Would a Thimble Make You Nervous?

I have one exterior wall to finishup before I can have sheetrock put up. Yesterday, I tackled the job that had me nervous, but I had to complete before I could finish up the insulation and plastic installation; installing the thimble for the small pellet stove I got last spring for the upstairs.

Why did it make me nervouse? Because the stove is pretty much in place, so I would have to move it to have access to the inside portion of the wall. Because I had to cut thru the exterior wall. Because I had to use a sawzall, of which I have never used before. Because it was something that people would be able to easily see if I messed up badly. Because there would be no re-dos. Because it was something that was not related to anything I had ever done before. Becuase there is a shortage of how-to videos on the interwebz (the few on there involve cutting thru concrete, or completely skip the step of cutting thru siding). And becaues this had to be placed just right to go between two specific studs, that were exactly the right distance apart to just fit it in there, but the majority of work would be on the outside.

Here is the stove as it sat in May, on the left side of the picture:

I had previously asked EX to help me with it, and he agreed. Unfortunately he has had to work the last several weekends, and at this point, this was the only thing holding me up (ok, I could have worked on the bathroom, but that also has issues that I need a hand with).

Another issue with this particualr thimble is that it has two holes; one for the outlet pipe, and one for the fresh air intake. The large hole for the outlet is the part that is centered between the studs. I got the stove moved enough that I had a little space to work. Then I set up the pipe from the stove, so I would know where the thimble should be placed. I traced the outline to the outlet hole on the plywood with a Sharpie marker, then drilled  a pilot hole in the center of that circle. The pilot hole was really a location marker so I could tell where I needed to work on the outside.

Then I went outside, placed the thimble against the siding and traced the placement of both holes on the siding. In the picture, I had already enlarged the hoile to accept thte drill bit for guiding the 2" hole saw.

This gave me enough room to get the sawzall blade in and have room to work.

I used the sawzall to cut the hole to roughly the size I needed, then used an oscillating tool to do the precision work. It didn't matter so much on the siding, but I wanted the plywood hole to be just barely big enough for the thimble flange. After that, I cut the small hole with the 2" saw bit, and enlarged it to guide the corrogated flexible air inlet hose into the house.

Once I had the holes all set, I turned to cutting out the siding so the thimble base would sit flush with the siding. I put it in place, then traced the outline with a utilitiy knife. Then I used my oscillating tool to cut thru the siding, but not into the plywood underneath. this was the work that had me really nervouse as a major mistake here would be readily apparent.

However, after taking my time and many dry fits, the thimble was finally in place.

i wish I had taken more pictures, but as it was it took me about 5 hours to do a very simple job. But, I got thru it with a slow and carful pace without making any major errors, so I am happy with the results. Now I just need sheetrock so I can install the inside portion.

I will also have to caulk around the outside, but that is an easy project that will get done when I do some other outside caulking. I can finish up the insulation and platic install on this wall, which will take place next weekend.

Comments

[Cop Car]

You are amazing, my dear. Truly amazing. I would have ended up with the hole 1/2-inch from where it had to be - and spent big bucks having someone who knew what they were doing, bail me out. Wow!!!! (Remind me to tell you of the time that I screwed up a hole drilled in the main spar of a business jet, and how I yelled "Help" to my boss when I realized what I had done.)

1) I had no clue what a stove thimble was. A thimble, to me, is something around which I wrap cable (before swaging a locking sleeve around the cable where it enters the thimble and the end of the cable where it exits the thimble) or something that I put on my finger for sewing. Thanks for the (continuing) education.
2) Might your "saw bit" be what I would call a "hole saw"? (I think I included one, size un-remembered, in the tools; but, maybe not.)
3) I assume that there is a special caulking for use at high temperatures??

[Cop Car]

P.S. You take after your dad when it comes to this type of project. (That is a good thing!)

While I would have screwed the project up, your dad would have taken twice or thrice as long, sent me on a jillion gofer errands, and sworn a blue streak the whole time, but it would have been right when he finished. IF anyone could have talked him into doing the project in the first place. He would not have seen the necessity of doing the project (I recall the hole in his roof when I moved back to KS. Not sure how long it had been covered with plastic, but it just wasn't something worth worrying about to him! *laughing*)

[Ruth]

Very nice, not a project I'd have wanted to do on my own. I"m constantly cutting holes in the wrong spots....

[bogie]

Cop Car: Thimble - yeah, had no idea until I was researching pellet stoves last winter, I always thought they went on the end of my finger too.

You are right, I meant hole saw, not saw bit.

Caulking for the outside can be the usual stuff. When I caulk the inside part, where the stove pipe goes thru the thimble, that will require high-temp caulk.

[bogie]

You both mention why I wanted someone else here, and why it made me nervous to do myself. I only had one shot at getting this right. Fortunately , the initial pilot hole could be drilled and redrilled until I hit the right spot if I screwed that portion up. I was more worried about losing control of the sawzal as it is powerful, unwieldy, and difficult to make it do a circle (I am no longer nervous about if I have to use it in a straight line - it likes those).