A hole in the tile for a pipe. How to make holes in tiles for sockets, pipes, faucets and hoods

Laying tiles rarely occurs on a flat, smooth surface. Often you have to deal with the fact that there is a socket, a switch on the wall, pipes are laid under the mixer or toilet, so you need to make a hole in the tile. Today we will tell you in detail how to drill a tile to the desired diameter.

Basic drilling methods

There are five main ways to drill holes, which we will discuss in more detail. So, drilling is performed using:

special drill bits for tiles. Designed for small holes. These drills do not have a thread, the tip has a pointed soldering. The tips are tetrahedral, but certain difficulties arise when sharpening. These drills work great with mosaics and glass;
drill for concrete with a pobedite tip. Available in almost every owner, you can save on the purchase. If it does not have a carbide soldering, then it will do, you just need to regrind the end, giving it the shape of a regular drill;
self-tapping screws with LM tip (fleas). They are used to make holes in wall tiles, which are characterized by a certain softness. A self-tapping screw with an LM tip is simply screwed into it. To get one hole, you need to use 2-3 of these screws;
bits for tiles with diamond coating. Suitable for large and small diameters, for pipes, sockets, switches. They differ in a strictly fixed diameter, at least 5 mm. The price is from 300 to 1500 rubles, but they are worth it, because they have a fairly long service life. Very often used for.
circular drills - ballerinas. The pilot drill has a sharp tip in the center, and the rod is equipped with a movable cutter. Thanks to this, any diameter is adjusted and there is no need to purchase crowns for different sizes. It costs from 300 to 500 rubles. With the help of a ballerina, it is easy to make a hole in the central part of the tile.

Regardless of which method you use, the main thing is not to forget about turning off the impact mode on the power tool and setting the minimum speed for operation, otherwise you are guaranteed chips.

Applying a diamond crown

Making markup

Let's consider a typical case. We need to bring out the pipes for the faucet in the bathroom, and for this we need to drill a hole in the ceramic tile.

It is better, of course, to think about this more and make sure that the holes for the pipes fall exactly on the center of the tile. To do this, you can shift the layout or start laying from the right place. If, nevertheless, you were unable to complete the installation of the crane in the center, then it is advisable not to focus on this place and not to lay decor or borders nearby that will catch your eye.

Both tap holes are at the same level, so first we measure the distance from the floor. For both pipes, it must be identical, for this you will have to use a plumb or level, any that is available.

Then measurements are taken horizontally between the center of each point and appropriate marks are applied. We got two points, from the center of each we measure the radius of the desired hole in order to outline the cut line.

Drilling

The drill must be switched to drilling mode with minimum speed. For this work, a diamond-coated crown is used, which is inserted into the cartridge. When buying a crown, be sure to make sure that it is designed specifically for tiles, because its analogues for concrete, wood or metal do not suit you at all. It is desirable that the working surface of the crown be covered with diamond grit as much as possible. Ideally, use a hole saw with a center drill to minimize the risk of dislodging the hole.

We drill carefully, slightly pressing on the drill. After cutting through the glaze, increase the pressure and speed.

During the drilling process, the working surface of the crown needs to be cooled. Bosch crowns have a coolant inside, so additional moisture is not required.

If a crown of small diameter is used for work, which does not have a centering drill, then displacement is obtained quite often. To prevent this trouble, you can use the conductor. To make it yourself, you need a piece of board or plywood and one minute of time. In it, you need to cut a hole of the appropriate diameter and use it as a conductor, pressing it with your hand.

We fix the tile

Before laying, you need to check whether the holes in the tile match the location of the pipes. If everything is fine, then proceed to the installation. The wall is covered with a layer of glue, which is then evenly distributed with a comb. The tile is pressed into place.

We work as a ballerina

Making a hole with a ballerina is not difficult, the main thing is to accurately follow all the steps, namely:

mark the center of the future circle;
set the required drilling diameter;
cut through a layer of glaze;
make a groove on the back of the tile;
cut a hole on the front side.

One ballerina can make from 20 to 30 holes, this is quite enough for a home. The work must be carried out in compliance with safety regulations: the minimum speed and the perpendicular position of the drill relative to the tile are set.

