I'm installing some kitchen cupboards and a sink, so I have assembled
the units, placed the sink on top (with 40mm spacers for the worktop)
and marked the back of unit and wall for holes for the sink waste. So
far so good.

The hole in the back of the unit was easy! :-)

Then onto the hole in the wall, house built in 1920s so the bricks are
hard but my trusty SDS made pretty good progress and I've got through
to the cavity.

However, this is where sod's law strikes, the hole has a large lump of
metal in the way in the cavity. I *think* it's a bracing piece (don't
know the proper name) keeping the two halves of the cavity wall
correctly spaced. Whatever it is it's a total pain as it obtrudes into
the route of the SDS hole cutter just enough to prevent me from
attacking the second half of the wall. It'll also obtrude enough to
be in the way of the waste pipe I suspect.

Does anyone have any bright ideas for dealing with it, I have very
little access (it's only a 40mm hole) and it's a fairly meaty bit of
metal, sort of 1/8" thick by 1/2" wide I'd guess.

In addition the metal is mostly below the hole I have drilled so will
tend to push the waste pipe uphill which is rather unwanted.

Grrrr!

--
Chris Green

wrote:

I'm installing some kitchen cupboards and a sink, so I have assembled
the units, placed the sink on top (with 40mm spacers for the worktop)
and marked the back of unit and wall for holes for the sink waste. So
far so good.

The hole in the back of the unit was easy! :-)

Then onto the hole in the wall, house built in 1920s so the bricks are
hard but my trusty SDS made pretty good progress and I've got through
to the cavity.

However, this is where sod's law strikes, the hole has a large lump of
metal in the way in the cavity. I *think* it's a bracing piece (don't
know the proper name) keeping the two halves of the cavity wall
correctly spaced. Whatever it is it's a total pain as it obtrudes into
the route of the SDS hole cutter just enough to prevent me from
attacking the second half of the wall. It'll also obtrude enough to
be in the way of the waste pipe I suspect.

Does anyone have any bright ideas for dealing with it, I have very
little access (it's only a 40mm hole) and it's a fairly meaty bit of
metal, sort of 1/8" thick by 1/2" wide I'd guess.

In addition the metal is mostly below the hole I have drilled so will
tend to push the waste pipe uphill which is rather unwanted.

Grrrr!


Can you get a manly metal hole saw in (eg Bosch - which have no shoulder and
the blade is thick metal, not flimsy) to drill a path past the metal
obstruction?

--
Tim Watts

Tim Watts wrote:
wrote:


In addition the metal is mostly below the hole I have drilled so will
tend to push the waste pipe uphill which is rather unwanted.

Grrrr!


Can you get a manly metal hole saw in (eg Bosch - which have no shoulder and
the blade is thick metal, not flimsy) to drill a path past the metal
obstruction?

I do have a mains powered reciprocating saw, it might just about
reach, I'll try.

--
Chris Green

On Mar 20, 5:17*pm, wrote:
I'm installing some kitchen cupboards and a sink, so I have assembled
the units, placed the sink on top (with 40mm spacers for the worktop)
and marked the back of unit and wall for holes for the sink waste. *So
far so good.

The hole in the back of the unit was easy! *:-)

Then onto the hole in the wall, house built in 1920s so the bricks are
hard but my trusty SDS made pretty good progress and I've got through
to the cavity.

However, this is where sod's law strikes, the hole has a large lump of
metal in the way in the cavity. *I *think* it's a bracing piece (don't
know the proper name) keeping the two halves of the cavity wall
correctly spaced. *Whatever it is it's a total pain as it obtrudes into
the route of the SDS hole cutter just enough to prevent me from
attacking the second half of the wall. *It'll also obtrude enough to
be in the way of the waste pipe I suspect.

Does anyone have any bright ideas for dealing with it, I have very
little access (it's only a 40mm hole) and it's a fairly meaty bit of
metal, sort of 1/8" thick by 1/2" wide I'd guess.

