For a ground level accessible CSP.....When we had our gas main replaced I ran 54mm ducting from our boundary to the house, and would consider paying for the ~40m of pavement to be trenched to the nearest pole but don't even know where to start getting Openreach to quote to do this.

You can request to do this via Infrastructure Solutions. I've done it on my own project in London in 2019, but it will be eye-wateringly expensive. A new swept tee into existing Openreach ducting which required just footpath work was over £2K. It was a morning's work. We installed our own 54mm grey duct up to the property boundary/curtilage. Openreach out of the kindness of their hearts free-issued said duct as part of the contract.

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

You don't need to sleeve it unless you want to. On my install the external fibre was drilled through a double brick wall, via the path of least resistance - aka the mortar joint. The cable is approx. 5-6mm in diameter.

Ok, thank you. In my case it's wood cladding (easy) and then a single layer of breeze block (not so easy) I'd be drilling from the outside, in, so very unlikely to strike lucky and hit a mortar joint, but if I did it might be a good omen !

If you've got access to an SDS drill, an 8mm x 460mm masonry bit is available from Screwfix for around £6 - should give you enough length to get through the timber cladding and blockwork.

Breeze block is very soft, concrete block is fairly hard but can be softer than brick.

In reply to a post by broadband66:

Breeze block is very soft, concrete block is fairly hard but can be softer than brick.

Tell me about it, I have all three, 40CM think walls, its like drilling through a bunker, it's a nightmare, I normally have to drill from both sides as the drill bit is slightly too short, blown a brick because of it once. (obviosity different situation was running CAT 6A, but still a nightmare).

The annoying thing about breeze block is that it tends to spit and throw up a lot more dust and bits compared to concrete or brick. (at least i noticed)

It's only really a problem if you are in a confined space like the small loft space I was boring a 3 inch cable hole, where it was basically breathing the dust as you could only crawl in, no room to move in any direction. To get out you would have to try and back out again and hope your foot didn't go through the ceiling or didn't miss the precariously placed step ladder which was on a slippery floor and would shake around.

A great combo if you ask me. That and with the steamed up safety glasses because bits of breeze block were being thrown up in your face. All of the things I love, basically drilling blind. Even better when you find out the soil and vent doesn't have a one way cap on it and someone flushes the toilet while you are drilling and then the confined space and the whole of the room under it gets gassed out, so you end up needing to evacuate and fix that as well.

The fun to run cables, I'm sure no one here misses the experience.