Gas Meter Cavity Box in Stone Wall

[funroll]

Hi all,

We're thinking about having our gas meter moved from the lounge to the outside wall of the house. There is a pavement right outside, and I'm reluctant to go with a surface mounted box (plus they're *really* ugly). As such I think we'll opt for a cavity box. However, the house was built in 1850 ish and so has stone walls that are about 570mm thick(slate slabs really). Is it ok to put a cavity box in a wall like this (which I suspect doesn't really have any sort of cavity)?

Cheers for any help

Phil

[Lobster]

We had one put in the wall of our 1912 house, which is solid 9" brick. Seemed to work OK!

David

[MikeH]

Built in 1850 - not listed is it?

Mike

[Roger]

The message from [e-mail] contains these words:

I don't see why not. The wall will almost certainly be double skinned and the centre could well be rubble filled but it doesn't have to be. I built such a box into my kitchen wall but that was during the course of a rebuild from ground to eaves so I just built round the box. In your case you might have to secure any rubble infill above by putting in a lintel above the box that extends into the wall far enough to contain the rubble.

Incidentally my box at least extends out from the wall about 2.5". I assume all such boxes do the same as about 8" is needed to contain the gas meter and that is in excess of the width of a brick plus cavity in a modern cavity wall.

[bilbo*baggins]

Phil,

You can hire a superb power-tool for that job, from the likes of Travis Perkins' Hire Shop. Essentially, it has a curved reciprocating blade shaped like the end of a hockey stick with teeth, which will make short work - and a clean cut - of your task. It is designed explicitly for that, and chasing cables into walls.

BilBo

[e-mail] wrote:

[funroll]

No, the house isn't listed (thank god).

I was thinking about just hiring a disc cutter or a 12 inch grinder to do the job. I'll have a look for the tool you mention Bilbo.

Thanks everyone, as helpful as always.

Phil