Cutting big holes

There are situations when it is necessary to cut a large hole, but there are no necessary devices for this.

Mark the center of the future hole and draw a circle around the required diameter with a compass or pencil.
Take a drill on a tile of small diameter and make a series of holes inside the circle, and place them as close to each other as possible. To prevent the drill from slipping over the surface of the glaze, it is best to cover it with masking tape. A great option for working together - making notes on paper is easy and you can see them very well.
Remove the drilled part, and remove all irregularities with wire cutters. Parrot cutters will do the job best.
sand the cut with sandpaper.

Summing up

It is possible to drill a hole in a tile both in the process of preparation and even after it has already been glued. When working with glued tiles, care must be taken so that both the tiles remain intact and the drill is not damaged.

During the renovation of the bathroom and other areas of the house, it often becomes necessary to make a hole for the equipment of a socket or switch. Some materials are easy to cut with the most common tools, others require a special approach.

It is quite difficult to drill a hard but fragile tile without damage, and making a hole of a large diameter is even more difficult. In this article, we'll show you some popular and easy ways to quickly cut tile to install an outlet.

Features of working with tiles

It is rather difficult to make an even and neat round-shaped cutout on a tile for a socket, as it has high hardness and strength. In addition, the slippery glazed surface complicates the cutting process, as there is no adhesion between it and the cutting tool, which causes the drill to constantly slip. The main danger during the manufacture of holes in the tile is splitting and damage to expensive material. To make the cut look neat, you need to perform a number of preparatory measures:

On the surface of the tile from the outside, where drilling will be performed, markings are applied with a pencil or marker.
To prevent the drill bit from slipping off the glazed surface of the tile, the cutting area is pasted over with construction tape or adhesive tape. Before cutting, you can scratch the outline of the socket hole with a regular nail.
Moisten the tile before starting work to speed up the cutting process and reduce dust.

Important! A hole for a socket on the wall surface must be made before installing the tile. You need to be prepared that during the manufacture of the cutout, the tile may crack, and have an insurance stock of material, which is 10-15% of the total.

Cutting with a hole saw

The fastest way to make a hole in a tile is with a special drill bit called a crown. Crowns for drills and perforators are sold in hardware stores, they have different diameters that need to be matched to the mounted socket. However, experienced craftsmen do not recommend making holes in the tile using a perforator, as cracks and chips form along the edges of the cut due to vibration. To work with tiles, crowns of the following type are used:

Note! The drill and hammer vibrate strongly during operation, which is fraught with the appearance of chips and cracks on the tile. Therefore, you need to drill tiles at low speeds, spending 1-2 minutes per hole. To improve the quality of the cut, the tile is placed on a table on a wooden substrate, and the drill is placed on a tripod.

Cutting with a ballerina

Construction stores sell nibblers for tiles, which are popularly called "ballerina". This tile cutter is a drill attachment that consists of a pilot drill and two or one cutters. "Ballerina" is adjusted to the desired hole diameter, and it costs no more than 1000 rubles, depending on the manufacturer and material. This nozzle is usually enough for 10-20 cuts, but the cutters can bend even earlier. The principle of operation of the "ballerina" is as follows:

The future hole for the outlet is marked on the tile, be sure to mark the center of the circle.
A nozzle guide drill is installed at a point in the middle of the marked circle.
Adjust the cutters to the diameter that corresponds to the hole being made.
Begin to carefully and slowly drill the tile at low speed for 2-3 minutes.

Professional builders say that in order to make an even, neat hole without chips and cracks, you need to fix the drill for the duration of work in one position without changing the tilt of the drill. It is difficult to hold the tool in this way for 2-3 minutes, the worker's hand may “tremble”, so it is better to fix the drill on a tripod.

To make a neat hole in the tile without the risk of splitting and damaging the material, it is better to use a manual rather than an electric tool. To do this, in a hardware store you need to buy a tungsten string, which is inserted into the saw instead of the cutting blade. The cutting process is carried out in the following order:

The marking of the future outlet is applied to the outer or inner surface of the tile.
If the hole is located inside the tile, then inside the marked circle with a drill and a drill, you need to make a hole of small diameter.
A tungsten cutting string is inserted into a hole made by a drill in a tile.
With the help of a string, a hole is sawn along the markings with translational-return movements.

