Drilling a 6 in hole through 4 in thick concrete

[Paddy]

I glad to say, I got the vent in. I used a 1 inch drill to make the perimeter and a 1-1/2 drill for rows in the field.
With large holes, my drill on chisel mode fit in the holes and busted the webbing.

All was going good until I hit a 1/2 inch re-bar. But I exposed it and cut it off.

 

[m1garand762]

Use a dry core on a grinder and keep it wet with a windex bottle

 

[coldsteelva]

Great job. I'm intrigued. Is this an ICF construction or a solid concrete structure? Can you post an exterior pic?

 

[EddieWalker]

I'd love to see what the house looks like too!!!!

 

[Paddy]

All,

Sorry for the late reply. Installed the last vents yesterday. But all done without issues.

Yes, our house is made from ICF blocks. walkout Basement and two floors above. Flat roof with a staircase to it. Future roof top patio over looking a large Indiana lake.

All but some interior walls are ICF poured concrete, 450 cubic yards of concrete. All floors including roof are poured concrete on steel bar joists, Hambro steel joists from Canada. (we went to the World of Concrete in Las Vegas and got hooked) Heat is radiant in slab.

Photo of ceiling before drywall went in. Glad my wife took a zillion photos as we built. But 4 vents in a small place, to close for all the boots. Combined the 4 in and 6 in bath vent. Moved the dryer vent to be straight up above dryer. So just two boots made in this area, 6 inch bath vent and 2 inch sewer vent

I drilled a hole from below to get exact location on roof

view from inside. Arches are 8 ft tall, 5 ft wide. All formed in concrete. 30 ft by 30 ft, 23 ft tall

View facing lake, stained concrete floors throughout the house

Garage is framed

 

[EddieWalker]

Beautiful home!!! From the outside picture, I would never have guessed the inside was so open and massive.

 

[civilian]

How do you keep the grandkids off that upper ledge in the living room? Could be a nasty fall onto your concrete floor below. Jon

 

[Paddy]

Civilian,

The handrail around the upstairs hallway blocks off the "cat walk". But I know once kids get a bit bolder, they can climb over the handrail.

That ledge serves two purposes, one is a scary place to get to window washing! It's 2 feet wide but feels like 1 foot when your on it. I have considered a simple chain type handrail. My wife would like for me to build more handrail matching the rest, all the way around.

The other purpose of the catwalk is to act as a horizontal rib to stiffen the walls of glass. A bit like the top and bottom flange of an I-beam.

Eddie,

The house sits on a basement the same size as first floor above, 3500 sq-ft. So there is a 30 by 30 foot rec room below. The rest of the basement is work shops. I have a "wet" stone carving room, 16 by 50 ft wood shop and my wife's glass/jewelry shop

We are sometimes embarrass about how large our house is.

 

[riptides]

I followed your thread as I am attempting to work my way through 100 year old concrete. Have not got a clean solution or idea yet other than a jack hammer and lots of manual digging. LOL.

Your house is AMAZING. You should be proud of that. Quite an accomplishment. Good for you and your family. And nice job on the concrete.

 

[crashz]

Don't be embarrassed! Your house is amazing and you should be proud.