Blocking 4" hole in wall ~30' off ground
 

Recently bought a flat in a 1910 tenement block, and as part of its
renovation I plan to move the central heating boiler some 50cm higher from
its current position so that I can integrate it into one of the new
kitchen's wall cabinets.

My question is:

How does one go about blocking the 4" hole that will be left from the
current flue? I am not particularly worried about the appearance from the
outside as it is not visible at all (no buildings across the road, etc) -
just want to make sure that the remains weather-proof..

PS: the wall is a cavity wall.

"NotMe" wrote in message
...
Recently bought a flat in a 1910 tenement block, and as part of its
renovation I plan to move the central heating boiler some 50cm higher from
its current position so that I can integrate it into one of the new
kitchen's wall cabinets.

My question is:

How does one go about blocking the 4" hole that will be left from the
current flue? I am not particularly worried about the appearance from the
outside as it is not visible at all (no buildings across the road, etc) -
just want to make sure that the remains weather-proof..

PS: the wall is a cavity wall.



Is the hole easily reached from outside? Or ably reached from a window?
Placing something like a wooden board over the hole from the outside will
let you pump sand and cement in the hole from the inside. Remember to leave
the cavity clear though. The inside can then be filled in the same sort of
way, or just covered with a plaster board patch and made good.

If it's difficult to reach the hole from the outside, then a little tip I
picked up many years ago should help you. Cut a piece of ply wood board
sheet, any thickness, but the lighter the better, a little larger than the
hole. The ply can be either circular or squarish what ever is easier for
you. Now cut the ply in half. Now screw some long screws into each half.
Poke the ply through the hole, holding on to the screws as you pull it back
against the outside of the wall.

While you hold the ply in place against the outside of the wall by pulling
on the screw nails, fill the hole with sand and cement. Put string or wire
on the nails to hold the ply until the cement cures. Once it's all dried
off, untie the string, unscrew the screw nails, let the ply wood fall off
into the street. Hole should now be patched flush with the outside of the
wall. It should now stay weather tight for as long as the existing
stonework does.

The sand and cement mixture should be around 3 sand to 1 cement, and not so
wet that it falls out everywhere. A nice firm mixture that holds itself is
what you're after.

"BigWallop" wrote in message
k...

"NotMe" wrote in message
...
Recently bought a flat in a 1910 tenement block, and as part of its
renovation I plan to move the central heating boiler some 50cm higher
from
its current position so that I can integrate it into one of the new
kitchen's wall cabinets.

My question is:

How does one go about blocking the 4" hole that will be left from the
current flue? I am not particularly worried about the appearance from
the
outside as it is not visible at all (no buildings across the road,
etc) -
just want to make sure that the remains weather-proof..

PS: the wall is a cavity wall.



Is the hole easily reached from outside? Or ably reached from a window?
Placing something like a wooden board over the hole from the outside will
let you pump sand and cement in the hole from the inside. Remember to
leave
the cavity clear though. The inside can then be filled in the same sort
of
way, or just covered with a plaster board patch and made good.

If it's difficult to reach the hole from the outside, then a little tip I
picked up many years ago should help you. Cut a piece of ply wood board
sheet, any thickness, but the lighter the better, a little larger than the
hole. The ply can be either circular or squarish what ever is easier for
you. Now cut the ply in half. Now screw some long screws into each half.
Poke the ply through the hole, holding on to the screws as you pull it
back
against the outside of the wall.

While you hold the ply in place against the outside of the wall by pulling
on the screw nails, fill the hole with sand and cement. Put string or
wire
on the nails to hold the ply until the cement cures. Once it's all dried
off, untie the string, unscrew the screw nails, let the ply wood fall off
into the street. Hole should now be patched flush with the outside of the
wall. It should now stay weather tight for as long as the existing
stonework does.

The sand and cement mixture should be around 3 sand to 1 cement, and not
so
wet that it falls out everywhere. A nice firm mixture that holds itself
is
what you're after.

Thanks a lot!

As the hole cannot be reached from the outside (well, not easily anyway),
the later suggestion sounds very good.

BigWallop wrote:
If it's difficult to reach the hole from the outside, then a little tip
I picked up many years ago should help you. Cut a piece of ply wood
board sheet, any thickness, but the lighter the better, a little larger
than the hole. The ply can be either circular or squarish what ever is
easier for you. Now cut the ply in half. Now screw some long screws
into each half. Poke the ply through the hole, holding on to the screws
as you pull it back against the outside of the wall.

Oh, that's clever!

To make it even simpler, how about hingeing the two halves together with
gaffer tape, and securing it with just a hole through each half and a
threaded loop of string? Better still, something smooth and easy to pull
out afterwards, like strimmer cord.


--
Ian White
Abingdon, England

Use the core from the new hole to fill the old?

In article , "NotMe"
says...
Recently bought a flat in a 1910 tenement block, and as part of its
renovation I plan to move the central heating boiler some 50cm higher from
its current position so that I can integrate it into one of the new
kitchen's wall cabinets.

My question is:

How does one go about blocking the 4" hole that will be left from the
current flue? I am not particularly worried about the appearance from the
outside as it is not visible at all (no buildings across the road, etc) -
just want to make sure that the remains weather-proof..

PS: the wall is a cavity wall.

Remove the bricks around the current flue. Remove the bricks where
you want the new flue. But the bricks from the top hole in the
bottom hole. Put the bricks from the bottom hole in the top hole.
Just an idea.

BigWallop wrote:
"NotMe" wrote in message
...

Recently bought a flat in a 1910 tenement block, and as part of its
renovation I plan to move the central heating boiler some 50cm higher from
its current position so that I can integrate it into one of the new
kitchen's wall cabinets.

My question is:

How does one go about blocking the 4" hole that will be left from the
current flue? I am not particularly worried about the appearance from the
outside as it is not visible at all (no buildings across the road, etc) -
just want to make sure that the remains weather-proof..

PS: the wall is a cavity wall.




Is the hole easily reached from outside? Or ably reached from a window?
Placing something like a wooden board over the hole from the outside will
let you pump sand and cement in the hole from the inside. Remember to leave
the cavity clear though. The inside can then be filled in the same sort of
way, or just covered with a plaster board patch and made good.

If it's difficult to reach the hole from the outside, then a little tip I
picked up many years ago should help you. Cut a piece of ply wood board
sheet, any thickness, but the lighter the better, a little larger than the
hole. The ply can be either circular or squarish what ever is easier for
you. Now cut the ply in half. Now screw some long screws into each half.
Poke the ply through the hole, holding on to the screws as you pull it back
against the outside of the wall.

While you hold the ply in place against the outside of the wall by pulling
on the screw nails, fill the hole with sand and cement. Put string or wire
on the nails to hold the ply until the cement cures. Once it's all dried
off, untie the string, unscrew the screw nails, let the ply wood fall off
into the street. Hole should now be patched flush with the outside of the
wall. It should now stay weather tight for as long as the existing
stonework does.

The sand and cement mixture should be around 3 sand to 1 cement, and not so
wet that it falls out everywhere. A nice firm mixture that holds itself is
what you're after.



I get the general idea but why cut the board and faff around with 2
halves? If the hole's not circular you can make a board that'll cover
the hole but that you can pass through from the inside. If it is
circular then if you can drop a string from the hole to the ground
outside you cam attach the board to the string outside and pull it up
from inside.

The looped strimmer cord idea sounds good too.

In message , John Stumbles
writes
If it is circular then if you can drop a string from the hole to the
ground outside you cam attach the board to the string outside and pull
it up from inside.

How sensible, mentally stored for future use . . .

--
bof at bof dot me dot uk