Note! When cutting tiles with a tungsten string, cracks, chips or other defects never occur. However, it takes up to 30 minutes to make each hole by hand, so this method is not suitable for industrial scale.

Cutting with a thin drill bit

It happens that in the arsenal of the master there are no special tools for cutting tiles, but the work needs to be done urgently. Then a drill with a conventional drill with a diameter of 6-8 mm comes to the rescue. The process of making holes using this method is as follows:

The socket box is applied to the outside of the tile, and then circled with a marker or pencil.
About 20 holes with a diameter of 8-8 mm are made along the marked circle in increments of 1-2 mm.
The necks between the holes are carefully removed with pliers or wire cutters.

Important! Marking and drilling of tiles should be done only from the outside of the material, otherwise the cut will look messy.

Video instruction

02-07-2015

How to cut a hole in a tile? Ceramic tiles are given a significant place in the design of walls, floors in homes and public institutions. She is often finished with sanitary rooms, rooms with bathrooms, landings and much more. The tile is a strong and decorating material for any room, it is practical, easy to use, does not require much maintenance, is not afraid of high humidity, does not change its qualities under the influence of adverse external conditions. In addition, the tile is able to withstand maximum loads on its surface.

Features of such a process, tools

When renovating your home, sometimes you have to make holes in the tiles. The matter is not entirely simple. As a rule, you need to make a cutout under the pipe, outlet, faucet, in the corner areas of the sink. The whole difficulty lies in the fact that inherently solid ceramic tiles, with outside interference, crack or simply split as a result of a change in its integrity. And often you need to make a hole in the tile of the desired size and configuration. Many non-professionals feel awkward and confused with such a task. To avoid omissions and unnecessary questions, you should know some of the nuances of working with this fragile material.

The question of how to cut a hole in a tile worries many craftsmen. Moreover, the use of conventional tools is unlikely to help. To solve this problem, you can use a number of construction devices: a ballerina, a diamond-coated drill on a crown, a hole saw. The problem of how to cut a hole will be solved in the article below.

Before starting construction manipulations with tiles, it must be prepared. First of all, you need to make the necessary markup. It is done on the front side with a special marker.

Then the tile is fixed on a straight and strong base. Such a surface is a sheet of drywall, chipboard. The wetted tile will not generate dust during the work, it will not crumble or crack.

Using a thin drill during work, many holes are made in the ceramic tile at the same time, and then, using pliers, you can safely break the hole to the desired size. Holes should be made as close to each other as possible, this will help to make a break carefully, achieving even edges.

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Drill with diamond-coated bits

This type of power tool helps to make a hole in ceramic tiles by submerging the tile under water or pouring a small amount of it on the drilling point. To carry out the work, you should select the required size of the diamond crown and fix it on the base of the device.

To avoid errors at the drilling site, a mark is applied to the tile, which can be made with a glass cutter. During work, as a rule, the glaze is removed first, and then the coating of the ceramic tile.

We note an important feature: drilling should be done slowly, without pressing the handle of the tool, without hurrying. It is then necessary to ensure that moisture does not get into the housing of the electrical appliance. Making holes in the tile without the use of water will not work, the tile can quickly crack.

The use of a high-quality diamond crown in the work will ensure its reliability and hardness.

And this is very important when drilling large diameter holes. Such a tool will help to make recesses, holes not only in the tile, but also in the concrete base.

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Ballerina for round holes

This tool is a round drill. It is used for drilling holes in ceramic tiles, and these holes can be of any size. This is the peculiarity of this device.

Its incisors are set by hand. The only, not entirely convenient nuance is the uneven edges after work, which have to be further processed.

The drilling method is similar to the previous example. A drill treated with water will cool, and the resistance of the tile will decrease.

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Hole saw: tool application

You can make even round holes using this kind of saw with a carbide tip. This is a special power tool that can slowly but thoroughly perform the work assigned to it. Holes in tiles made in this way will look flawless. Before carrying out work, the hole saw should be prepared. To do this, the drill located in the center should be thoroughly fixed in the drill using a chuck.