In addition the metal is mostly below the hole I have drilled so will
tend to push the waste pipe uphill which is rather unwanted.

Grrrr!

--
Chris Green


It is probably a fishtail cavity wall tie.

He hHeh. Angle grinder + hammer and cold chisel. You will have to
open the hole out. You might be able to tackle it from the other side
of the cavity wall.

harry wrote:
On Mar 20, 5:17Â*pm, wrote:
Does anyone have any bright ideas for dealing with it, I have very
little access (it's only a 40mm hole) and it's a fairly meaty bit of
metal, sort of 1/8" thick by 1/2" wide I'd guess.

In addition the metal is mostly below the hole I have drilled so will
tend to push the waste pipe uphill which is rather unwanted.

Grrrr!


It is probably a fishtail cavity wall tie.

Ah yes, of course, a wall tie.

He hHeh. Angle grinder + hammer and cold chisel. You will have to
open the hole out. You might be able to tackle it from the other side
of the cavity wall.

It's too far down the hole for any cold chisel that I have. I may
have to have a go from the other side - cue lots of careful measuring!

--
Chris Green

In article ,
writes:
I'm installing some kitchen cupboards and a sink, so I have assembled
the units, placed the sink on top (with 40mm spacers for the worktop)
and marked the back of unit and wall for holes for the sink waste. So
far so good.

The hole in the back of the unit was easy! :-)

Then onto the hole in the wall, house built in 1920s so the bricks are
hard but my trusty SDS made pretty good progress and I've got through
to the cavity.

However, this is where sod's law strikes, the hole has a large lump of
metal in the way in the cavity. I *think* it's a bracing piece (don't
know the proper name) keeping the two halves of the cavity wall
correctly spaced. Whatever it is it's a total pain as it obtrudes into
the route of the SDS hole cutter just enough to prevent me from
attacking the second half of the wall. It'll also obtrude enough to
be in the way of the waste pipe I suspect.

Does anyone have any bright ideas for dealing with it, I have very
little access (it's only a 40mm hole) and it's a fairly meaty bit of
metal, sort of 1/8" thick by 1/2" wide I'd guess.

Drill the pilot hole right through to the outside, and then drill the
full-sized hole from the outside.

If the tie doesn't fall out anyway, you can probably bend it out of
the way with something.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
Does anyone have any bright ideas for dealing with it, I have very
little access (it's only a 40mm hole) and it's a fairly meaty bit of
metal, sort of 1/8" thick by 1/2" wide I'd guess.

Drill the pilot hole right through to the outside, and then drill the
full-sized hole from the outside.

I was thinking along those lines, or maybe careful measuring and drill
the hole from the outside.


If the tie doesn't fall out anyway, you can probably bend it out of
the way with something.

Maybe! :-)

--
Chris Green

In article , writes
Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
Does anyone have any bright ideas for dealing with it, I have very
little access (it's only a 40mm hole) and it's a fairly meaty bit of
metal, sort of 1/8" thick by 1/2" wide I'd guess.

Drill the pilot hole right through to the outside, and then drill the
full-sized hole from the outside.

I was thinking along those lines, or maybe careful measuring and drill
the hole from the outside.

That never works (many T-shirts gained).

I'd drill a small pilot from the inside as Andy suggests then stitch
drill the larger diameter hole from the outside and join the dots with a
cold or sds chisel. It may sound messy (and a waste of your brand new
big sds bit) but it's prob the cleanest way to get past and extract the
wall tie. Make the stitch hole a bit oversize (+1 or 2cm) and make good
with mortar or sealant, it will still be a tidy job an no-one will
notice.
--
fred
it's a ba-na-na . . . .

Drill all around the outside brick, 6-8mm expendable drill bit.
Remove the outside brick.
Extricate the wall tie by drilling around it or cutting.
Colour match mortar the outside brick.
Redrill after mortar has gone off.

