How To Drill Into Concrete or Wall

By Philip Yiga | February 10, 2016

Drilling a hole into any type of concrete is actually a useful, handy-technique because it enables that user to put-up shelves, install-lights, hang-paintings and any other home-repair jobs. In fact, there are different ways of drilling a hole into concrete which include using a hammer and nail or using an automated electric/battery-operated driller. But the easiest and quickest way of drilling a hole into concrete is by using a driller. Below are some of the steps that you may follow when drilling into concrete and they will be of great use in case you read them carefully:

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STEPS ON HOW TO DRILL INTO CONCRETE:

1. Purchase or rent a good-quality drill: in case you don’t own a drill within your home or workplace, then consider buying or renting a good-quality drill from any nearby store or online. In fact, when buying a drill for drilling concrete make sure it has a variable-speed feature, depth-setting, hammering-function, good-drip and a strong motor for optimum drilling-power. On the other hand, buying/renting cheap-drills with low-power will make it difficult for you to drill holes that are deep-enough so try not to be so cost conscious but instead go in for quality, branded drills in case you want to achieve best drilling results.

 

2. Read through the user-manual that comes with drill: after making a drill-purchase, sit down and read through the user’s manual in order to learn more about a particular drilling-machine. In fact, make sure that you understand how to operate/use all the controls or knobs and how to set-up the drilling-machine.

 

3. Set-up the depth: some drilling-machines are actually equipped with a depth-setting or depth-control-bar. So, you just need to carefully read through the user-manual in order to learn how to use the depth-setting or depth-control-bar. However, if your drilling-machine does not have a depth-control setting, then just measure and mark the required depth using a pencil or masking-tape on the driller-bit.

 

4. Grab and hold the drill properly: it’s actually recommended to hold the drill with 1-hand just like a gun but with your index-finger placed onto the “drill-trigger”. Additionally, in case your drill features a handle for the other hand to hold then use it too. However, if a drill has only one-handle then place the remaining hand at the back of this drill.

 

5. Mark the area you want drill: before you start drilling, you need to mark the section/point on the wall that you want to drill and you can apply the mark with a pencil or marker. Mark the point to be drilled with a dot or small-cross and ensure that your mark is not too-big.

 

6. Prepare to drill: afterwards, place the drill onto the marked-point and then apply enough-pressure in order to hold the drill in place but don’t press too-hard. Start drilling while using a low-speed setting incase the drilling-machine has a speed-control or drill in short-bursts if the drilling-machine does not have speed-control. However, at this point create a shallow-hole that will help to guide the drill inside. So make sure that this shallow-hole is exactly put on the marked-point for best drilling-results.

 

7. Drill into the shallow-hole: while using a high-speed and hammer-function in case you drilling-machine has one, continue drill into the created shallows-hole in the previous-step. In fact, you will have to apply some force against the wall especially when using a low-power drill. On the other hand, incase the drilling-machine does not have an automatic hammering-function then consider pulling it out of the hole every 10-seconds and put it back-in again. Additionally, if the drilling-process takes long then pull-out the drilling-machine in order to let it cool for a few-seconds and then continue. Lastly, once you have reached the desired hole-depth, stop the drilling-machine and remove it from the hole.

 

8. Do some troubleshooting: at times a drill may not go inside the wall as expected because it might hit a hard-piece of concrete or beam. In such a circumstance, you have to do some troubleshooting by inserting a masonry nail into the hole and then hammer it. This helps to break the concrete and after you insert the drill back into the hole so as to continue with the drilling-process.

 

TIPS TO CONSIDER WHEN DRILLING INTO CONCRETE:

• It’s not advisable to drill into concrete/brick using a standard-drill although it’s sometimes possible. This is because standard-drills are meant for drilling into fibrous-materials like; wood and layers of aluminium or steel. In fact, concrete/brick isn’t composed of layer of material and it’s not fibrous. So, concrete/brick materials require a hammer-drill in order to achieve best drilling results.
• Hammer-drilling into bricks/concrete can be noisy so try wearing ear-protection even when drilling a couple of holes.
• Protect the eyes by wearing goggles when drilling or cleaning-out dust/debris from the area being drilled.
• Don’t apply too-much pressure onto the drill because the drill-bit may end-up breaking. So apply gentle pressure and then let the drill to do the rest of the work.
• When purchasing a masonry drill-bit, you should know that there are 2-types of masonry drill-bits which include; a multi-purpose bit for use in both hammer-drills and standard-drills. SDS, SDS-MAX or Spline-Shank drill-bits are meant to be used only in rotary-hammer drills.
• Running some water over the section being drilled will help to reduce on friction between the concrete and drill and even reduce on heating of the drill-bit while drilling.
• You need to withdraw the drill-bit occasionally when using a hammer-drill so as to remove any concrete-dust from the hole being drilled.
• A premium-quality hammer drill will actually finish the drilling a 2-inch deep and 1⁄4-inch (0.6 cm) wide-hole in a concrete-block in less than 1-minute but a standard-drill a bit longer and may not work on some bricks and poured-concrete. So, it’s recommended to use a hammer-drill at all times when drilling concrete for best results.
• Holes with 2-inch or greater diameter can easily be drilled into by using a core-drill and this drilling-machine is usually rented since it’s expensive
• When drilling large-holes greater than 1/2-inch or drilling several holes with different-sizes, a rotary-hammer will be required in order to accomplish the task perfectly. In fact, a rotary-hammer is actually a large-piston hammer-drill than can only be used in the hammer-mode only.