How would you do this install, that has a 3 ft crawl space?

[cmx]

Another friend wants 8 cameras installed at his house/garage it has a crawl space of course no attic access. The crawl space is only 3 feet off the ground so my job is to avoid it. The crawl space wall is made of Concrete Retaining Wall Block with cement on it so it does not look like a Concrete Retaining Wall Block.

My idea is to drill a hole through the Concrete Retaining Wall Block right where the closet is then go straight up into the closet and use PVC pipe i think it would only be 5 feet at the most from the closet inside to the outside of the house so pulling cables should be easy.

Of course the other way would be to drill straight through the wall into the closet but he wants it in through the block wall as it can he hidden by a bush.

As far as the outside cameras i can just run the cables around the foundations of the house as he has not added any landscaping yet that will cover it up later and then i can do what i have in the past to mount the cameras with aluminum bars from lowes.

Also need to dig a trench that is about 50 feet to the garage. The garage is easy since it is not insulated and has no dry wall.


Just looking for ideas and i have no clue on what to use to drill a block wall my only fear is instead of a round hole it crumbles.

The circles are cameras by the way.

 

[SpacemanSpiff]

Is (one of) the goals to have all the wires from the house cameras run back (on the exterior) to the entry point through the foundation and up to the closet?

 

[cmx]

Yes trying to keep everything together.

 

[bp2008]

Just looking for ideas and i have no clue on what to use to drill a block wall my only fear is instead of a round hole it crumbles.

I would suggest going to a tool rental shop, describe the project to them, and have them recommend a suitable drill. Then hopefully you can find the appropriate bits for it without having to shop online.

Concrete drilling is pretty different from wood or even metal drilling. You need drill bits designed for the job - they'll typically say concrete or masonry on the packaging and will have a special carbide tip.

However, don't make the same mistakes I did.

You can find some masonry bits with a regular shank to fit in a "regular" drill like you probably already own. But I don't recommend it. Masonry bits usually use an "SDS" shank of one type or another (there are several kinds, e.g. "SDS Plus", "SDS MAX") which is a thicker shank with cutouts in it for a secure fit into compatible drills. Speaking from personal experience, you can technically fit SDS Plus bits into a "regular" drill with some difficulty. But don't bother doing it. It is not very effective at actually drilling. Takes forever and feels like you're making no progress much of the time. The last project I did like this, I just needed to drill 6 small holes in concrete a few inches deep. I literally melted the tip off several bits and must have spent at least a half hour. My arms and ears were killing me afterward. I was even using what I thought was a very powerful corded drill for a lot of the job. The problem was, none of the drills I had were actually made for concrete drilling.

This year in anticipation of another small concrete drilling project, I bought a relatively low-end SDS Plus rotary hammer from the local home depot. Just a cheap small-ish battery powered Dewalt. Let me tell you, compared to a standard drill (even one with a "hammer" function) the difference in drilling ease is astonishing. This thing visibly pushes the drill bit in and out as it operates, in, well, a hammering motion, that simply does not occur with a normal drill. It will drill a hole in seconds that would take minutes of pain and sweat with a normal drill. But this drill is small enough, I don't think it would be good for making a hole big enough to put conduit through. I was drilling around 3/8" diameter holes with it.

 

[tigerwillow1]

I had the best result on a concrete foundation using a core drill that attaches to an angle grinder. Hole size was 1-3/4", for 1-1/2" PVC. It makes for a pretty clean hole instead of the ragged edges with a hammer drill, especially at the exit end. I was pretty intimidated by this thing turning so darn fast, with visions of everything flying apart at high speed, but nothing bad happened. I suppose there's a crossover point where smaller hole sizes make more sense with the hammer drill

This is the one I think I used: Dry Diamond Core Drill Bit for Hard Concrete Masonry with 5/8"-11 Arbor (Size: 1-3/4")

This one doesn't go through rebar. There are others that do.

 

[mat200]

Another friend wants 8 cameras installed at his house/garage it has a crawl space of course no attic access. The crawl space is only 3 feet off the ground so my job is to avoid it. The crawl space wall is made of Concrete Retaining Wall Block with cement on it so it does not look like a Concrete Retaining Wall Block.

My idea is to drill a hole through the Concrete Retaining Wall Block right where the closet is then go straight up into the closet and use PVC pipe i think it would only be 5 feet at the most from the closet inside to the outside of the house so pulling cables should be easy.

Of course the other way would be to drill straight through the wall into the closet but he wants it in through the block wall as it can he hidden by a bush.

