Best tools for chasing in masonry and plasterboard?

[Willingtolearn1]

Hello all! I've got to chase in new wiring and conduit for a small 1-bedroom flat (into plasterboard), and chase wiring into a kitchen (masonry).

Would a bolster and cold chisel get the job done or would an entry-level sds drill be a better option?

From research it seems sds drills are more for suited for people with more experience and control in chasing as they are so powerful they can loosen a lot of the surrounding area. Then again others are saying that low-powered sds drills cause less damage than the pounding from hammer and chisel.

Any recommendations for tools and good makes gladly appreciated!

Cheers!

 

[dmiller]

I bought a £50 SDS effort from B and Q for doing my kitchen recently. SDS drill with a thin chisel tip worked wonders. A bit more plaster will come off than if you were doing it with a hammer and chisel but its so much quicker and easier that its quicker to fix the plaster after.

Dont, no matter what the internet says, use an angle grinder. It works amazingly well for about 3 seconds. Then you cant see while the dust settles. Everywhere.

Oh and some ear defenders and safety glasses will be needed. My drill wasnt that loud but something about the type of noise made my ears ring for a while.

 

[sparkwright]

For plasterboard you will need a padsaw.

 

[martinxxxxxx]

Get a chasing machine and rig it up to a henry cleaner, worth getting gloves and ear defenders and goggles too if you value your facilities.
Makes nice grooves and easy to fill, less chance of half the wall coming down. plus much quicker than other methods. Ebay have cheaper

 

[ban-all-sheds]

entry-level sds

No - look for s/h 5-joule or more SDS+ or SDS Max drills on eBay - go for good makes like Bosch (blue, not green), Hilti etc, with roto-stop, pneumatic hammer, rotation only and safety clutch, weighing at least 4kg.

I bought a Bosch GBH 4 DFE on eBay a few years ago for about £100 - great machine. Need a smaller cordless jobbie for day-to-day use, but for anything meaty a big corded one is the db. In that class of drill you might find that 110V ones are more common, but small site transformers are also cheap.

 

[bernardgreen]

It is also worth investing in a cheap but powerful extractor fan to extract air and dust from the room to the outside. This will create a draught into the room under and around the door(s) to other rooms thus limiting the spread of dust to other rooms. I fitted a through window fan into a sheet of plywood that fitted over the open window when using a chasing tool. (the lawn outside has a large brick red patch for several weeks until finally washed out by rain)

 

[scousespark]

Hire a wall chaser. Easy to use and little mess.

If you go for SDS, Screwfix have an offer on a Dewalt 3-mode at £99.99. This should do you. I also prefer Bosch blue, but you can save a few quid here and get brand new, with a warranty.

An SDS will make some dust, but I think setting up an extraction system is overkill in your case.

 

[bernardgreen]

Hire a wall chaser. Easy to use and little mess.

Define "little" please. Even with the tecommended vacuum connected to the wall chaser and a second vacuum held close to the chaser the dust spread was more than " a little ".

IF the whole house is being worked on then the mess is "tolerable" until the final total clean up but if you are living in the house at the time. Good luck....the dust gets everywhere.

 

[scousespark]

In the first line of the post Willingtolearn said

Hello all! I've got to chase in new wiring and conduit for a small 1-bedroom flat (into plasterboard), and chase wiring into a kitchen (masonry).

Given the size of stated job, I don't think we are talking Sahara

Wall chasers do produce dust, but it's manageable (with a Henry attached).

 

[RF Lighting]

I've got one, and as long as you empty the vacuum regularly and work in the correct direction there's virtually no dust at all. Certainly no more than chasing by hand.

I often use mine in occupied houses, and as long as you dust shhet soft furnishings and keep the door shut just as you would when chasing by hand you'll be fine.

For plasterboard you'll want a pad saw and a small cold chisel. Try not to chase all the way in plasterboard as you'll massively weaken the structure of it. If you can fish behind parts of it, that would be best.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I've got some work coming up which will involve wall and chimney breast removal, so it's whole-heap-o-mess time anyway.

Given that I'll only have a short time between walls etc coming down (and new ones going up), and plastering being done to get any chasing done, I'm thinking, WTH - use a machine and hope my Vax will keep the dust down well enough. There'll be much use of polythene sheeting and gaffer tape anyway, so.....

I reckon that by the time I've hired one for a weekend, or long weekend, I'm most of the way to buying a used one on eBay, and I could sell it on and drop less than the hire cost. Or hide it in the loft and hope Mrs Sheds forgets I said I'd sell it on.

Just had a quick look, and there are makes I've heard of (Hilti, Makita, Metabo), and ones I haven't. Atlas-Copco (I've heard of them, but not for hand power tools)? Sparky? Impex? Clarke? Any good?


Also, if you really want to make some dust, this looks ideal. Note they demo it outdoors....

 

[RF Lighting]

The one I've got is sparky branded from screwfix. I've had it a couple of years and use it on maybe one job every couple of months, and its been fine for me chasing block, very hard brick and concrete.

If it's only for DIY use I'm sure a cheap and cheerful one will be fine. It's only a glorified 4" grinder, and they can be picked up for next to nothing nowadays.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Been there, done that, got the useless C&C tool that grinds to a halt rather than grinds a chase.