Chasing into engineering brick

[Andy82]

Hi everyone,

I need some advice about how to chase into engineering brick. Full story below.

I've mounted a TV onto the wall, not my preference but long-story-short it's happening. I'm running the cables (HDMI and aerial etc) behind the wall but it's a solid wall. So, I've bought some square trunking (30mm deep and 60mm wide) that gives me plenty of space for swapping wires etc and away we go to start chasing into the wall:

Old old plaster comes off nice and easy using a multi-tool with a masonry attachment, nice and neat. I then need to go a further 2.5 cm into the brick all the way down the channel so that the trunking is deep enough to plaster over. The first few bricks at the top of the channel aren't too much trouble, I'm using a combination of drilling holes to the correct depth with an SDS drill and then knocking out the brick with a hammer and scutch chisel, so far so good.

BUT, the bottom two bricks are like nothing else, I assume they are engineering bricks. The SDS drill with a masonry bit doesn't make a dent in it and I've actually managed to break one of the teeth of the scutch chisel when I was really going for it!

Can anyone help here? I only need to get about 2.5 cm into a 60mm wide section of the two remaining bricks. Any advice as to what tools will be my friend?

Thanks in advance!

Andy

 

[James]

angle grinder with a diamond blade, but caution there will be A LOT OF DUST.

 

[Dustydazzler]

as above

angle grinder with brand new disk

 

[Charlie_]

Use oval conduit instead of the trunking

 

[buzzlightyear]

angle grinder with a diamond blade, but caution there will be A LOT OF DUST.

a lot of dust .LOL.

 

[Charlie_]

Might need to bring Arthur Scargill out of retirement for that one

 

[SparkySy]

I had a job like that a while ago with a concrete wall. Customer wanted a massive TV on it with all the tec in a bespoke unit the other end of the room. Ended up studding off the wall enough for the cables to go behind then plaster board on the studs. Took a day to do apart from the plastering!

 

[Squid]

Bunch of faggots, club hammer and a bolster.

 

[Charlie_]

Are the faggots for when you get hungry half way through the job?

 

[buzzlightyear]

Bunch of faggots, i like, holding club hammer and a bolster.

Lol.

 

[Charlie_]

The only sparky in the village

 

[PEG]

Hi,give us a clue as to building construction,type,age,etc,and i'll tell you how to achieve success

 

[Squid]

Hi,give us a clue as to building construction,type,age,etc,and i'll tell you how to achieve success

Be a plumber?

 

[Squid]

Lol.

What you get up to in your spare time is of no concern to us, black latex for your complexion would be more preferable.

 

[buzzlightyear]

What ever get up to in my spare time is of no concern to you, if i wear black latex or red is preferd.

LOL .

 

[Squid]

You're hands where moist and trembling when you wrote that eh Buzz ;o)))))

 

[DPG]

Try and avoid bashing the bricks into oblivion or you'll probably loosen them completely.

 

[Tony Reidy]

Bunch of faggots, club hammer and a bolster.

Remember my apprenticeship had to chop in twenty 45 mm double boxes in engineering bricks with a club hammer and bolster it was soul destroying, thank f*** for a kango

 

[Tony Reidy]

Bunch of faggots, club hammer and a bolster.

Remember my apprenticeship had to chop in twenty 45 mm double boxes in engineering bricks with a club hammer and bolster it was soul destroying, thank f*** for a kango

 

[Squid]

Remember my apprenticeship had to chop in twenty 45 mm double boxes in engineering bricks with a club hammer and bolster it was soul destroying, thank f*** for a kango

You where lucky, when I where a lad it was 40 doubles and all they gave me was a blunt rawl plug tool and a toffee hammer...........

 

[Tony Reidy]

You where lucky, when I where a lad it was 40 doubles and all they gave me was a blunt rawl plug tool and a toffee hammer...........

No spoon

 

[Squid]

No spoon

Nope, I had to use the rawl plug tool to spoon sugar and to stir the tea as well......

 

[Tony Reidy]

Nope, I had to use the rawl plug tool to spoon sugar and to stir the tea as well......

I once used my pad saw as a butter knife

 

[Squid]

I once used my pad saw as a butter knife

I saw Last Tango in Paris so keep that one to yourself........

 

[telectrix]

like this?

 

[Andy82]

This forum never lets me down! Angle grinder went through the brick like it was warm chocolate.

So much dust though, you really weren’t joking @James the Spark1976 !

 

[Dave5678]

This forum never lets me down! Angle grinder went through the brick like it was warm chocolate.

So much dust though, you really weren’t joking @James the Spark1976 !

It's worth getting a dedicated wall chaser. It's effectively two angle grinder blades in an enclosure with a vacuum cleaner port which keeps the dust down.

 

[Squid]

like this?

View attachment 49395

I don't think that lot would fit even if you lube'd up with partially melted tallow.......