In general you do see a half-brick cutout for a pipe, in which case
you can just hacksaw the wall tie, then colour match the mortar. Ebay
does £2.99 bags of mortar dye as I recall, just let a test mix dry on
cardboard if a difficult shade. You can just cut the brick out and put
back a cut down brick, it blends in quite effectively with careful
pointing and was routine before core drills became so commonplace.

fred wrote:
In article , writes
Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
Does anyone have any bright ideas for dealing with it, I have very
little access (it's only a 40mm hole) and it's a fairly meaty bit of
metal, sort of 1/8" thick by 1/2" wide I'd guess.

Drill the pilot hole right through to the outside, and then drill the
full-sized hole from the outside.

I was thinking along those lines, or maybe careful measuring and drill
the hole from the outside.

That never works (many T-shirts gained).

I'd drill a small pilot from the inside as Andy suggests then stitch
drill the larger diameter hole from the outside and join the dots with a
cold or sds chisel. It may sound messy (and a waste of your brand new
big sds bit) but it's prob the cleanest way to get past and extract the
wall tie. Make the stitch hole a bit oversize (+1 or 2cm) and make good
with mortar or sealant, it will still be a tidy job an no-one will
notice.

Well sleeping on it and taking these various ideas has got the job done.

I drilled a 6mm hole right through from the inside then drilled from
the outside using the 40mm SDS hole cutter. It went most of the way
through the outside half of the wall before entangling with the wall tie.

The wall tie was then obviously loose and a bit of judicious thumping
with a hammer and cold chisel enabled me to extract it from the
inside.

Finally I cleared out the hole and aligned the two halves a bit better
with the 40mm SDS and the waste pipe went through first try! :-) :-)

I haven't even made much of a mess of the surrounding wall on either
side.

Thanks for all the ideas everyone - a bit of thought and time to
consider nearly always helps.

--
Chris Green

In article , writes

Well sleeping on it and taking these various ideas has got the job done.

I drilled a 6mm hole right through from the inside then drilled from
the outside using the 40mm SDS hole cutter. It went most of the way
through the outside half of the wall before entangling with the wall tie.

The wall tie was then obviously loose and a bit of judicious thumping
with a hammer and cold chisel enabled me to extract it from the
inside.

Finally I cleared out the hole and aligned the two halves a bit better
with the 40mm SDS and the waste pipe went through first try! :-) :-)

I haven't even made much of a mess of the surrounding wall on either
side.

Result! Thanks for feeding back.
--
fred
it's a ba-na-na . . . .

wrote:
fred wrote:
In article , writes
Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
Does anyone have any bright ideas for dealing with it, I have
very little access (it's only a 40mm hole) and it's a fairly
meaty bit of metal, sort of 1/8" thick by 1/2" wide I'd guess.

Drill the pilot hole right through to the outside, and then
drill the full-sized hole from the outside.

I was thinking along those lines, or maybe careful measuring and
drill the hole from the outside.

That never works (many T-shirts gained).

I'd drill a small pilot from the inside as Andy suggests then stitch
drill the larger diameter hole from the outside and join the dots
with a cold or sds chisel. It may sound messy (and a waste of your
brand new big sds bit) but it's prob the cleanest way to get past
and extract the wall tie. Make the stitch hole a bit oversize (+1
or 2cm) and make good with mortar or sealant, it will still be a
tidy job an no-one will notice.

Well sleeping on it and taking these various ideas has got the job
done.

I drilled a 6mm hole right through from the inside then drilled from
the outside using the 40mm SDS hole cutter. It went most of the way
through the outside half of the wall before entangling with the wall
tie.

The wall tie was then obviously loose and a bit of judicious thumping
with a hammer and cold chisel enabled me to extract it from the
inside.

Brute force. Works most times:-)

--
Adam

wrote in message ...
I'm installing some kitchen cupboards and a sink, so I have assembled
the units, placed the sink on top (with 40mm spacers for the worktop)
and marked the back of unit and wall for holes for the sink waste. So
far so good.

