Remodeling bathroom..Drilling a hole in porcelain tile?

The composition of ceramic tiles is as different as there are countries in the world. For this reason, there is no one single answer on how to drill a hole in ceramic tile. There is, however, one drill bit that indeed will go through each and every tile, but you may have great difficulty locating it.

Many ceramic tiles have a fairly soft inner core and a thin hard glaze on the outer surface that you look at. These are the very easy to drill through. The easiest tiles to drill into are very soft tiles that are often found in homes built in the southwestern part of the USA. Frequently these have no glaze or a very thin satin finish.

Tile hardness is a function of the type of clay and its silica content used to make the tile. The final hardness of the tile is also directly related to the amount of time the tile is in the firing kiln and the temperature inside the kiln. High temperature and long baking times can produce rock-hard tile.

Glass and porcelain tiles are very popular right now. These products are the hardest tiles to drill into. You can use a sharp carbide drill, but you need to oil or water the bit to keep it cool as it rotates on the tile. A diamond-encrusted bit will drill into porcelain or glass faster than carbide, but these bits are expensive.

If you are drilling into softer tile, a regular carbide bit works fine. Do not use a hammer drill as the rapid vibrations can crack the tile. The trick is to use a slow drilling speed and carefully grind through the surface of the thin glaze. Once the bit gets into the softer core, the drill will rapidly cut through the softer fired clay.

Do not apply too much pressure when you first drill as the drill and bit can slip away from the marked point and scratch the tile. The worst mistakes you can make are cracking or scratching a tile. If that happens, it will be a considerable amount of work to replace the damaged tile(s). Be careful and proceed slowly as you drill.

You can use a carbide hole cutter in an electric drill. Carbide hole cutters are like ordinary hole saws except the rim is carbide grit instead of teeth. You can get these an several different sizes so you should be able to find one the right size for your purpose. To start the drill, take a nail and hammer a small chip out of the glaze where you want the center of the hole to be, a light tap should do it, this will keep the bit from wandering over the surface and start the hole easier.

If it is a wall tile it is probably fairly soft ceramic, not porcelain (which is usually used for floor tile), and it should not be too difficult to drill the hole once you get through the glaze.

Which tile is it? porcelain or ceramic??? they are 110% different

Porcelain tile you need to get a VERY high quality diamond/tunstencarbide drill bit/ holesaw.

if it a small hole you need to drill then a simple glass bit will work, but use plenty of water

For ceramic tile

a a big hardware store sell an inexpensive holesaw for the larger holes

and a glass bit will work fine on smaller holes

This hole should be around 1/2" so you can use a typical masonry bit that is 1/2". Start the hole like the other writer proposed with a nail to de-glaze the tile then center the bit where you chipped off some of the glaze and start your hole drilling s-l-o-w-l-y. Any drill that can accept the 1/2" bit will work.

If you have a small "Dremel" Multipro hand held drill Model 285 or equal with a diamond drill bit to cut circular holes that would save you a lot of time.

if cutting tile to surround your shower faucet, tile nippers are your best bet.....there are masonry drill bits that will work on tile but all depends on the size of hole - a regular drill would be used for rotary hammer drills can break the tile due to vibration-

You need a wet saw to cut through the tile. Your best bet would be to measure the hole you want cut and bring it to Home Depot, They can cut it for you.

Diamond tipped hole saw

Carbide-tipped masonry bits or the drill bits shown below for drilling holes up to about ½ inch diameter.

http://www.amazon.com/Yukon-Tool-YTMB6-6-PC-MIRACL...

Carbide-grit tip hole saw or diamond dust tip hole saws for large holes

http://www.homedepot.ca/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/...

http://www.amazon.com/DIAMOND-DUST-GLASS-MARBLE-HO...

Dan

Use a Roto-Zip with a masonry bit.