Need to drill thru brick

[Burt Alcantara]

I have to make a 1" hole from the outside of the house to the inside. The only 1" masonary bit I've seen (Lowes) was a Bosch and it said it was a hammer drill bit. I don't have a hammer drill. Can I use it anyway with my 1/2" corded drill or are there other options?

Thanks,
Burt

[Julian Wong]

Burt, I know Bosch makes several types of masony hammer drill bits. You have to look at the shank head of the bit (or the packaging). It may have a spline to fit an SDS or SDS+ or SDS +(R) hammer drill or it may look just like an ordinary drill bit shank. If it's the ordinary round shank or triangular shank head, then it'll work.

[steve scheldt]

I would rent a roto-hammer. Your regular drill motor will take forever to drill a 1" hole. Pilot hole it first with a 1/4 or 3/8 bit then expand it with 1". I think HD rents the bits too so you don't have spend a lot of $ for a few holes. I was a concrete form carpenter and supt. for 25 years and if I didn't have a skilsaw in my hand I had a roto-hammer.

[Jason Hallowell]

As Julian said, it will work as long as it's not an SDS shank. Some brick will drill fairly easily with a regular drill, and some will take all day and ruin the drill bit. A hammer drill be 10X faster and easier without the risk of ruining the bit.

If you get stuck, Lowes and Home Depot both have small hammer drills for as little as $60, and somewhat larger hammer drills can be rented fairly cheaply.

[Burt Alcantara]

There's an existing hole that was made by the cable/satellite people. However, it's a little too small. I will check out renting the whole kaboodle as it may end up being cheaper then buying a one-time-use bit.

[Paul Ryan]

I am with Steve on this one. Go an rent a hammer drill, but the time you get through with an ordinary drill there will be ice skating in hell. It will be alot easier on your bit too. Or do like I did go an buy a cordless that uses the same batteries as your current drill. In the end you will have 3-4 batteries and 2 drills and you can add additional tools. A cordless isn't necessary but it comes in handy losing the cord and haveing the extra batteries.

[Jamie Smith]

As Julian said, it will work as long as it's not an SDS shank. Some brick will drill fairly easily with a regular drill, and some will take all day and ruin the drill bit. A hammer drill be 10X faster and easier without the risk of ruining the bit.

If you get stuck, Lowes and Home Depot both have small hammer drills for as little as $60, and somewhat larger hammer drills can be rented fairly cheaply.


I recently had to drill four 1/4" holes in my patio for a railing post. I was using my cordless (non hammer) drill. The bit ended up slipping a bit, and it was taking FOREVER. The fasteners that came with the rail were terrible, so ended up going to HD to buy lag bolts and the shield things, along with a 1/2" bit to fix my screw-up. I also picked up a $99 ridgid corded hammer drill

The hammer drill drilled the four holes, larger in diameter, in less time than the regular drill took for one hole.

Save yourself some grief and borrow, rent, or buy a hammer drill ;)

[Peter Quinn]

I doubt seriously you are going to find a 1" masonry bit that is not some form of SDS chuck in a big box. Maybe, but check that out. You can't chuck an SDS bit in a standard three jaw chuck. Further, I doubt you will have much success or accuracy drilling a 1" hole with a non-percussive drill in any event. A hammer drill "Hammers" rapidly as it spins which makes short work of holes in masonry. Brick tends to be very soft but brittle, you may have some success with a standard drill, or you may not.

My local rental center rents Hilti hammer/chippers that will spin a 1" masonry bit for $35/day, a bit more for the bit. Well worth it even for one hole. I own a hilti and often rent the bits I don't want to own, they are around $7/day for a bit that would cost me $50-$75. For a few holes the rental works for me.

[Bill Houghton]

As I've understood it, hammer drills are conventional drills with an added hammering effect and are useful up to a certain (fractional) size; rotary hammers drill while hammering on the end of the bit, and are useful for larger sizes, as well as little holes.

I bought a rotary hammer from an electrician at a fund-raising rummage sale, and it was one of my better rummage sale buys - just sails through concrete. I even drilled some holes in granite.