here. Not even to this day. You still see the stucco put right over the studs, even in some expensive areas. Builders do whatever they can to cut costs when they are spec building. Plywood must be expensive.

 

[MrMark]

There are special stucco screws at Home Depot. Two types actually and they look a little like Tapcons but they are not Tapcons. Made by Buildex. They work well. Most (all) cheap installs use drywall type anchors in the stucco.

I would not use the LB unless you have a few wires to pass through, you are going to drill too big a hole. There shouldn't be any wires on the outside of the house if it is done correctly from the beginning. Unfortunately, you have to deal with the setup you have. So.... I would just drill the hole as small as possible with a rotohammer or hammer drill and caulk as best I could around the wire.

 

[Ferrino]

I would not use the LB unless you have a few wires to pass through, you are going to drill too big a hole.

So would you suggest simply running the bare ethernet cable and using P-clips to attach it to the stucco with those screws? AT&T actually ran a bare ethernet cable down one side of the house (for the broadband modem) and it has been absolutely fine in terms of the elements.

 

[MrMark]

So would you suggest simply running the bare ethernet cable and using P-clips to attach it to the stucco with those screws? AT&T actually ran a bare ethernet cable down one side of the house (for the broadband modem) and it has been absolutely fine in terms of the elements.

If you have to what else are you going to do? I have always been able to fish down but I have an attic and a crawlspace below. See if you can't get an ethernet cable that is wet location rated. I think you will be fine either way.

 

[Ferrino]

Thankyou for all your help. In the end I took a slightly different path, whereby my holes in the stucco would not be exposed to moisture so much (i.e. under some eaves).

I am also going to take the opportunity to go around and caulk up all the existing stucco holes that were made for coax cables - it seems they let a lot of bugs into the house!

 

[Zeke]

Not only that, but bees will make a colony in your wall. Close up all holes. Helps keep termite scouts out too. Since you're from the UK, the termites scout in the fall. (Late summer here.)