I have to put an ethernet cable through a cavity brick wall. I can drill the hole ok (SDS) but I just wonder if there is any way to make the job look neater where the cable actually goes through? I was just going to fill around the cable with silicone sealant - but thought maybe a small plastic box (at least on the inside) would look better. Perhaps there is some B&Q thingy sold to do this? - purely cosmetic of course :-)
You can get them, because the cable TV companies always fit them. Dunno where though. But IMHO they use them because it's quicker and easier for them to blast through a wall and to hell with any break-out damage etc caused, just hide it with a big grommet. However, if you use a small enough drill bit and take it slowly, you'll get a small, clean hole which will look much neater and less obtrusive than if a big grommet is used.
A few tips:
- ensure the cable is exterior-grade or it will degrade
- make sure the hole is drilled sloping slightly upwards to the inside, to dissuade rainwater entering the hole
- if the cable is going upwards outside, then bring it down the wall past the hole, and then turn it upwards and into the hole, creating an inverted 'U' - again, this will stop ingress of rain due to tracking down the cable. Don't make the U too tight though as it will mess with the ethernet cable.
- seal the hole with silicone (use brown stuff if it's passing through brick) by withdrawing the cable, blowing away all dust from the cbale/hole, liberally coating the cable with silicone, then pushing it back in the hole, so the hole is well plugged with silicone
David
Go wireless ?
Use a smaller hole and re-crimp the connector ?
take the ethernet plug off one end, pass it through the wall and wire it into an ethernet socket. Then plug whatever it is you need to into that. Not sure of the technical terminilogy but you can buy these from maplin or somewhere like that, maybe B in a Q too. I did the same thing in my place. I had to run a cable from my server room to the house and wired each end to a socket (Really simple). For the outside I just used some filler. I had to go through a thick stone wall at one end so it looked a bit of a mess however the normal brick wall end looked fine. Make sure you loop any cables upwards in a U shape before they pass into the wall and then any water that runs off the cable will just drip off as opposed to running into the wall.
HTH
AJ
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