sectional concrete garage - drilling

[breezer]

Ive got a sectional concrete garage which i am slowly filling. Its getting to be a pain to have to wheel various bikes / parts of bikes out if i want to do any work in there. Im thinking of adding a small 8' square bit on the back which could JUST house bikes leaving the main bit clear for fettling.

The plan is to add 3 sides onto the end using the exterior of the current end wall as the interior of the addition.

All easy enough and new panels can be had cheap enough the problem lies in the fact that the old garage connection holes at the top and the bottom seem to be in a strange place - does anyone have any tips on drilling these as when ive tried before my hammer drill has struggled and failed to actually make a hole.

Ive read / heard various things:

Drilling can shatter the panel
Non-hammer is better than hammer
Sds is required
Hitting a pebble or bit of steel reinforcement is what stops you

At worst i should only need to drill 4 holes (top & bottom of the two panels which meet the existing structure)

Any other advice or suggestions gratefully received.

Jim

 

[brightspark]

its either use an sds on slow speed with a decent bit drilling from outside in . bad news is it will break through the back and shell some concrete off but it wont crack the pannel . if u can afford one or hire one use a diamond drill with water feed then theres no break out . a perfectly clean hole

 

[breezer]

Thanks bs.

Diamond drill - will that work in a std drill or does it require special stuff? Not heard of one before.

 

[Windy Miller]

I've managed to drill into the uprights of my concrete garage using an SDS drill. It went ok, but I think I was lucky that I missed the steel reinforcing bars.
It's another story with the panels though. Just as BS says, there is quite a bit of breakout on the other side, so all in all not the best really. I'd certainly try to find another way to fix things rather then drill more holes.

My garage runs down the side of my back garden, and tbh it's a bit bloody ugly! The garden's not the nicest in the world, but the garage makes it look even worse, so I've been thinking of ways to try to camouflage it a bit. Trouble is all my ideas involve attaching stuff to the panels, so I too need to find another solution other than drilling!
There are some coach bolt heads that stitch through from the inside where the roof trusses are bolted, and I had wondered if I could weld some studs to them and bolt some battens to that, but they're only at the top so the bottoms of the battens would need fixing somehow.

So Breezer - if you come up with a solution, I'd be glad to copy it!

 

[brightspark]

Thanks bs.

Diamond drill - will that work in a std drill or does it require special stuff? Not heard of one before.

diamond drills
or core drills dont require hammer action just a steady speed . if u drill with a sds best bet is drill a small hole through 1st with a 6mm drill it may run off slightly if it hits a reinforcement bar but will drill the pebbles no probs then drill the required larger hole . the plate washers u use should cover the break out no probs or u could grout them back up . i sometimes get a masonary drill and sharpen them the same as a steel twist drill and they will drill through the steel if u hit it

 

[Paul99]

I had to do a few holes just last week to fit some new wooden doors for a customer. An SDS will fly through it but as already stated watch out for blowing a large chunk off the back. I actually turned the hammer off and went through with the smallest bit we had pushing very gently - if you have a helper holding a stout chunk of wood against the backside of concrete where the hole will be then even better. Then use the size of bit you need starting from both inside and out before going right through. As for the rebar - I was lucky and didn't hit one but again so long as you are patient an SDS bit will (unless your very lucky) go through it.

 

[Shox Dr]

part drill to suit the new panel, and epoxy a threaded rod in the bind hole

 

[Pete.]

As above, a normal B&Q masonry bit in a pistol drill on hammer spins too fast and hits too light for drilling those panels, you need a sds drill. you could drill a 10mm or 12mm hole in the panel and you'll get a bit of blow-out but not enough to affect the structural integrity.