Drilling holes in tiles for mirror

[Timothy Murphy]

Any advice on the best drill for this? It's really essential I don't crack the tile. I've taken on board the advice to make the drill hole wide enough.

[Ian Cornish]

The only time I've done this I put some sticky tape over where I wanted to drill, and then drilled slowly, using a standard (but slow) wood drill. Worked fine.

[Mr Fixit]

I use tape over the mark and a sharp masonry drill and start real slow with no hammer action and I have never cracked one yet

[Guy King]

The message from Timothy Murphy contains these words:

I use a masonry bit with no hammer. Bit of tape to stop the drill skidding and go gently. If it takes five minutes (it won't, but for sake of argument) it's still less than replacing the tile.

I've also found it all seems to go more smoothly if you wet the hole. The dust turns into something like grinding paste and speeds the whole process.

[Stuart]

And if using a wall plug make sure it gets pushed right through the tile in to the wall otherwise when it expands the tile will go PING . Stuart

[John Rumm]

Have a look at The Drill-bits and Drilling FAQ:

is a job that varies from very easy to exceedingly difficult depending on how hard the tiles are!

[Andy Dingley]

Either a tile drill (expensive), a glass drill (cheap) or a masonry drill that you've re-worked on a green abrasive wheel so that it has sharp edges on the leading edge of the carbide insert.

A standard masonry drill is more of a chisel than a drill bit and doesn't have a sharp leading edge. Especially if it's a used masonry drill, then there's nothing to "bite" and you'll have trouble going through the initial glaze.

The masking tape trick is a good one.

[Stuart Noble]

If the tile cement has fully dried, you can drill as much as you like without fear of cracking, but it can take a few days to get to that stage depending on the thickness applied, weather etc.

[Glenn Booth]

Hi,

I've had good results using an engraving tool to break through the glaze, then continuing with a masonry bit. A Dremel with an engraving bit would probably do just as well. It's small, so easy to control, and leaves a small 'pit' in the tile, just enough for the masonry bit to bite on.

I'm cack-handed, and it hasn't really worked for me. I know it can work well though, my old man does it all the time and he thinks I'm a big wuss for bothering with the engraver!

Regards,

Glenn.

[Stuart]

Ive done it several times and all I did was use a small masonry bit and held the drill at an angle to bust the glaze then removed the drill and straightened it up and drilled in to the tile( changing to a larger bit if that was needed) then went through as far as I needed to . Insert a wall plug right through in to the wall ( that part IS important to avaoid splitting the tile ) then fixed the fitting .

Stuart