Contractor to Cut Hole to Exteriour of Home?

[BigNumbers]

I am looking to hire a contractor who can cut a hole for a 4 or 5 inch pipe through the side of my house from my basement utility room.

I am looking to complete my builder's roughed-in Radon mitigation system... I called Doug Lacey's Basement Systems and they wanted damn near $2,000 for a quick exterior hole and a plug-in $200 'radon fan' and another $100 in pipe for 9 feet of pipe... That price seems exorbitant, so I am looking to do it myself, however I would prefer a contractor who's experienced with drilling out through my sill plate (or just above) for the exteriour venting portion...

Any recommendations?

[OMG!WTF!]

This guy is my favorite handyman/do anything guy...

https://trustedpros.ca/company/norris-contracting

Corey and Tara. He really worked well for me for a lot of years. Definitely don't pay 2k. Should be around $500. Plus the fan maybe at most.

[Northendzone]

I am assuming that you want to cut the hole thru your siding above the foundation rather than thru the foundation?

if the latter is correct (drill thru siding), perhaps the person at Doug LAcey's did not understand your request as $2k seems way out of whack. Seems like a $500 to $800 job, but what do I know.

[rotten42]

How else is Doug Lacy going to be able to pay for those bad commercials on 960 that they beat us over the head with every afternoon.

[Travis Munroe]

"Hello Concrete".... had them core out a hole for a relocated laundry room. Took 5 minutes and $150.

Edit: this was also through the concrete foundation but I assume it only gets easier as you go up.

[81MC]

Putting a hole, that will ultimately be covered by a nice trim piece, through the side of your house seems like a pretty good DYI event.

[Travis Munroe]

Originally Posted by 81MC

Putting a hole, that will ultimately be covered by a nice trim piece, through the side of your house seems like a pretty good DYI event.

It requires a proper drill to keep from hurting yourself and drill bits / coring tool. I had a look and it was much cheaper to have someone else come do it if I wasn't planning on needing the tools again. This was for concrete but if going through wood it should be quite simple to DIY.

[llwhiteoutll]

Originally Posted by 81MC

Putting a hole, that will ultimately be covered by a nice trim piece, through the side of your house seems like a pretty good DYI event.

Second this. If you’re just going through wood and siding, you can do it yourself very easily.

Just meausre right and mark out exactly where you need to be. When I drilled my outside wall for power connections to the garage, I drilled from the outside in to keep the siding from getting shredded.

[FlamesKickAss]

When I drilled out a hole for the central vac from my garage I drilled a small hole from inside so that I knew where I wanted it and then used the hole saw from outside using the pilot hole as the centre.

[HockeyIlliterate]

[Trying to quote llwhiteoutll, but their post isn't showing up in my reply box]

Regarding drilling the hole, I thought that the way to do it was to drill from the inside out, using a very thin drillbit, which will mark the center-point of your hole's diameter.

You then go outside of your house, and using a hole cutting bit, drill from the outside in, placing the center-point in the hole that you had previously drilled when you were inside of the house.

That way, you know where your hole is going, that it isn't going to damage anything inside the house as a result of accidently drilling too high/low/left/right/etc, and your outside-facing cladding isn't destroyed by the bit.

ETA: FlamesKickAss said the same thing, but used less words and posted it quicker than I did.

[Cube Inmate]

Be careful if you're going DIY.

A few years ago, I decided to cut a 4" hole through the rim joist. Turns out the "rim joist" was actually a pair of joists sandwiching 5" of concrete between them. The joists were framed in concert with the forms, not on top of the foundation after the fact.

So, not only did I screw up my hole saw (after hitting concrete) -- I still had to rent a corer and operate it through the rim joist hole. It wasn't pretty, but eventually got the job done. Next time, I'd pay $500 to have someone do it.

[Bill Bumface]

Basement Systems quoted me $40,000 for something I eventually paid $4,500 for, so that part of the story is not surprising.

[Northendzone]

$150 for a hole thru concrete is a lot cheaper than I would expect it to be

Originally Posted by Realtor 1

"Hello Concrete".... had them core out a hole for a relocated laundry room. Took 5 minutes and $150.

Edit: this was also through the concrete foundation but I assume it only gets easier as you go up.

[V]

I needed a 4" hole through my wall for a dryer vent, but those 4" hole saws are bloody expensive. I cut a 2" hole and used my Sawsall to finish the rest. It doesn't need to be perfect when you're installing trim over the hole. My sawsall is probably my most used tool in my shop for work around my property.

[Mass_nerder]

Just remember that if you're DIY cutting through an exterior wall, you need to make sure you properly seal the air barrier on the inside, or you're going to have some serious moisture issue down the road; especially if it's in the laundry room, where the air is much more humid.

[Nufy]

A few years back I cored a 4" hole through my basement wall to provide ventilation air for a wood stove.

Got all the equipment from Home depot. Cant remember the cost though.

If your sill plate is wood it shouldn't be that bad.

Pilot hole from the inside. Finish from outside. Seal around the hole with insulation or spray foam for moisture as noted above.

[MoneyGuy]

Years ago I had someone cut a whole window into a basement bedroom; it was far less than that. I wouldn't DYI this, and make darn sure whoever you hire does it correctly or you could be asking for trouble.

[llwhiteoutll]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

Years ago I had someone cut a whole window into a basement bedroom; it was far less than that. I wouldn't DYI this, and make darn sure whoever you hire does it correctly or you could be asking for trouble.

Huge difference between cutting an egress window into your foundation and drilling a 4” circular hole through an outside joist

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by BigNumbers

drilling out through my sill plate

Also, when asking for quotes, you probably mean "rim joist". Drilling just a sill plate would be tricky, and certainly not possible for a 4" hole.