 

[AJshep]

Glad the grinder did the trick..

Talking of engineering bricks...
I had a kitchen to do last year, with some of the hardest engineering bricks I'd ever seen.
4x 5.5mm SDS drill bits and 3 sets of Diamond blades on my chaser, you had to deburr the wall after running a cut up the wall.. There so much metal mixed in with some of the bricks you could literally stick a magnet to the wall.

I got there in the end, anyone else ever seen bricks like that ?

 

[Squid]

Glad the grinder did the trick..

Talking of engineering bricks...
I had a kitchen to do last year, with some of the hardest engineering bricks I'd ever seen.
4x 5.5mm SDS drill bits and 3 sets of Diamond blades on my chaser, you had to deburr the wall after running a cut up the wall.. There so much metal mixed in with some of the bricks you could literally stick a magnet to the wall.

I got there in the end, anyone else ever seen bricks like that ?

They where thinking a few years back to turn steel mill waste/dust into bricks for construction, known as waelz slag, maybe it was something similar from years back.

 

[Toneyz]

They where thinking a few years back to turn steel mill waste/dust into bricks for construction, known as waelz slag, maybe it was something similar from years back.

Termolight blocks are a bi-product

 

[AJshep]

They where thinking a few years back to turn steel mill waste/dust into bricks for construction, known as waelz slag, maybe it was something similar from years back.

Could well have been. It was an old house, probably 1940s hopefully I won't come across them again, as it cost me £100 on diamond blades.

 

[a-z electrics]

You where lucky, when I where a lad it was 40 doubles and all they gave me was a blunt rawl plug tool and a toffee hammer...........

you had a TOFFEE hammer..? Bloody Luxury! we had to cut out our shin bone and head butt it against the wall for 5 nights solid... but you tell youngsters today and they just don't believe you..

 

[Squid]

Could well have been. It was an old house, probably 1940s hopefully I won't come across them again, as it cost me £100 on diamond blades.

I have a wall in the house made of some sort of fibrous board that's been there years, took the death off my pad saw when trying to cut it.

 

[Jjc]

Lol.

Naughty, naughty not politically correct

 

[Toneyz]

Naughty, naughty not politically correct

I think that this is the image he has of SWD.

 

[brianmoooore]

There are many houses around where I live built from a light yellow brick known as a Marland brick, after the clay works where they were made.
These bricks are undoubtedly the world's hardest bricks, destroying SDS bits with ease, and causing diamond cutting discs to cook and warp.
There are black areas inside of them where a diamond disc makes next to no progress, with a black lava like substance oozing from the slot and solidifying on the surface.

 

[Zerax]

...There are black areas inside of them where a diamond disc makes next to no progress, with a black lava like substance oozing from the slot and solidifying on the surface.

Could it be ectoplasm ?

 

[Squid]

Are the faggots for when you get hungry half way through the job?

English people eat rubbish, what are these faggots you talk of?

 

[EalingBadger]

Are the faggots for when you get hungry half way through the job?

What I'd like to know is where can you get a decent ------ these days?

Every butcher I try generally gives a response along the line of "there's no demand around here mate".

Every time I find myself passing through a new town I try to find the local independent butcher to check out there stock.

Does this make me a ------ tourist?

 

[Intoelectrics]

I have a wall in the house made of some sort of fibrous board that's been there years, took the death off my pad saw when trying to cut it.

Need to be careful with stuff like this, could be AIB.

 

[DPG]

There are black areas inside of them where a diamond disc makes next to no progress, with a black lava like substance oozing from the slot and solidifying on the surface.

Sounds like part of a sci-fi novel.

 

[Squid]

Need to be careful with stuff like this, could be AIB.

This stuff was tougher than tough......... may have been some damage to the house during WWII as a V2 had a direct hit on a block in the flats opposite killing 44 people, from what I understand one of the neighbours lost the front bay of their house when the aftershock came though, thus after the war it could have been installed.

 

[Intoelectrics]

This stuff was tougher than tough......... may have been some damage to the house during WWII as a V2 had a direct hit on a block in the flats opposite killing 44 people, from what I understand one of the neighbours lost the front bay of their house when the aftershock came though, thus after the war it could have been installed.

It could well be a cement board, which may contain asbestos. It was commonly used through the 30's - 70's. This is why I mentioned it and why I have mentioned it previously about other things in other threads. There is nothing wrong with leaving asbestos containing materials in place so long as they are undamaged, managed (kept in good condition or encapsulated) and/or left undisturbed. Its when they get damaged, cut, ground or drilled which releases the dangerous fibres into the atmosphere. What people may not realise is that the majority of the dangerous fibres are so small you cannot see them with your naked eye.
I'm not saying the material you encountered is asbestos (no one really can without testing) I'm just saying you can never be too careful and for a small fee you can get it tested just to be on the safe side.