Drilling Ceramic Tiles For Pipes

The tile drill bits slide around on the tile making it hard to keep the drill bit in place.

Drilling ceramic tiles for pipes.

Drilling ceramic tile requires a special drill bit and a steady hand. Many common ceramic tiles are made primarily with clay but then coated with a thin glaze. How to drill a hole in a ceramic tile. When you re installing plumbing pipes in tile floors you may need to drill a 2 or 3 inch diameter hole and a ceramic tile hole saw is the tool for that.

This is an alternative to cutting the tile vertically splitting it into 3 parts in this example and nibbling away the tile at the 2 points where the holes would be. A carbide drill bit or a diamond drill bit are best for drilling holes in ceramic tile. 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. Ceramic tile can be drilled with a carbide bit while glass and porcelain call for a diamond tipped bit.

Follow these simple st. It comes with a pilot bit that can wander over the tile surface so don t forget to lay tape before marking the position of the hole and drilling. In this example we will be drilling 2 x holes in ceramic tiles to slide over the hot and cold pipework for a new shower valve 15mm copper pipes at 150mm centres. Before you drill ceramic tile clean the surface with soap and water and put masking tape in the shape of an x over the area you re drilling.

Then hold the drill bit over the center of the x and use a hammer to tap it lightly until you ve made a small dent in the tile s glaze.