How to overcome trenching roadblocks?

[Patrick50]

Hello,

I'm digging a trench to run some conduit for ethernet cable out to the garage and I've hit a roadblock of some buried concrete (perhaps an old clothesline path). Any suggestions or advice its too solid to break up and my initial thoughts was to go under but it is deeper than appears. I'm also a bit lost on best practice on how to transition from trench into garage and under house.

Anyone with advice on next steps?

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @Patrick50. It's sensational to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about creating a trench.

It’s worth digging around the concrete to see if you can shift your trench to avoid it. However, that might throw off your original trench line, meaning extra work. If avoiding it isn’t practical, check how deep it goes—going under could still be an option if there’s enough clearance. Otherwise, you may need to cut through and remove the concrete using a demolition saw or jackhammer.

For transitioning into the garage and under the house, you’ll likely need to drill through the wall and use the appropriate conduit and fittings to protect the cable. Keep in mind that while Ethernet isn’t mains power, cabling regulations still apply, and there are specific rules about how it should be installed. I’d recommend speaking with a licensed cabler, as they may need to install and certify the setup to ensure it meets standards. 

Let me tag @R4addZ to see if they have any thoughts.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell
 

[R4addZ]

Hi @Patrick50 

If you are trenching to the garage, it implies it is a separate structure. If this is the case, then you shouldn't be running Copper ethernet as there is the potential for earth loops and lightning considerations. You can buy pre-terminated fiber and use media converters, I would have just used point to point wireless to save actually digging the trench.

That aside since the trench has been dug, I would dig down either side of the obstruction and once I reach clear soil, I would couple a hose pipe up to a piece of conduit and try to wash my way through (You can cut teeth into the end of the conduit to get the benefit of turning it as you try to go through) I have got the whole way under a two car width driveway with this technique in the past. If that doesn't work, you are back to using a concrete saw or breaker drill.

As for getting into the garage, the easiest way is to just drill through the wall, you then use a swept bend to turn up the wall and a length of conduit to get to the height of the hole or just past it depending on how you want to do this. The old Telstra way was to cut a slot in the end of the conduit and have it face the wall so you can just bend the cable into the wall and then pop an end cap on the conduit to keep it neat. Thing is if you aren't careful drilling the hole, you can blow some of the face of the brick off so an alternative to the Telstra way is to use a proper stop end box which is circular and covers more area. This also has the added benefit that you can run a bead of silicone round the back of the box before you fix it to the wall which can stave off a multitude of potential problems (Insect, water etc) and also gives future access if needed.

Assuming you are not a registered cabler, I'm obliged to say you are not legally allowed to do this yourself But I am not the cabling police. Another quick point is that the normal Blue (although it now comes in all kinds of colours) cable is not waterproof and underground copper ethernet is difficult to get hold of for the reasons given above.

Media converters for using fiber are cheap these days. see here

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002207137505.html?src=google&pdp_npi=4%40dis!AUD!11.27!10.99!!!!...

And Pre terminated single mode fiber is also really cheap for example 

https://www.fs.com/au/products/40230.html?country=AU&currency=AUD&languages=English&paid=google_shop...

or longer

https://www.fs.com/au/products/177394.html?country=AU&currency=AUD&languages=English&paid=google_sho...

 So not much more expensive than Copper. Just be gentle with it when pulling it through.