Greetings all,

Shortly going to be re-wiring the entire house (checked out and signed out by friendly Part 17 electrician).

House is fully plastered on a mix of brick and breezeblock. Have heard differing reports about the best way to do the channeling of which I can see me doing about 30+ ceiling to floor channels downstairs plus similar skirting upwards channels upstairs.

What's the best way? I know of:

Club hammer and wide chisel
Angle Grinder with cutting disc
Rented twin disc cutter (attaching my Henry for the dust)
Channeler (sp?) in SDS drill. http://www.screwfix.com/p/armeg-sds-plus-channelling-chisel-30mm/16724 (what sort of power drill do I need for this- don't want to knacker my 750 Ryobi? )


We're living in the house this time so the grinder and disc that I did in the last house doesnt seem so sensible due to the dust.
I'm thinking the channeling chisel in a rented high power SDS drill. Seems like the minimum dust method.

Your experience is appreciated!

Thanks,
James

James,

I "was" going to offer the loan of a wall-chaser and dust extraction system until I saw that you are living through this re-wire. Imagine the dust that your disc cutter made last time, and then multiply it by at least 2! You will never get rid of the dust that a wall-chaser can make. I speak from experience, and I would NEVER use one in an occupied house, NEVER.

The SDS drill, hammer only mode, and the chisel you have linked to, will far and away cause the least dust and flying cr@p.
You will still have a pile of mess to clean up, but this should be the least "messy" route.

Keep sweeping up as you go, or I can guarantee that every time you kneel down to finish a chase down to the floorboards, you will kneel on the sharpest bit of brick debris you can imagine.

Best of luck.

Jon

My 1950's very poorly built house, crumbly everything, requires a gentle touch.


I used 115mm stone discs in a grinder..... respirator clogged pretty quickly, no vision, horrid. Very gentle, but horrific mess.

I then bought a Clarke CRD1250 when it was on a special offer, and a channelling bit (for about the same price as the drill!). Wow... the dust is slight, but it isn't terribly precise, and not too gentle either. Very bl''dy quick. I now use nothing else.

What (by the way) do you intend to do with the cable once in? Simply fill over the bare cable or use some sort of PU/ABS/steel channel. I went for the fill option, quick and locost, but I guess it does make removal of the cable later (should you need to) a demolition job.

It'd be no use for a whole house re-wire, but for anyone needing to put the odd channel down a block wall or just within the plaster depth on a brick wall, a multi-tool with an old wood-cutting blade is neat and not too messy.

If mess is no problem - I did some in a conservatory that I could close off - a old router bit will let you cut beautifully neat channels and square holes for backboxes in blockwork walls

[Edited on 7/11/13 by SteveWalker]

quote:

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Originally posted by SteveWalker
If mess is no problem - I did some in a conservatory that I could close off - a old router bit will let you cut beautifully neat channels and square holes for backboxes in blockwork walls

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I have a twin blade Bosch chasing unit with dust extract, the dust generated is fairly minimal however it won't cut completely to the floor as it leaves about a 3 inch distance to the blades.

I usually then use my battery grinder with a diamond blade to finish the chase, at this point the room disappears in clouds of dust !

If you are getting a plasterer in then i wouldn't worry about nice neat chases, sharp cold chisel and finish the last bit by hand.

Empty one room at a time,seal off the room to minimise the dust and go for it (wearing the appropriate equipment obviously) when you finished making all the dust clean the room down completely. Its about the only way to do it whilst your still living there.

Hire(borrow) a proper wall chaser with dust extract, normally on older properties the plaster is on either sand/cement base or hardwall and believe me it's hard !

The channeling chisel is great for removing the bit you don't want once you have cut either side, otherwise you run the risk of large areas of plaster joining you on the floor.

With regards to the sockets again hire or borrow or even buy a cutting set, they save so much time and blisters/scraped knuckles.

Roger

SDS hammer drill in hammer mode with a sharp chisel is what I use, mess stays local as big lumps fall out, chase two groves then knock out the middle leaving a good edge to plaster against.

I bought a wall chaser to do my house whilst I was living in it. Stupid, heavy, noisey, dusty thing that is a pain to use. Only used it three times before giving up. Ended up using a angry grinder and a thin cutting disc.

Move everything out of the room, place a large fan in a window blowing out to create a negative pressure and grind away. When vision gets impaired due to the amounts of dust, stop and wait. Repeat until done. Do not open the door until dust has settled. Henry hoover everywhere even the walls (yup, the dust will settle on vertical surfaces) and yourself. Expect 5mm of dust for every 4-5 three metre chases.

cannot really describe how crap it was, hot, sweaty, chunks of rock hitting you in face, hair solid with dust, gritty eyes, whinging swmbo and complaining neighbours.

I say I'd never do it again but it saved me 1.5 - 2k

Last time I had some work done the dude used a petrol Stihl Saw.. he he..

I sat at the top of the garden with smoke and dust pouring out the front door while he nearly killed himself!

What a laugh

Did all mine with chissel and hammer but took ages. Had to sharpen the chissel a few times as did the full house.

I use an sds and chisel, it's quite easy. Are you fully plastering or just patching up? If just patching, tidy chases are helpful.

http://www.screwfix.com/p/mortar-rake-8-x-40mm/31307

Might be the best compromise - minimal dust. Poss bodge up shroud using grinder guard for dust extraction. Not massive dust, though may need to make a guide as it'll wander a bit

ATB

Simon

If you use grinder and stone cutting disk it works quite well, but I've just remembered what an incredibly dusty horrid job it was.

quote:

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Originally posted by motorcycle_mayhem
My 1950's very poorly built house, crumbly everything, requires a gentle touch.

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I also used the small Clarke fan, complete with ducting, to extract the dust. It's great in my current place, but gave the neighbours YET MORE THINGS to moan about in the previous place. The dust cloud spoils amenity along with it being against their human rights, so expect a visit from the hoards of non-jobbers at the Council.

Disk cutter and a vacuum cleaner - DO NOT do the cutting without a vacuum cleaner removing the dust (still makes a mess) + good advice is move out of the property while the work is being done.

The reason for the disk cutter is that the plaster on the wall will be cement based (assumption) so it will be extremely hard - if it was lime plaster would be easy and could do without the disk cutter. Either way it's going to make a mess!

Good luck

Matt