The hole in the back of the unit was easy! :-)

Then onto the hole in the wall, house built in 1920s so the bricks are
hard but my trusty SDS made pretty good progress and I've got through
to the cavity.

However, this is where sod's law strikes, the hole has a large lump of
metal in the way in the cavity. I *think* it's a bracing piece (don't
know the proper name) keeping the two halves of the cavity wall
correctly spaced. Whatever it is it's a total pain as it obtrudes into
the route of the SDS hole cutter just enough to prevent me from
attacking the second half of the wall. It'll also obtrude enough to
be in the way of the waste pipe I suspect.

Does anyone have any bright ideas for dealing with it, I have very
little access (it's only a 40mm hole) and it's a fairly meaty bit of
metal, sort of 1/8" thick by 1/2" wide I'd guess.

In addition the metal is mostly below the hole I have drilled so will
tend to push the waste pipe uphill which is rather unwanted.

Grrrr!

Sods law alright, been there got the scars.
I managed to hack it away using a hacksaw blade with a bit of tape wrapped
around one end as a grip.

Best of luck.

Mike

On Mar 20, 5:17*pm, wrote:
I'm installing some kitchen cupboards and a sink, so I have assembled
the units, placed the sink on top (with 40mm spacers for the worktop)
and marked the back of unit and wall for holes for the sink waste. *So
far so good.

The hole in the back of the unit was easy! *:-)

Then onto the hole in the wall, house built in 1920s so the bricks are
hard but my trusty SDS made pretty good progress and I've got through
to the cavity.

However, this is where sod's law strikes, the hole has a large lump of
metal in the way in the cavity. *I *think* it's a bracing piece (don't
know the proper name) keeping the two halves of the cavity wall
correctly spaced. *Whatever it is it's a total pain as it obtrudes into
the route of the SDS hole cutter just enough to prevent me from
attacking the second half of the wall. *It'll also obtrude enough to
be in the way of the waste pipe I suspect.

Does anyone have any bright ideas for dealing with it, I have very
little access (it's only a 40mm hole) and it's a fairly meaty bit of
metal, sort of 1/8" thick by 1/2" wide I'd guess.

In addition the metal is mostly below the hole I have drilled so will
tend to push the waste pipe uphill which is rather unwanted.

Grrrr!

--
Chris Green

If you Google for fishtail wall tie, is that what you've found?

Given that they're relatively thin, do you have enough leeway to
redrill (or expand) the hole 1/4" higher?

Could you insert the nail puller end of a pry bar into the existing
hole and jiggle the tie free?

wrote:
I'm installing some kitchen cupboards and a sink, so I have assembled
the units, placed the sink on top (with 40mm spacers for the worktop)
and marked the back of unit and wall for holes for the sink waste. So
far so good.

The hole in the back of the unit was easy! :-)

Then onto the hole in the wall, house built in 1920s so the bricks are
hard but my trusty SDS made pretty good progress and I've got through
to the cavity.

However, this is where sod's law strikes, the hole has a large lump of
metal in the way in the cavity. I *think* it's a bracing piece (don't
know the proper name) keeping the two halves of the cavity wall
correctly spaced. Whatever it is it's a total pain as it obtrudes into
the route of the SDS hole cutter just enough to prevent me from
attacking the second half of the wall. It'll also obtrude enough to
be in the way of the waste pipe I suspect.

Does anyone have any bright ideas for dealing with it, I have very
little access (it's only a 40mm hole) and it's a fairly meaty bit of
metal, sort of 1/8" thick by 1/2" wide I'd guess.

In addition the metal is mostly below the hole I have drilled so will
tend to push the waste pipe uphill which is rather unwanted.

Grrrr!

Try a carbide tipped SDS saw (looks like hole saw) it might cut through
metal.