Hi all! I'm in a bit of a bind. I live in a rural area and want to connect to our local fiber internet network, which means I have to dig a trench from their vault in an alley and lay some cables. While the trenching itself seems manageable, my main issue is that there's a 2-3ft concrete slab around my house that I need to drill through to get the fiber cables inside. I believe the cables aren't too wide, but I'm not entirely sure about their dimensions yet. I can handle the trenching with a shovel over a few days, but I need advice on how to drill through the concrete slab, especially since the nearest rental for a trencher is hours away. What tools do I need to tackle this?
3 Answers
It might be wise to rent a rebar scanner as well. If you accidentally drill through any rebar, it won’t necessarily weaken the slab, but that corrosion can be a sneaky issue down the road, causing spalling.
To handle the concrete slab, I’d recommend renting a big rotary hammer with a long 1" bit. This will help you drill straight down near the house. First, dig down next to the slab until you're a few inches below the concrete. Then use some PVC pipe—make it longer than the distance from the edge of the slab to your house. Connect a fitting to turn a garden hose into the PVC and turn on the water while you push the pipe towards your hole. It’s a quick way to create a tunnel! You might even see water shooting up, which means you’re doing it right! Also, think about adding a conduit for any future maintenance. Just a tip: be sure to dig a drainage trench alongside your tunnel so excess water has a place to flow out.
Awesome technique! Glad it doesn’t need heavy machinery.
If you're digging manually, definitely consider using a pick adze instead of just a shovel; it can make the job a whole lot easier. You'll still need a hammer drill for the concrete. Remember, the fiber cable is about the size of an Ethernet cable, so your hole doesn’t need to be too big.
Good tip! I didn’t know they made narrower trenching shovels, that sounds helpful!
That's smart! I did something similar; digging a drainage trench first really helped manage the water flow as I was drilling.