Drilling Ceramic Tiles Tips

Tile is no match for your standard drill bit.

Drilling ceramic tiles tips.

A carbide drill bit or a diamond drill bit are best for drilling holes in ceramic tile. The proper drill speed will prevent a disaster. Use a masonry drill bit to make holes in ceramic tiles less than about 3 4 inches in diameter. Make sure you have the right drill bit.

Standard drill bits don t work on tile but not to worry. How to drill a hole in a ceramic tile. What you need is a drill bit with a coated carbide tip. Regardless of the material you re trying to bore through never use an old and worn out drill bit for tile.

Continue drilling until you re through the tile s backing board. To make larger holes you can use a ceramic tile hole saw which has a diamond grit abrasive edge instead of teeth. The same goes for drilling into stone tiles. Drilling holes in wall tiles is a fairly easy skill to master once you know how.

As you drill lubricate the bit with a constant trickle of water to protect both the bit and the tile from overheating. Run the drill at about half speed and dip the bit periodically in water to keep it cool. If you try to drill a hole into a tile with a regular drill bit you ll get nowhere fast. Drilling ceramic tile requires a special drill bit and a steady hand.

Carbide tipped masonry drill bits are the more common of the two and whilst they ll do a perfectly serviceable job of drilling ceramic and all manner of glazed tiles they are not recommended for use with porcelain stoneware. In this video i d like to show you how to drill easy in ceramic tiles using proper tile drill bit. Now that you know what you re up against let s look at the tools you ll need for drilling through tiles. Ceramic tile can be drilled with a carbide bit while glass and porcelain call for a diamond tipped bit.

For more tips from our general contractor reviewer on using the right drill bit to drill ceramic tile read on. While that sounds expensive a inch diamond tipped tip costs under 20 and a carbide bit of the same size can be had for less than 10. What type of drill bit to use on ceramic tile or porcelain tile the hardness of both ceramic and porcelain tile means one thing. Have the right bit for ceramic tile.

The drill bit is the first thing you should be concerned about while drilling ceramic tile or cutting a hole in tile because if you have a drill bit used for metal or wood well that one isn t going to work on drilling a ceramic tile.