Old houses......

[wtaylor]

I live in a semi detached house from the 1930's, I am fitting a LCD to the wall which joins next doors house.....
I want to be able tunnel out a chanel in the wall so I can hide the cabling in the some trunking and skim over so the cables are hidden in the wall, there is quite a few cables so was thinking of 2x2 trunking to fit it all in. Problem is that I was talking to a friend who thinks that the thickness of the wall that seperates the house is only one brick deep as breeze blocks where not around then, also I am not sure if there is a cavity between them so dont want my kangol going through to next door
The neighbour has just sol her house so I am sure she will not be too impressed if I went through, can anybody enlighten me before I start over the weekend???

[LFC Muppet]

Had this problem myself, had to make the channelling out wider and use 2 trunks. Looks amazing in the end.

In my wall is 2 thick scart cables, 2 HDMI cables, 1 Component cable, 1 Audio cable, 1 Ariel cable and 1 Power cable.

Hope this helps.

[wiggi28]

although breeze wasnt avalible you should find the walls are doulbed skinned with normal bricks

[wtaylor]

In the loft is is bricked up to the top but was thinking of drilling through the mortar to see the depth??
I can hear next door but not as clear as the next bedroom in the house which is what is making me think it is thicker....

[{{909}}]

yeah i think any dividing wall would need to be more than one brick think just for safetys sake, I would consult someone in the trade first tho, surely a brickie would know what to expect.

[wiggi28]

In the loft is is bricked up to the top but was thinking of drilling through the mortar to see the depth??
I can hear next door but not as clear as the next bedroom in the house which is what is making me think it is thicker....

the loft will more than likley be only single skin as it will only be there to support the roof sections !

[Wizzo]

whatever you do don't take a chance. If you slightly suspect it's a single skinned wall don't channel it out and don't even drill it. On old walls a hammer drill is enough to push the brick through to next door.... this is from experience.. my mate was renovating a house and knocked a brick through to next doors... landed behind the telly with a load of plaster and had to decorate next doors front room. My own experience of single skinned walls was firing back boxes for sockets on a wall using a nail gun and cracking next doors plaster.. got away with it cause it was rented and I knew the tenant and he didn't give a fook.

Ask people who live near you if they know if its single.

I've just hung a plasma on the wall and I've been through all the options. I was going to use wide trunking down the centre running into trunking skirting and then paint the trunking the same colour as the wall. You can get trunking with channels in it to seperate different types of cableing. I've also seen two sets of thinner trunking being used and this can seperate the power cable from the audio leads.
I've decided to bring the wall out using plasterboard and steel studding. You need to leave a gap around the screen to get it in and out. I'm gonna make a feature out of this by adding hidden white LED's so when the telly is switched off I can light the recess. I'll take some pics when we start the project.

[stevie2001]

@Wizzo.... I like the project you suggest, sounds like it`ll look real Good.

I`ll look forward to seeing the finished article, make it a seperate thread.

As to drilling party/ajoining walls..... the best option is to use NO Hammer action, but to use a Multi Purpose Drill bit.. They are seriously good & people are amazed when I pull out a battery drill & drill into Brick without Hammer.... They aren`t the best where Engineering brick (but if they are sharp they`ll drill it) or concrete are concerned but they are the dogs for pretty much everything else.

Heres a selection & yes they do work... even with a non hammer battery drill (tip a resonable RPM on the drill helps)....
http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/...37685&ts=92326

[ereader]

if you mesure the drill bit to the size screw your using and then put some tape round it, you should be able to gage the depth you actually drill

[richibeno]

i think you will find it at least 9 " thick