Pay attention to this pattern: if the ceramic tile is well fixed, then you can make holes in it in a dry way.

If there is no fastener, it needs to be wetted with water. The whole wisdom of this type of saw is in the intense heating of the tile during operation, the appearance of dust, the tile quickly breaks. The use of water will help cool the tile, thereby maintaining its integrity, including increasing the operating time of this power tool.

One of the nuances of using a hole saw is the likelihood of water penetrating into the body of the device. You can secure the tool by putting batteries in the drill and installing a saw in it. But, of course, long work will not work, because batteries have a limited supply of energy. He doesn't have enough power either.

Also, experts recommend using an outlet with grounding or a special mechanism that can protect the saw and prevent it from becoming inoperative. The residual current device will quickly detect a short circuit and disconnect the device from the network.

For better fixation of ceramic tiles during work, it should be securely fastened. To do this, you can make a plywood box, the corners of which will be insulated. The water poured into such a container will ensure the integrity of the tile.

The tile is lowered into the liquid, then the drill should be fixed in the desired position. Then you can get to work. So that the surface of the tile does not get cracked and does not crumble, you do not need to press hard on the drill during operation.

Many owners and, especially, housewives, line the bathroom or kitchen with ceramics, and then, when you need to hang something on the wall, the question arises of how to drill through the tiles.

Planning: Before Drilling the Tile

In front of you is a wall lined with ceramics. It does not matter what covers it - porcelain stoneware or ordinary inexpensive tiles, it is much more important that it is in this wall that you want to make a small recess or, possibly, a through hole. Concrete, brick (including silicate), timber under a layer of plaster - all this is quite easy to give in to a puncher or a conventional drill, the main thing is that there are suitable nozzles. But what about the cladding?

Situations when the question arises of how to drill ceramic tiles in the bathroom arise quite often. At a minimum, you need to hammer a dowel or screw a screw into the wall in order to hang a shelf or fix a water heater or electric towel warmer. Larger holes are required when you need to stretch a water pipe through the wall, a power cable, when you need to install a socket or light switch. Very large openings are needed for sewerage and ventilation. As you can see, there are many options, and each requires an individual approach.

How to Drill a Hole in Tile - Step by Step Guide

Let's focus on holes of medium diameter, although they are required less often than small recesses for a screw or nail. It is the perforation of tiles, when the required diameter of the cut hole is much larger than the largest drill size available, that causes difficulty for many. But this task is not the most difficult, as well as its solution, which will take only a few steps. In a similar way, such a problem is solved, how to drill a floor tile.

How to drill a hole in a tile - step by step

Step 1: Markup

You probably know in advance exactly where the hole should be, but it will be better if a measuring tape and a level are used, especially if you need to perforate the lining in two places, for example, under the mixer pipes. It is logical that they should be at the same distance from the floor. Therefore, before drilling a hole in the tile, we measure the desired height in two places, applying a level to the tape measure so as not to deviate from the vertical, or using a plumb line. We put two marks with the necessary gap between them (again we use a tape measure). Using a metric scale, we mark the radii of the holes or immediately the diameter.

Step 2: Drilling

We take an electric drill and set it to the minimum number of revolutions per second. We insert a special nozzle for large holes into the cartridge - a crown with a diamond coating. Trying not to press hard on the tool, we apply the edge of the nozzle to the tile and at low speeds we make the first basting cuts. must be firmly fixed in the hands so that the crown does not move. When the outer, smooth layer is passed, press the tool a little harder and cut a hole. Similarly, we carry out further perforation of the ceramic cladding element.

Step 3: Fixing the tile

We install the tile in the place allotted to it, check the coincidence with the already protruding pipes or holes for them. If everything is done as it should, it remains only to apply a layer of glue to the section of the wall to be finished, go over it with a notched trowel and attach the tile, pressing firmly and pressing over its entire area.

How to drill a tile: alternative ways

If you take a bit type "crown", choose one that has a center drill. This will save you from the risk of edge displacement at the beginning of drilling from the markup. If you only have a nozzle without centering, use the simplest template by pre-drilling a hole in a piece of plywood with the same crown and attaching it to the wall using double-sided tape. Having moistened the walls of the wooden guide well, you can no longer think about how to cut a hole in the tile. There are also special jig templates with an adjustable window, they can be bought at the same place where crowns are sold.

