How to Drill a Brick with an Ordinary Drill

When a person is faced with the need to take a drill in his hands, he realizes that he will have hard and dusty work. And if you have to work with a wall, especially a brick, then the first thing you need to do is choose the drill correctly for the brick, so as not to spoil the tool during the repair and successfully drill the wall made of brick.

How to Drill a Brick with an Ordinary Drill

Inventory preparation

To drill a brick wall, an impact drill is needed. If the drilling is shockless, then it will take a long time to drill; the drill will also heat up very much and as a result its service life will be greatly reduced. Such a tool should have high power and a large number of revolutions per minute. It depends on them how easily and quickly it will be possible to drill a hole in the wall. than 2000 rpm is considered an acceptable value and the larger the number, the better it will affect the drilling speed.

Before buying a drill, you should make sure that such a drill has a self-clamping chuck and a drill reverse scroll function. Such a chuck will automatically clamp the drill, without the need for a clamping wrench, which is most often included with the drill.

Preparing to drill a brick wall

Before you start work and start drilling the wall, you need to make sure that there are no obstacles in the wall in the form of electrical wiring or water pipes. A metal detector will be able to help with this: pointing the device at the wall, you can detect an obstacle in time and thereby determine a safe point for drilling.

To correctly drill any brick wall, the first step is to mark the wall. For marking, a tool such as a punch, which is a steel pointed rod, is used. A center punch a small hole in the wall, giving the opportunity to fix the drill in an even position.

Brick wall drilling process

High-quality drilling requires a powerful hammer drill, but if there is none, then you can do with a conventional drill. Drilling a brick wall does not require special knowledge, however, utmost care and compliance with some recommendations will help to avoid troubles when working with the tool. The drill must be kept strictly straight, otherwise there is a chance to break the drill on the brick and leave an uneven dent in the wall. When the drill is turned on, it is important to wear safety glasses that prevent the possibility of dust and fragments of brick getting into the eyes. Also, when drilling, it is necessary to smoothly and without sharp efforts press on the drill, providing a uniform load on the surface.

Drilling requires the consumption of large amounts of energy. At high speed revolutions, a huge friction force arises, which heats the drill strongly, so it is necessary to cool it with cold water as often as possible. When drilling, you can often come across a burnt brick, which will be difficult to drill. To understand when such a brick came across, you need to look at the color of its dust, usually it is black.

In order to successfully drill a hole in the wall covered with burnt bricks, you need to set the drill to a low speed and enable the function of the hammer. It is necessary to press harder on the tool, but controlling the heating of the drill, preventing it from overheating. A very hot drill quickly wears out the cutting edges, so it is best to use a diamond coating, which will allow better adhesion to the surface, saving time and effort.

It happens that a hole in a brick wall needs to be made with a considerable diameter. Such a diameter can serve as a ventilation outlet. For such a procedure with a conventional drill, it is unlikely that it will be possible to drill a hole of a large diameter, therefore, a powerful hammer drill and a crown containing a diamond coating are needed.

First you need to mark the diameter on the wall, and draw a circle on the marked section of the wall. If, for example, a pipe with a diameter of 100 mm, then the hole for the drill must be marked at least 120 mm in order to preserve the supply, in case the drill is skewed to the other side. After that, in the figure, you need to mark the points for drilling with a distance every couple of centimeters. Then you need to choose the appropriate thickness of the drill so that it passes the brick wall as a whole.

Video: How to Drill a Brick with an Ordinary Drill


At the drilling stage, you need to drill the marked points. The drill must pass through the wall, remaining on the other side of the wall. There will be a lot of dust after this, therefore it is recommended to cover foreign objects with a cloth and put on a protection in order to avoid heavy dust. Upon completion, you should get a large number of drilled points in a circle.

After drilling, with the help of a spatula for a perforator, you need to knock out excess pieces of brick. The operation is carried out only in the beating mode, a drill on a brick is not needed here. When it will be possible to hollow out an unnecessary brick, walking the tool several times, then it will only turn out to make a wide hole in the wall.

Choosing the right screw for drilling

Self-tapping screws are called fasteners in the form of a rod, having a screw-in thread, a pointed end and a head. The thread holds the screw shaft in the wall, thereby ensuring fixation and immobility. According to the classification, self-tapping screws for drilling are divided into the following types.

  • Universal, suitable for any fasteners. the most common.
  • The self-tapping screws strengthening metal sheets without the expansion bolt shield. Before screwing the screw, drilling is mandatory.
  • Self-tapping screws without dowels for fastening soft metal and wood, plastic.
  • Christmas tree-shaped self-tapping screws that can strengthen a concrete or brick wall, going along with dowels, by driving inside.
  • Nagels. self-tapping screws without a dowel, are needed to strengthen a brick wall or a wall of concrete.

In order to choose the right self-tapping screw for drilling, it is important to consider which metal or alloy they are made of. The scope of application of these products depends on the material of manufacture.

  • Stainless steel. A huge plus is the protection against moisture. The presence of metals such as chromium and nickel do not allow such screws to rust.
  • Carbon steel. Compared with the previous type, such a metal is not protected from moisture, but is more durable.
  • Brass drilling screws. This is a relatively expensive, but high-quality material. You can work with them both in a salty and in an acidic environment. Brass is resistant to corrosion, however, such an alloy is soft and deforms under heavy load.

If you choose self-tapping screws for drilling on concrete with a dowel, you need to consider that the capsule is pre-hammered there, and the screw itself is already screwed into it. The mechanism is made in such a way that the sharp ends of the capsule stick into the wall as the self-tapping screw is screwed into the hole, expanding the area of ​​the fastener for a more durable fastening.

Such a fastening system, where a plastic sleeve extends the fastening area, is used in cases:

  • increased load on the screws;
  • more rigid fixation for aerated concrete;
  • the need to eliminate vibrations to prevent unwinding of screws.

If you need to strengthen the structure in the front building, you can use the high-quality MBR-X facade dowels that go with the screw. Such fasteners can be screwed into a brick wall, and they are suitable for both solid and hollow bricks.

In the absence of a dowel, for self-tapping screws it will also be necessary to drill a small hole, it is also better to pre-calculate the length of the screw passed through. Otherwise, the self-tapping screw either will not reach the desired depth, or drown in the wall. Reassembling can only damage a brittle hole in concrete.

There are also so-called tour Boschurups. The advantage of such a screw is a variable thread with notches. It is noted for good adhesion to the concrete wall. Such screws can be screwed in with a conventional drill, they do not require excessive effort. Tur Boschurup is applicable for cellular and hollow concrete blocks.

The color of the screws is also important. In relation to color, drilling screws are as follows.

  • Silver. such self-tapping screws are suitable for any climatic conditions. Prevent corrosion. Suitable for work both indoors and outdoors.
  • Yellow. coated with a protective zinc coating with an admixture of copper. Only applicable for interior use.
  • Black. contain an oxide film. Such screws are not suitable in rooms with a high percentage of humidity, for example, in baths and greenhouses it is undesirable to use such fasteners.

When twisting the screws with a conventional drill, it is important to choose a drill, given the following recommendations:

  • the drill should be a couple of millimeters less than a self-tapping screw;
  • when using a jack tool, it is better to purchase a drill having recesses on the clamping part of the drill;
  • when drilling, you can use a universal drill for brick for a drill.

In conclusion, I want to note that it is not difficult to drill a brick wall. The main thing is to adhere to the above recommendations and choose the right equipment for the job.

You will learn more about concrete drill bits from the video.