How to drill ceramic tiles + Photo and Video

When the walls in the bathroom and in the toilet shine with new tiles, it is nice to look at them. But the repair is not finished yet - it is necessary to hang the shelves and fix the mirror. But not everyone knows how to drill ceramic tiles correctly in order to prevent accidental chipping. Alas, it is very easy to damage fragile ceramics, and then an excellent repair will go down the drain. In order not to wrestle with where to get the tile instead of the spoiled one, you need to know how to work with it. Read about it further.

Basic principles for drilling tiles

The first step is to choose a drill. It should not be a shock or high-speed, since the tiles must be handled very carefully. So, the following tools are suitable for making holes in the tile:

• Electric drill, turned on for minimum speed;
• battery-type screwdriver with a maximum rotation speed of not more than 800-1000 revolutions per minute;
• low-speed cordless screwdriver.

And the drill for the tile must be taken special. They are not at all like the tool for drilling wooden, concrete and metal surfaces. The principle of drilling a tile is different - friction with the help of abrasives. The diamond or pobedit drill has either an arrow shape or a crown shape. And the tile can be drilled with the so-called "ballerinas" - special tools with adjustable diameter.

When the necessary tool is prepared, you can get to work.

In this case, it is necessary to take into account certain points:

1. Neither the drill nor the tile can overheat. Otherwise, the top layer of tile will go through cracks that can split the tile. To cool the work surface, it is enough to periodically water it.

2. Try to work out the optimum pressure force on the drill. It should not be too weak or too strong. In the first case, the hole will not be drilled, and in the second the tile may break.

3. The reverse mode is not allowed for such operations as drilling tiles. The drill should rotate slowly and only clockwise. Otherwise, the material will crack.

4. If holes are to be drilled in the seam between the tiles, take special care when drilling. The center of the hole should be in the middle of the seam. When you have to drill side by side with a seam, then, as a rule, the drill slides into the seam. On the edge of the tile there is no protective layer, and its piece is chipped off.

Some people advise you to glue or knock the glaze of tiles at the drilling site with any tool, we strongly advise against this. This is advice from Soviet literature. In the presence of modern drills, this procedure is absolutely not necessary, because it is very easy to break tiles, and it is very difficult to replace them with a new one.

How to drill small holes for dowels

To hang a small shelf in the bathroom or in the kitchen, it is often necessary to make a hole in the tile glued to the wall. In order for the shelf to hold tight, you need to make a sufficiently deep hole that penetrates the wall as well. There are then inserted a dowel made of nylon, which is screwed screw.

As a rule, an electric drill is used for these purposes, and then the hole is modified by a perforator. The speed of rotation of the drill should be low.

Which drill to choose for a tile

1. The diamond-coated tool showed the best performance when drilling tiles. It is quite expensive, and not everyone can afford. And it makes no sense to buy it in order to make two or three holes. But a professional who often has to drill tiles often has several such drills of different diameters in the arsenal. In this case, they pay off quickly.

2. Pocket-headed lancet drills are designed specifically for drilling ceramic tiles and reduce the risk of splitting tiles. Thanks to a special sharpening, it has the shape of an arrow, which eliminates slipping at the beginning of work. Due to the sharp angle of the cutting edge, the area of ​​the contact surfaces is reduced. Because of this, you can work with a drill with less effort - it means that cracks on the tile are unlikely to appear.

Spear-shaped drills, higher with a thin tip, lower with a diamond-coated.

3. If absolutely nothing is at hand, take a drill for concrete, made of hard metal. It must be either very well sharpened, or have a coating of win. Just remember - it is necessary to work with such a tool with extreme caution, since it is not intended for tile, but has a completely different configuration.

Drill and drill in concrete.

We are drilling the tile according to all the rules

Before starting to drill tiles, make a mark in the right places with a marker that stands out well on its front surface.Keep in mind that the drill, while it has not yet penetrated the inside of the tile, usually tries to slip insidiously along its smooth surface. To prevent this, glue a piece of adhesive tape or paper tape at the drilling site.