You can go the other way, in particular - to use the "ballerina". This type of nozzle is adjusted to various hole diameters by simple manipulations (tightening the screw and moving the bar). At the end of the movable bar, a cutter is rigidly fixed, and the central rod, on which the fixing screw is located, is also a drill. It is not difficult to use the nozzle - first we make a recess for the center drill using an abrasive cone or a conventional chipper, and then we bite into the ceramic lining with a cutter. It is not recommended to push the adjusting bar to the maximum.

Another way to make a hole in a tile, and any large diameter, in the absence of special nozzles, is to take a diamond drill (you can win, it will slow down the work a little). We draw a circle on the tile, in the form of which we need to get a hole, and drill holes exactly around the circumference, with minimal gaps. Then we drill all the space in the middle with exactly the same holes. It remains only to take the wire cutters and break through the partitions between adjacent holes, and then break off the irregularities along the contour with pliers. This method is the most laborious, but in the absence of a better option, you can use it.

Keep in mind that a diamond drill is usually enough for no more than 30-35 holes with intensive work.

A few tricks on how to make a hole in a tile

The first difficulty that a novice home master faces when drilling a tile (it sounds rather strange, but you can’t say it differently, everyone starts somewhere) is the sliding of the drill on a smooth surface. There is a simple way to avoid this. Before making a hole in the tile, it is enough to stick a piece of masking tape on the tile, and there will be no slip, and after the first turns of the drill, there will be a sufficient notch for further work.

You can mark a small indentation with an abrasive cone, and when the glazed surface has been passed, install a concrete drill bit. You can also use a special nozzle with a conical tip (shaped like an arrowhead). If you decide to go through the entire thickness of the tile without changing the nozzle, use a Pobedite drill.

Having outlined the point of perforation, for which you need a center punch, start work at very low speeds, and after the glaze succumbs, you can increase the speed of rotation of the drill. To get a hole of a strictly required depth, use a special limiter that is included with most modern electric drills, and in the absence of this element, stick tape on the drill.

When working with a “ballerina”, be sure to wear safety glasses, and go through the ceramics in low speed mode so that the fragments do not scatter from under the cutter. If you prefer crowns for large holes, and diamond bits of this type seem prohibitively expensive, buy special models with victorious teeth, they are enough for a maximum of 30 holes. Before making a hole in the tile, wet it with water, this will help reduce the number of chips.

To cut a hole in a large-diameter ceramic tile, a ballerina drill is often used, even less often, a diamond crown and similar methods. I want to tell you how to get out of a situation when you don’t have anything like this at hand, except for a grinder, of course. But the grinder or angle grinder is still more common than the tool listed earlier. This is a trick that you may and will need in life.

We cut a round hole in the tile with a grinder

First things first, mark the center of the circle that we will cut, and then the full radius of the circle. And you need to do it all from two sides.
From the front side:

From the back:

Now we take the grinder and inside the circle we make cuts as close as possible to the edges of the circle.

So we do on one plane of the entire circle.

Now rotate the tile 90 degrees.

And we make exactly the same cuts with a grinder.

Pieces in the center start to break - this is normal.

When you reach the end of the side of the circle, all partitions will break and you will already have something that looks like a circle.

Next, we grind the edges of the circle, passing along them carefully with a grinder disc.

It turns out an almost even circle, but with an angle in thickness.

Flip the tiles over to the inside.

We also grind the edges.

Then, in order to bring the circle back to normal, and remove the sharp angle formed, we cut it off with wire cutters. Carefully bite it off along the entire diameter.

For finishing, we go through a file.

That's all. A few simple steps and you have a perfect circle in the tile.
Throughout the work, do not forget about protective equipment - goggles and gloves. When working with angle grinders, be extremely careful and careful.
Undoubtedly, the method I proposed is noticeably more time-consuming compared to the classical methods, but I just suggest that you get out of a difficult situation.

Watch the video

For more information on dimensioning, cutting and processing a hole in a tile, see the video.