removing brick over veranda

[izzy eckerslike]

I need to make a hole for 4" pipe thru a cavity wall which is over a veranda, what's the best way to carefully remove enough brick to get the pipe thru?

The bricks are an incredibly hard 1950' type , is it best to try drilling out some of the old pointing till I can work a brick loose?

 

[r896neo]

you don't really need to remove bricks, just mark your hole with an offcut of 4 inch pipe. drill the centre of the hole with a long bit right through to check you are happy with the position then drill a circle of lots of 6mm or similar holes fractionally (5mm) outside your line you marked and then gently chisel between your holes and hit the centre of your 4 inch hole a crack or two and it should come out neat enough. repeat on the inside.

I hope that makes sense. 2 things to watch out for are,

1. the pipe and therefore hole should fall very slightly toward the outside
2. try to position your 4 inch mark so you are not drilling near corners of a brick as it may break off a corner. assuming its not tight in a corner you should avoid it easy enough by using the corner of a brick as your centre

 

[izzy eckerslike]

The problem is that the bricks will wreck a drill bit, some drill reasonably easily & others get halfway thru & seem to hit something inside that starts to burn the tip, the bricks have a brindled pattern
The bloke who fitted our boiler flue a while back had a big circular cutter & burned two of them with one completely wrecked so I doubt my feeble drill bits will last long

 

[hotrod]

Just hire a core drill with appropriately sized diamond core. Easy peasy

 

[noseall]

In cases where the bricks are excessively hard and the mortar quite soft, then it can be easier to dog tooth enough bricks out as to get the pipe in then make good the brickwork.

 

[izzy eckerslike]

In cases where the bricks are excessively hard and the mortar quite soft, then it can be easier to dog tooth enough bricks out as to get the pipe in then make good the brickwork.

I've decided that's the only way I can do it, the pipe will come thru at an angle also so a neat hole straight thru won't work, just need the damn rain to stop so I can get up over the glass roof