There will come a time when everyone doing electrical work will be called upon to run electrical wiring through a brick wall or a wall made of similar material. Knowing how to do this correctly can spell the difference between successfully completing your project or having to call in a brick mason to repair the wall you damaged. Brick walls are easily damaged, but with the proper tools and techniques, you will be able to do it successfully.
Install the proper size core drill bit in the hand-held core drill. The drill bit size should be slightly larger than the outside diameter of the PVC conduit that you will be using to sleeve or line the hole with. The size of conduit that is needed will be depend on the number and size of the electrical wires being run through it based on Tables C9 and C10 of the National Electrical Code.
Plug the GFCI protected extension cord into any convenient electrical outlet and then plug the hand-held core drill into the extension cord. Wearing the safety glasses to protect your eyes from flying pieces of brick, hold the drill perpendicular to the brick wall and commence drilling. Do not force the drill, just apply a steady pressure and let the drill do the work. Core drills are powerful tools so make sure that you have a firm, two-handed grip on the tool at all times.
Place the tape measure through the hole and measure the wall thickness. Add 2 inches to this measurement to allow enough free PVC conduit to connect with whatever conduit fittings you will need to use for the type of installation you are making. Mark off a piece of PVC conduit accordingly.
Cut the PVC conduit to length using the PVC cutter. You could use a hacksaw or any other saw to cut the PVC conduit to length, but using a PVC cutter assures you that the cut you make will be a square cut. If the cut is at an angle, which can happen when using a saw to cut the pipe, the pipe will not mate properly with other PVC fittings that you may need to use to complete your installation. Once you have cut the PVC conduit to length, use the reamer on the cutter to remove any burrs from the internal edges of the conduit. Burrs on the conduit can damage the insulation on the electrical wires, causing them to short out when the power is applied to them.
Place the tube of silicon caulking compound in the caulking gun and fill the gap around the PVC pipe where it passes through the brick wall. The caulking process maintains the integrity of your home's insulation.
Things You Will Need
- GFCI protected extension cord
- Safety glasses
- Hand-held core drill
- Core drill bit
- Tape measure
- PVC conduit
- PVC conduit cutter
- Caulking gun
- Silicon sealer
- Core drills, even hand-held core drills, are expensive, so you may want to rent one for a half day instead of purchasing one.
- Some hand-held core drills may be equipped with a trigger switch lock button to lock it in the on position. Do not use it. If the drill is locked on and the bit becomes jammed, the drill could whip around and break your wrists.
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