Drilling through tiles

awm

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Hi, I'm fitting a shower door, I've started drilling the holes but I've cracked a tile in the process.

Can anyone suggest how I can work around this?

See image below...

 
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Can't quite see why you are drilling in a corner to fit a shower door? But if you are fitting some sort of hinge, bracket or mounting strip clean out all loose material and repair with grout might take a couple of fills to get it smooth and level the thing you are mounting should cover it.
Correct answer of course is replace the tile, but I assume you can't match or simply don't want to.

Regards,
footprints
 
Hi, yeah it's for a hinge, so I have to do one at the top too.

So, when I do that hinge, should I remove the tile? Or drill through it? How do I drill through it without cracking it?

Thanks!


Alex
 
Hi Alex,
It depends on how well the tile is fixed and supported by the adhesive if there is a void behind it it may well crack again.

Use a new sharp good quality masonry drill (not one of those in a set of 5 for a couple of quid :)) put a couple of layers of masking tape on the tile and use light pressure. masonry drills always say slow speed, but once the drill has made a slight start I find fast works fine on tiles.
Hammer action off till you hit hard brick.
After you have gone through you may need to use a larger drill to provide clearance for the wall plug to pass through depending on how large the rim of the plug is, ensure the plug is pushed through well into the wall so it will not expand in the tile or adhesive splitting it apart.

I doubt they are, but if they are Porcelain tiles they do require a special drill, a tile shop will be able to supply one. You will soon know as the normal bit will make no impact at all.


I would say cross your fingers as well but it's hard to hold the drill then!


Good luck with it
Regards,
footprints
 
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Thanks for the advice, I guess I'll just have to attempt the high hinge and hope for the best!

Also, I was curious as to whether I should be concerned about drilling through these tiles? I don't suppose I'm likely to hit any water pipes or anything on the other side? I very much doubt it but I'd rather check just in case.

Can you recommend anything I can do to avoid any disasters!

As you can tell I am a novice.

Thanks!


Alex
 
Yes google pipe detectors loads will come up, they will detect pipes (not plastic I'm afraid) live cables and studs in plasterboard walls.

Some are very good, some are rubbish, by and large you get what you pay for.
As a rule for finding wooden studs you do need a good quality one as they can be a bit hit and miss, but for just locating cables and pipes most are fairly good.
I would avoid DIY store own brands myself. Worth looking on amazon and reading the reviews. For getting into corners like you need to in your situation, a slim one rather than some of the more chunky ones is best. I have three, a Zircon a Rapitest and a Draper sometimes one works better in a situation than another. But as a rule I find the Draper best for pipes and cables.
Mine is an old one I think the current part no is 13818 if you want to search for it.

Like all testing equipment the results are not always clear, they can give false positives over some materials like breeze block that can contain metallic ingredients or foil backed plasterboard. They can sometimes show electrical current when there is no cable, but if you read the instructions thoroughly you can interpret the readings with practice. Although they can miss detecting a cable or pipe thats buried a bit deeper, as a rule they tend to err on the safe side, certainly worth using before you drill any holes.

Always remember just look on it as and aid to safety not a complete guarantee :!:

Hope it helps,
footprints
 
Your drilling to far into the corner to fit screen for a start...and you won't be able to seal the outside off it with silicone...

The tiles you have cracked take out and replace and before you fix new tile,drill the holes for hinge through it before fixing onto the wall then fix tile and drill into wall for plug then screw hinge on...

6mm masonary bit on drill not hammer.

Has for pipe/elect very..very..unlikely you will have any in that area..
 

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