Drill through wooden floor joists (ground floor to basement)

[Costanza]

I have a, I imagine, quite easy job ahead of me, but I'm still seeking "support" via this eminent forum so I don't make a fool of myself.

I have advanced plans to run a network cable to the TV cabinet in the living room.
No additional renovations or modifications are planned, so running pipes in the floor/walls, etc. is currently out of the question.
Instead, what I envision is bringing a network cable up from the boiler room, which is directly below the TV room. The plan is to remove the baseboard behind the TV stand and drill downwards right next to the wall.

The question is, how likely am I to be able to drill through the living room floor, and through that hole see/feel/tap/listen so that I don't hit heating pipes, before I drill further through the ceiling of the boiler room?

Does anyone have experience with similar tasks, or better ideas on how I should proceed?

/C

 

[Andreas_kalmar]

Are there pipes in the beam layer or are you thinking of pipes in the basement ceiling?

 

[Costanza]

Are there pipes in the joists, or are you thinking of pipes in the basement ceiling?

I'm mainly thinking about pipes for the water-based heating system that I imagine might be in the joists. I plan to drill the hole about 50 cm from the long side's outer wall, and all the radiators in the house are located along the outer walls of the long sides. There "shouldn't" be much piping across the house body, but what do I know?

There "shouldn't" be any electrical wires there either (no electrical outlets or lamp connections or similar nearby), but again, what do I know?

I will come down right above the heat pump, but no pipes are directly against the ceiling, so I should manage.

/C

 

[Andreas_kalmar]

When I have drilled, I think you can notice if you hit a pipe; if it's a steel pipe, you will feel it.

 

[Thomas_Blekinge]

With a little measuring, you can easily figure out where the pipes from below go up to the radiators. Do you have the main pipes in the basement ceiling or do you think they are in the joists?

 

[Costanza]

When I have drilled, I thought you'd notice if you hit a pipe. If it's a steel pipe, you'll feel it

That's kind of what I've thought too. If I drill with a really long wood drill, I should notice pretty immediately if I hit a pipe. But that's mostly been speculation on my part.

/C

 

[Costanza]

With a little measurement, you can easily figure out where the pipes from below go up to the radiators. Do you have the main pipes in the basement ceiling, or do you think they're in the floor structure?

There are no visible pipes in the basement ceiling.
In two places, I find slightly larger pipes that go up or down between the basement and the entrance level (i.e., they are visible from floor to ceiling in the basement but not on the entrance level). I have therefore concluded that it is most likely "between the floors" (i.e., what I mean by "in the floor structure") that the pipes for the radiator loop are drawn.
Whether it's neatly along the house structure or completely haphazard is hard to know for sure.

/C