Core Drilling Pretoria

Core drilling cuts a clean round hole through brick, block or reinforced concrete using a diamond-tipped barrel. On air conditioning work it is the penetration that pipework, condensate and ducting pass through, and on wider building work it is how services get from one side of a structure to the other without damaging it.

Why Core Drill Rather Than Break Through

	Diamond core drilling	Hammer and chisel
Hole	Exact diameter, round, clean edges	Oversized and ragged, needs making good
Structure	No impact, no spider cracking	Cracking around the opening is common
Reinforced concrete	Cuts through it	Effectively stops at the rebar
Noise and dust	Low, controllable with water or vacuum	High on both
Finished rooms	Viable with dust extraction	Usually not

Typical Diameters

• 52 to 65 mm. A standard split unit pipe set with the condensate drain, which is the bulk of aircon work.
• 80 to 110 mm. Larger pipe sets, multi split runs, plumbing and conduit.
• 150 to 200 mm. Bathroom and kitchen extraction ducts, and smaller ventilation branches.
• 250 mm and up. Ventilation ducting, and stitch drilling where a rectangular opening is formed from overlapping cores.

Wet, Dry and What It Means for Your Building

Wet drilling uses water to cool the barrel and carry the dust away. It cuts faster and lasts longer on the bit, and it produces slurry that has to be contained — fine on a construction site, a problem on a finished carpet. Dry drilling with a vacuum shroud is slower and harder on the equipment but leaves a finished interior largely untouched, which is usually what an occupied office or a completed home needs.

Say which situation you are in when you ask for a quote. It changes the method, the time on site and the price, and a contractor who arrives set up for the wrong one will either make a mess or go away again.

Reinforcing, Scanning and Structure

A diamond core will cut straight through reinforcing steel, which is exactly what makes it useful and exactly where the caution lies. Cutting structural reinforcement in a suspended slab, a beam or a column is a structural matter, not a drilling one, and it needs an engineer’s sign-off on position and diameter before anybody starts.

Scanning before drilling is cheap insurance in both directions. A cover meter or ground-penetrating scan finds reinforcement, post-tensioning cables, conduit and pipework, and the cost of a scan is trivial against cutting a live cable or a tendon. On any slab, and on anything in a commercial building, it should be the default rather than an upsell.

Core Drilling Prices in Pretoria

Scope	Indicative range	Notes
52 – 65 mm through brick wall	R450 – R1,200	Per hole, standard aircon penetration
100 mm through brick wall	R650 – R1,600	Per hole
150 mm through brick wall	R950 – R2,400	Per hole, typical duct size
65 mm through reinforced concrete	R900 – R2,500	Per hole, thickness dependent
150 mm through reinforced concrete	R1,800 – R4,500	Per hole
200 – 300 mm through concrete	R2,800 – R7,500	Per hole, rig and anchoring dependent
Stitch drilling for a formed opening	R3,500 – R22,000	Opening size and substrate dependent
Scanning for rebar and services	R1,500 – R6,500	Per visit, area dependent
Dry drilling with dust extraction	+30 – 80%	For occupied or finished interiors
Work at height or on access equipment	+R2,500 – R12,000	Scaffold, hoist or rope access
Call-out minimum	R950 – R2,500	Most contractors price a minimum per visit

Frequently Asked Questions

Will core drilling crack my wall?

It should not. A diamond core cuts rather than hammers, so there is no impact energy going into the structure and no spider cracking around the opening. That is the main reason it is used on face brick, plaster, tiled surfaces and anywhere the finish matters.

Do I need an engineer before drilling a slab?

For a suspended slab, a beam or a column, yes. A core will cut straight through reinforcing steel, and whether that is acceptable at a given position and diameter is a structural question rather than a drilling one. For a penetration through a non-structural brick wall it is not normally required.

How much mess does it make?

It depends on the method. Wet drilling produces slurry that has to be contained and is best suited to construction sites and unfinished areas. Dry drilling with a vacuum shroud leaves a finished interior largely clean and is the right choice in an occupied office or a completed home. Say which you need when you ask for the quote.

Is scanning worth paying for?

On any slab and in most commercial buildings, yes. A scan locates reinforcement, post-tensioning, conduit and pipework before the barrel goes in, and it costs a fraction of cutting a live cable, a water pipe or a tendon. On a straightforward external brick wall on a house it is usually unnecessary.

How long does a hole take?

A 65 mm core through a standard brick wall is normally a matter of minutes once the rig is anchored and set up. Reinforced concrete is slower, large diameters slower still, and the setup rather than the cutting is what takes the time. That is why per-hole prices drop steeply when several are done in one visit.

Does the aircon installer usually do the drilling?

For a standard 65 mm penetration through a brick wall, most aircon installers core it themselves as part of the installation. Larger diameters, reinforced concrete, slabs and anything needing scanning or access equipment are normally a specialist visit, and it is worth having that priced as a separate line rather than absorbed into an estimate.

Core drilling is quoted through Aircon Installers Pretoria alongside installation and ventilation work.

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