hole in brick

bigredone

Is it better to core or can I stick with roto hammering a hole in my brick fireplace. I want to replace my old hearth stove but can only afford a standard wood stove so I want to drill a new hole through the face of the bricks slightly larger than the diameter of a new chimney pipe then attach it to the chimney liner. What do you think? The hole will either be 6 or 8 inches.

Ron6519

Rotohammering might cause vibration issues with the surrounding masonary. I would probably drill a series of holes as a release to reduce the vibration transmission to the rest of the wall. Many older chimney's have soft, deteriorated mortar.
Ron

dec-conc-artisan

bit & core it dry using 1/2" 550rpm drill if you can't locate 1, use a carbide-tipp'd masonary bit - but no hammering as you're likely to damage surrounding brick's stability al a ronnie's suggestion

bigredone

what if I were to just cut 2 lines up each side of the already existing openin makin it taller? then I would not have to make a hole. would that change anything as long as I stayed within the same size of the already existing square that is there?