There are certain circumstances that may require that you drill into concrete, whether you are renovating or doing a simple DIY project. Whatever reason that you have, you need to make sure that you do it in the right way before you make a huge (and expensive) mess. By drilling a hole into concrete, you are probably looking to create a strong and reliable support. You might decide to drill concrete so as to install lights, put up shelves, hang a painting and so much more. If you are thinking of doing the drilling on your own, you want to make sure that all is well with your skill and ability, and with the structural integrity of the concrete. With the right knowledge, you will be able to drill into your concrete without any problems at all.
Getting the Right Drill
The first step to drilling into concrete is getting the appropriate type of drill, typically a hammer drill. If you don’t have one, you can easily buy or rent a good hammer drill. Some of the things that you need to look for in a hammer drill include, power, depth setting, hammering function (especially important), variable speed and whether it has a good grip. Don’t automatically opt for a cheap drill, you could end up with results that don’t make you happy. Once you’ve bought the machine, don’t immediately drill your hole, get to know your machine. It is important that you read the user’s manual so that you know how to properly handle the drill and how it works. You’ll also need to make sure you use the correct type of drill bit for drilling into concrete, known masonry drill bits, these are specially coated or hardened to cope with the strength and hardness of concrete.
Setting the Depth
Once you’re comfortable with how to operate your drill, the next step will be setting the depth. Depending on the drill that you have, it will either have a depth setting feature or depth setting control bar. You need to know how to use this feature accurately. If the drill does not have a depth setting feature, you can mark the ideal depth with a pencil or masking tape on the drill bit.
Drilling the Hole
With the depth set, you can now drill your hole on the concrete. You need to make sure that you properly hold the drill so that you have an easy time handling it. Mark the area on the wall that you want to drill into, you can use a pencil or pen, it doesn’t particularly matter. Put the drill on the mark and using low-speed, drill on the mark so as to create a shallow hole. The hole will guide the drill. Once you have done this, you can drill using high speed plus the hammer function of the drill into the shallow hole. If the surface of the concrete is shiny (and in fact this goes for other stone based materials such as tiles) you might find you have a hard time keeping the drill still on the spot you wish to drill, instead finding it skids all over the place. If this happens a good tip is to place a piece of masking tape onto the surface, the drill bit will adhere much better to this, and should allow you to get the hole started much more accurately and safely.
