As the condensing dryer that came with our house finally died in a nasty 'letting out the magic smoke' kind of way for the second time, I don't trust it not to burn the house. Time for a normal venting dryer.

I have had a trawl for info regarding installing a vent through my walls and reckon I can do it, but figured at least one of you would have done this before and may be able to warn me of potential gotchas. I don't have the option of passing it through a window or door, but at least will be above ground - just got to get through a standard two layer breezeblock wall.

Thanks in advance.

Just make sure you don't end up with a moisture trap anywhere along the run of the vent, it seems best to keep the vent level along the entire run. My parents found that out the expensive way.

As for cutting the hole, hire a meaty SDS drill and buy a couple of holesaws from Screwfix.

Thanks - yes, I think hiring the kit is the plan. My old B&Q drill is definitely not up to it. And I got myself a good pipe/wire detector...so hopefully I won't mess that up.

I'll try and keep everything horizontal and short - Total distance should be about 2 feet from exit of dryer to outside, so I should be able to keep all of it straightforward.

Cheers guys

yep, I've done it. Hiring a diamond core bit and a core-drill is the way

Hire for a half-day or less; the actual drilling job should take about 15 minutes.

Thoughts (from experience):

Make sure you measure the pipe (don't laugh)
If you drill a pilot hole then go outside and drill in a cm to minimise breakout. [edit - oops, missed Cris' advice - what he says is true but if you are tight on tolerance you need to make sure both holes are aligned or you won't get a rigid pipe through]
Drill pretty horizontally with a slight drop towards the outside.

If it's just blockwork then, as you drill, you'll find it very easy but don't get cocky as it is possible to hit wall ties - be careful to be braced when you hold the drill as you can get a fair wrench. It won't hurt the bit, just keep going - gently.

When you are done you may be able to line the hole with a bit of rigid tube and fit the flexi hose inside it. Makes a neater finish.

It's an easy job.

HTH

Not that it's dangerous, but I once managed to drill a screw directly through a wire for our rear doorbell while installing the strike plate for a new lockset once. For days after, I couldn't figure out why our doorbell kept half ringing without anyone pressing the button.

Something quite common in post-Katrina life is buildings spontaneously reflooding. As footboards are being installed with nail guns, sometimes they hit a water pipe. Cool thing is that they don't leak. After several months, the nail finally rusts away and all of a sudden water starts spraying in the wall cavity. Apparently it usually happens at 4:30-5:00 on a Friday afternoon. That way it has all weekend to totally flood the ground floor.

My neighbour had a slowly increasing leak inside his wall. Turns out it was from a screw that had punctured the pipe something like 10 years ago - took it this long to rust enough to let water through.

One important tip: use metal ductwork for the dryer, not the vinyl stuff that is commonly marketed as suitable for the same purpose. Dry output is a fire hazard, and you really don't want the ducting to also be combustible.

Cheers