Can’t drill

[Dylan123]

Hi,

My recently bought 30s terrace has what I think are brick and plaster walls and very few stud walls.

I can drill an inch into plaster but then come up against some very hard material.

currently i am trying to drill holes for a TV wall bracket into my chimney breast. It looks very much like concrete behind the plaster.

I have a £25 drill that does have a hammer setting but it’s getting nowhere with my masonry bit.

do I need an SDS or expensive drill or is there a bit I can buy to put in my drill?

Any tips or advice? The other walls seem to have engineering bricks behind them, all the walls have super hard stuff behind the plaster.

 

[Burnerman]

For sure, a beefy, slow revving hammer SDS drill would be a good thing to have....so long as it is masonry you are attempting to drill.
Why not hire? They will supply all the bits you need too. If you are happy with things, then you could buy one if you want.
John

 

[Dylan123]

For sure, a beefy, slow revving hammer SDS drill would be a good thing to have....so long as it is masonry you are attempting to drill.
Why not hire? They will supply all the bits you need too. If you are happy with things, then you could buy one if you want.
John

I see them up b and q for £70.

All my walls seem to have hard stuff behind them so prob need one.

could it be the case that the £70 one won’t do the job and you need a super powerful one? The reviews say they eat concrete well enough.

don’t want to buy one and then find it’s not up to the job. Hire will prob be £50 anyway

 

[Burnerman]

Largely you get what you pay for....hire companies have high quality corded and cordless stuff, the price of which is often beyond what private people are prepared to pay if its just for occasional use.
I use a Hitachi cordless (around £120) and it can handle most soft (normal) masonry but if I come across blue bricks, vibrated concrete or whatever I reach for my corded Hilti which stops at nothing.....mind you, it cost £350 in 1983 Big impact and slow revs.
Maybe you could have a look at a SDS Titan or whatever - they seem pretty good for the price, and buy quality bits such as Bosch.
John

 

[sircerebus666]

Sometimes starting with a small masonry drill bit and working your way up can work

However if you are looking at the £50 titan one the Screwfix website says it has an impact energy of 8j that will punch through anything!

Team that up with a decent set of sds drills and you should be fine

 

[Dylan123]

Largely you get what you pay for....hire companies have high quality corded and cordless stuff, the price of which is often beyond what private people are prepared to pay if its just for occasional use.
I use a Hitachi cordless (around £120) and it can handle most soft (normal) masonry but if I come across blue bricks, vibrated concrete or whatever I reach for my corded Hilti which stops at nothing.....mind you, it cost £350 in 1983 Big impact and slow revs.
Maybe you could have a look at a SDS Titan or whatever - they seem pretty good for the price, and buy quality bits such as Bosch.
John

I got a £25 drill which can handle soft masonry (you mean plaster right?)

what sort of drill couldn’t handle that!

I’m going to chance it will a £100 drill and if that doesn’t work I’ll just take my medicine and hire a really good one.

As for what it is....it’s a decommissioned and blocked chimney breast which you can see has a concrete looking wall behind it. I would have thought it was brick but def doesn’t look like brick. It’s grey and smooth (I can see it in places behind the fireplace)

I’m guessing this is not vibrated concrete.

 

[Notch7]

I see them up b and q for £70.

All my walls seem to have hard stuff behind them so prob need one.

could it be the case that the £70 one won’t do the job and you need a super powerful one? The reviews say they eat concrete well enough.

don’t want to buy one and then find it’s not up to the job. Hire will prob be £50 anyway

Titan SDS drills from screwfix are pretty good -see the reviews, great drill / breakers for the money

This one maybe a bit heavy for your needs but they do others

https://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-tt...us-drill-9-piece-accessory-kit-230-240v/97533

 

[Dylan123]

Wow thanks guys that’s fine price wise.

Last thing....it comes with 9 drill bits....anything else it will need or just try them and buy better ones if they don’t do the job?

 

[Burnerman]

That's about it, really.....I have a Bosch set of SDS drills that go from 4mm to 8mm (two of each) and they have been good.
No harm in trying the Titan ones first - start small and work up to the required size.
John

 

[Notch7]

Wow thanks guys that’s fine price wise.

Last thing....it comes with 9 drill bits....anything else it will need or just try them and buy better ones if they don’t do the job?

The dewalt extreme masonry bits are great - for the smaller holes like 6mm drill cleaner.....bear mind I dont think they are SDS

When drilling holes for plugs, its best to drill with a small drill then get larger. With the dewalt I start with a 3mm or 4mm and go upto to the 6mm 7mm whatevers needed for the plug. The difficulty is drilling the plaster and not making the hole wonder or get bigger as you struggle to drill through the hard masonry behind.

With SDS let the blows from the action do the work and concentrate on keeping the drill steady, rather than pressure.

Most of those SDS drills have rotostop so you do light breaking or removal of tiles etc -handy options for future jobs.
Keep them greased

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

could it be the case that the £70 one won’t do the job and you need a super powerful one? The reviews say they eat concrete well enough.

They will all do the job easily, the difference cost makes is how long they last for. For occasional DIY £70 is fine.

I have two SDS, one from Aldi bought 15 years ago £25, one from Lidl bought 8 years ago £35. Both have been used for heavy diy and some pro use, both still 100%. Look for them to have roto-stop and hammer-stop, plus maybe forward reverse and variable speed. My Aldi one lacked these features.

Paying more also usually means they are lighter weight for the power. I don't have a problem handling heavy drills.

Both drills came with a variety of bits and I am still using the original bits, though I did add to them with a set of three 1m long bits for going through walls, simply because they were cheap/ on special.

 

[Dylan123]

Just to let you know, I got that Titan and it went through that concrete like butter.

Low setting with hammer

 

[Burnerman]

Result!
John