Brick Drill: How To Drill A Brick Wall With A Conventional Drill? Choosing Self-tapping Screws For Drilling Holes

2024 Author: Beatrice Philips | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-18 12:09

When a person is faced with the need to take a drill in hand, he understands that a difficult and dusty job awaits him. And if you have to work with a wall, especially a brick one, then the first step is to choose the right drill bit for brick, so as not to spoil the tool during repairs and successfully drill a wall made of brick.

Preparing inventory

An impact drill is required to drill through a brick wall. If drilling is hammerless, then drilling will take a long time; the drill will also become very hot and, as a result, its service life will be greatly reduced. Such a tool must have high power and high rpm. It depends on them how easily and quickly it will be possible to drill a hole in the wall. More than 2000 rpm is considered an acceptable value and the higher the number, the better this 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 get started 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 can help with this: by 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 make a mark on the wall. For marking, a tool such as a center punch is used, which is a steel pointed rod. A small hole in the wall is drilled with a punch, making it possible to fix the drill in an even position.

Brick wall drilling process

For high-quality drilling, a powerful hammer drill is needed, but if there is none, then you can get by with an ordinary drill. Drilling a brick wall does not require special knowledge, however, utmost care and adherence to some recommendations will help avoid trouble when working with the tool. The drill must be kept strictly straight, otherwise there is a chance to break the drill bit by brick and leave an uneven dent in the wall. When the drill is turned on, it is important to wear protective goggles to prevent dust and brick debris from getting into your eyes. Also, when drilling, you need to smoothly and without sudden efforts to press on the drill, providing a uniform load on the surface.

Drilling requires a lot of energy . At high speed speeds, a huge frictional force arises, which heats up the drill strongly, so it must be cooled with cold water as often as possible. Often, when drilling, you can stumble upon a burnt brick, which will not be easy to drill. To understand when such a brick came across, you need to look at the color of its dust, usually it is black.

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

It so happens that a hole in a brick wall needs to be made with a considerable diameter. This diameter can serve as a ventilation outlet. For such a procedure, it is unlikely that it will be possible to drill a hole with a large diameter with a conventional drill, therefore, a powerful perforator 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 maintain a margin in case of a twist of the drill in the other direction. After that, in the figure, you need to mark the points for drilling with a distance every couple of centimeters. Then you need to select the appropriate thickness of the drill so that it goes through the brick wall entirely.

At the drilling stage, you need to drill the marked points . The drill must go right through the wall while remaining on the other side of the wall. After this, a lot of dust will turn out, therefore it is recommended to cover foreign objects with a cloth and put on protection, in order to avoid abundant ingress of dust. Upon completion, you should have a large number of drilled points in the circle.

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

Selection of suitable self-tapping screws for drilling

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

• Universal, suitable for any mounts - the most common.
• Self-tapping screws for reinforcing metal sheets without a dowel. Before screwing in the self-tapping screw, drilling is mandatory.
• Self-tapping screws without dowels for fastening soft metal and wood, plastic.
• Self-tapping screws in the form of a Christmas tree, capable of strengthening a concrete or brick wall, going along with the dowels, by driving inward.
• 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 screws for drilling, it is important to consider what kind of 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 moisture protection. The presence of metals such as chrome and nickel prevents these screws from rusting.
• Carbon steel . Compared to the previous type, this metal is not protected from moisture, but it is more durable.
• Brass self-tapping screws for drilling - This is a relatively expensive, but high-quality material. You can work with them in both salty and acidic environments. Brass is resistant to corrosion, but this alloy is soft and deforms under heavy load.

If you choose self-tapping screws for drilling in concrete with a dowel, you need to take into account that the capsule is previously hammered into it, 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 expands the fastening area, is used in the following cases:

• increased load on self-tapping screws;
• more rigid fixation for aerated concrete;
• the need to eliminate vibrations to prevent the screws from loosening.

If you need to reinforce the structure in a façade house, you can use high quality MBR-X façade dowels that come 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 you will also need to drill a small hole, it is also better to calculate in advance the length of the screw to be passed through. Otherwise, the self-tapping screw will either not reach the required depth, or drown in the wall. Reinstallation can only damage the fragile hole in the concrete.

There are also so-called turbo screws. The advantage of such a screw is the variable thread that has notches. It has good adhesion to a concrete wall. Such self-tapping screws can be screwed in with an ordinary drill, they do not require excessive efforts. The turbo screw is applicable for cellular and hollow concrete blocks.

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

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

When tightening self-tapping screws with a conventional drill, it is important to choose a drill, taking into account the following recommendations:

• the drill should be a couple of millimeters smaller than the self-tapping screw;
• when using a hammer tool, it is better to purchase a drill that has grooves on the clamping part of the drill;
• when drilling, you can use a universal brick drill bit for a drill.

In conclusion, I would like to note that it is not difficult to drill a brick wall. The main thing is to adhere to the mentioned recommendations and choose the right equipment for work.