At the very beginning, when it is necessary to drill the tile surface, we set the speed of the drill to the minimum. As soon as the drill goes deep enough into the tile, you can add momentum. However, it is not necessary to be very zealous - you should work slowly and carefully. Remember that the drill or perforator percussion mode must be strictly prohibited. Otherwise, it will be sad to collect fragments of tiles.

If you have to drill a part of the wall to fix the dowel, we work in two stages. First, drill through the tile through the appropriate tool. Then turn off the drill to replace the drill with one that is more suitable for a concrete surface. There is already no impact on the percussion mode of the drill or perforator - otherwise hard concrete cannot be punched.

Video: How and how to drill ceramic tiles

How to make a large hole for an outlet or pipe

When the mixer changes, an electrical outlet is inserted or a new one is fed pipe, there is a need to make a neat large hole of the appropriate diameter. At the same time, many wonder: what kind of drill to drill ceramic tiles? There are two options:

• A hard-metal crown.
• Circular drill type ballerina.

Which is better: crown or ballerina

1. There are special cutting crowns with diamond spraying. It costs quite a lot, and it does not always make sense to acquire it. While working with this tool do not forget to moisten it with water. Drill turns do not do high - crowns are afraid of overheating.

Species of diamond-coated crowns.

2. However, a cheaper option can also be used for one-time work. This is the crown, which has the teeth of the win. Its disadvantage is that after 20 holes the crown can be safely thrown away - its resource will be exhausted. The diameters of the crowns are up to 15 centimeters, which is enough even for the hole under the sewer pipe. But it is necessary to work with a crown with teeth extremely carefully, without making any sudden movements, while the edges of the hole will still be chipped and uneven.

Crown with pobedit teeth for drilling in concrete.

3. A ballerina is a drill in the form of a spear or a cylinder, in which a bracket is attached to the tail end. It, in turn, is another spear-like drill bit. Moving it on the bracket, you can vary the diameter of the resulting hole. It is better if the centering drill will not be cylindrical - this is a bad option, and hex. The ballerina is inexpensive, not more than 300 rubles, so every home master can easily buy it.

And this is what the ballerina

looks like. We drill the tiles according to all the rules

Before drilling, the tile is laid out and glued to the drilling site if necessary a piece of paper tape or patch. In addition, to make it easier to start, you can cut a stencil out of hardboard or plywood, then press it tightly to the tile to start drilling. If you want to drill tiles that are not yet pasted on the wall, then you need to put it on a flat surface. We start drilling at low speeds without pressing the snap. The crown itself should be tried to keep parallel to the tile so that when the drill bit drowns in the tile, it will even start to bite into the tile around the entire circumference. Sharp movements from side to side are not allowed.

Start of drilling with a crown and diamond coating.

If you have to work with a diamond crown, then you can quickly make a hole, working at high speeds. Only heating while, alas, can not be avoided. And it is fraught with burns (burning) of diamond grains on the coating, which degrades the quality of the tool. Therefore, if you want to work quickly - be sure to put water next to you to wet the instrument. Or you can drill dry, but at low revs.

However, if the crown does not have a diamond coating, it is better to use the “wet” method of drilling. This is especially true for tiles covered with glass glaze. Yes, and for the usual tile this option is preferable - and the drill at the same time lasts longer, and no dust is formed. In addition, when the instrument is moistened with water, the hole can be made much faster.

After we have drilled a little, we are wetted with water.

We continue to drill, periodically wetting the tile surface with water.

After the hole is ready, you will have this puck.

If, however, we have to work as a ballerina, we first set the required diameter on it. The distance between the central and side drills is set two times smaller than the required hole diameter.Then we drill in the designated place at low speed. We hold the tile firmly so that flying fragments of drilling products will not hurt anyone. Safety glasses are a necessary precaution. Hold the drill straight, do not tilt it. Do not interfere with a tripod to secure it.

So, how to drill the tile correctly, you are now informed. As you can see, this is not particularly difficult. The main thing is to take the time to work carefully and carefully using a special tool. And store water for wetting.

Video: Making a large hole in a tile