Ask man silly question - look foolish for few minute. No ask man silly question - be fool for rest of life Question/s. Can I drill into tiles to put a bath rail up and if so do I use the masonry drill bit?
u could use a masonry drill bit i reckon - but i think there's a special bit u can buy for drilling porcelain coz its a bitch to drill through and took me ages with teh masonry bit
also when uve the position that u want to drill marked, say with pencil or marker, put masking tape over it before you drill - my mate always does taht and says it reduces the risk of the tile cracking form teh vibration of the drill. dunno if thats true but he swears by it
im a tiler mate, depends what kind of tile your drilling, porcelain tiles you should buy the proper drill bit, but if its ceramic tile any drill bit will do, to support the tile and stop the small chance of cracking, place some masking tape across were your going to drill.
One piece of advice from someone who learnt as he went about decorating (wrecking) his new house with a drill and a hammer - if you're putting screws with sleeves in make sure that the top of the sleeve goes all the way past the tile and flush with the original wall. Otherwise when you screw the screw in the sleeve will expand and crack the tile
Dont mean to hijack your thread but dont want to start another one either. My question is this - I am grouting my bathroom tomorrow. Some areas around the bath have become very grubby looking. Do I have remove all the old grout competley or just give it a little scrape? Thanks in advance,
best bet is get a grout scraper and take around half of it out, make sure theres no lose bits left in the joints, but when your placing the grout back in, push in the grout but leave it in the joint for around 10 mins to let it set, and then wash the waste of.
Thanks for the advice. No idea what type of tile but they're cheap lookin. i might just get the proper bit in case. Is a sleeve the wall plug? Plastic thing you put the screw into, yeah?
Yeah thats true. The masking tape reduces the risk of the tile cracking from the vibration of the drill but also it prevents the drill bit from slipping. Cos when you start to drill if you dont have the masking tape the drill bit is likely to slip on the smooth tile and possibly crack it - and also start a drill hole where you dont want one!
Good thread. Changed the title for anybody looking for diy tips or advice.might be a handy reference for future.
the masking tape tip is a good one,i've used that meself a few times. if anyone is planning on mounting a widescreen on the wall my advice is to hire a high powered drill from the local tool hire shop if you don't already have one. i was doing this a few weeks ago and the drill i have just wasn't up to the task,i got the telly up no problem but it was way off.it was wrecking me head so i hired a drill (this thing was a beast) and the difference was amazing. the drill was that good i was actually looking for other stuff around the house to stick on walls..
Whatever job you take on using the proper tools is half the battle! Invest in decent tools when you need them, you will always have them. Dont be tempted to buy cheapo tools in discount shops. They might be cheap - but they wont last and wont do the job as well as the real mccoy!
Hi Lads just on the drilling into tiles using the masking tape is great but start with a small drill bit first and work up to the one for the wall plug, takes a little bit longer but its a lot easier to get the hole in the right place
I done the same in my kitchen/dining room two weeks ago. Took me a day and four evenings to get the feckin thing up I bought a swivel arm wall mount for a 26". Some advice that might help those doing similarly (we have a duplex): * Firstly the drill I had was a hand me down from the father in law and the chuck kept slipping. Solution: bought a new hammer drill that has a masonry setting and got a new masonry bit. Highly recommended. * One thing to note is that the bolts for these mounts can be very long (which mine were) and when I drilled the wall I discovered that while the bottom of the three holes I needed was fine, the top two weren't as I hit reinforced steel or something embedded in the concrete. Solution: go to a DIY store with the bolt that came with the mount and look for one as close to it as possible (same thickness) but slightly shorter. Get sleeves to match. There wasn't that much difference (in length needed) so I haven't compromised how solid it will be. * I mounted it on a corner where one wall is masonry and the other is a stud/plasterboard wall. I decided it would be nice to wire the TV inside the stud wall. Solution: Drilled a hole in the stud wall directly aligned with the plug socket and TV socket. Used a plumb line and weight I had - tied together I dropped the weight down the hole feeding it by the line (string). Took the socket covers off and made enough room to get the weight out. At the top end I tied the line to the correct end of the NTL cable, then I pulled the line from the bottom which fed the cable down through the wall and out where I needed it. Drilled a small hole above the TV socket, fed it through and connected it. Repeated the process for a 4-point plug adapter (removed the plug to feed the cable down, then reattached). Basically all this means the cables are only visible at a small point beside the sockets and the other ends are behind the NTL box/TV. I wired up a 4-point adapter as this provides me with power for a number of devices. * Bought a cheap as chips little corner shelf in Woodys. Fitted it with three screws to the corner just below the hole I made for the cables. The NTL box pretty much covers the hole so it's only visible up close. That's how I done it anyway (IT guy does a McGyver ). Looks really neat and tidy. Was a pain in the backside but worth it in the end.
could you just imagine that now ,hammer drill on and small the hell out off the wall ,now that did make me smile