As far as the outside cameras i can just run the cables around the foundations of the house as he has not added any landscaping yet that will cover it up later and then i can do what i have in the past to mount the cameras with aluminum bars from lowes.

Also need to dig a trench that is about 50 feet to the garage. The garage is easy since it is not insulated and has no dry wall.


Just looking for ideas and i have no clue on what to use to drill a block wall my only fear is instead of a round hole it crumbles.

The circles are cameras by the way.

I would run the cable to the garage in conduit, and run burial rated cables

If more than a couple of cameras in the garage, I would put a small PoE switch there and run 2-3 cables to the garage.
( N+1 rule .. always want to run one more cable for each location imho )

 

[looney2ns]

A rotary hammer drill will beat a standard hammer drill without breaking a sweat. As long as you use the correct bits.

 

[AP514]

Well, as we all know 8 cameras turn into more..... I would bury a run at least a 3/4-1" PVC from the Garage to the House. As long as the space between is not Concrete. Then use one of the Diamond Bit listed above. If you end up using more cams in the garage your set. You could even go Trunk to a Switch in Garage in the future.

 

[samplenhold]

Just looking for ideas and i have no clue on what to use to drill a block wall my only fear is instead of a round hole it crumbles.

There is a big difference between poured concrete and a cinder block. I take it that you are describing a wall made of concrete cinder block, like below?



Hammer drill with a masonry bit would work for a poured concrete wall, but as your stated concern of the block crumbling is a valid concern. For less than $3 you could pick one up at HD and practice on it. When I had to drill into Hardi Plank, I bought a broken scrap for $2.00 at HD and tried different bits before I did the job on my siding. That was a good idea.

Also realize that where you try and drill could be a problem. Obviously, you do not want to try and drill through the middle as you would be trying to go through the center support which is the full width of the block.

 

[cmx]

There is a big difference between poured concrete and a cinder block. I take it that you are describing a wall made of concrete cinder block, like below?

View attachment 226836

Hammer drill with a masonry bit would work for a poured concrete wall, but as your stated concern of the block crumbling is a valid concern. For less than $3 you could pick one up at HD and practice on it. When I had to drill into Hardi Plank, I bought a broken scrap for $2.00 at HD and tried different bits before I did the job on my siding. That was a good idea.

Also realize that where you try and drill could be a problem. Obviously, you do not want to try and drill through the middle as you would be trying to go through the center support which is the full width of the block.

yes it's a concrete cinder block like you have pictured but has like cement covering it to make it look like a solid wall instead of just a bunch of blocks stacked up

hope that makes sense.

 

[SpacemanSpiff]

I also recommend borrowing/renting a rotary hammer drill with the compatible bit as other here have suggested. Based on my own experiences, it will make easy work of drilling cinder block.

Because they've skim coated the cinder block foundation, it will be more difficult to determine where the center of a cavity is vs hitting the webbing in the center (or at each end). See the pic @samplenhold posted above.
Try looking up under the siding where the it overlaps the foundation in multiple places in the hopes they didn't quite bring the skim coat to the top of the blocking. If you catch a glimpse of where two blocks abutt each other, you can measure the width and height of either block as reference/starting point to then measure and choose a spot to drill.

Per ASTM: Although cinder blocks come in different dimensions, the most typical sizes are 8″× 8″×16” (length×width×height).​

Because your initial info noted a conduit(?) from the garage, and other wires converging on this opening from other directions. Consider a non-metallic weatherproof box installed covering the hole in the foundation. A Cantex 6 in. x 6 in. x 4 in. Junction Box will allow you to make holes in the bottom and/or sides to allow wires and conduits to attach. The wires can enter via cable glands, and the conduit would use an appropriate coupling to the box.

To minimize infiltration from all things "crittery" (bugs, mice, etc) consider using flexible non-metallic PVC conduit (like liquidtight) from the back of the junction box, through the foundation, and up through the floor in the closet. Give extra attention to sealing the hole in the floor around the conduit really well

 

[cmx]

I can drill the hole from inside the crawl space so i don't hit the center of the block.

Out of curiosity say i did drill like a 2 inch hole and didn't need it anymore how hard would it be to patch it? or can it be patched? I think it has a parge coat on it.

 

[tigerwillow1]

I'm no expert, but I think if you drill from the inside out you might end up with a pretty ugly exit hole. Could avoid that by drilling a small hole from the inside to be a locator, then drill the big one from the outside.