Hey there. I'm a plumber in new home construction and I have a question for any chippies out there. Is there anything in the BCA that states what size and how far apart any holes drilled thru timber studs need to be? A builder I work for has recently stated that any holes that pass thru a stud (both load bearing and none load bearing) need to be 200mm (or there abouts) apart, and produced a diagram showing where holes should be drilled. I have no idea where the diagram is from. I've been plumbing for 14 years and never been made aware of any such regulation. I don't go hacking thru studs to the point there's no timber left, but there are situations where holes need to be closer than 200mm. Can any one shed some light on this.

Building Code of Australia 2010 - Volume Two. Class 1 and 10 dwellings.

try page 211... I see no mention of spacing

Hi Haflen,

Welcome aboard.

AS1684.4 2006 Non-cyclonic figure 6.3 page 45 states that the minimum distance between holes is the stud width x 3. So with a 70mm wide stud it's roughly 200. Max. hole diameter is 25mm.

Cheers,

Sam

A bit of quick googling indicates:

That'd mean for wall studs dressed to 90mm, holes would need to be 270mm apart.

Appreciated, thanks guys.