If you are a DIY junkie who enjoys doing things by yourself, more power to you.
Keeping busy and being useful around the house is an excellent way to exercise the mind and body.
The problem is, doing manual labor isn’t as easy as some may think.
While you can find tools to help make the job easier, not everyone has all the right ones just lying around.
For instance, is it possible to learn how to drill into brick without a hammer drill? Will a regular drill be able to do it?
Can You Use a Regular Drill to Drill into Brick?
A hammer drill is most often preferred to drill into denser and harder materials, but you can use a regular drill too.
However, since you’d be using a regular drill for something it isn’t designed to do, there are precautions to be made.
First, you may need to remove the drill more frequently to get rid of the accumulated dust.
Second, the drill may become overheated sooner rather than later, so you have to cool it off before using it again.
Third, you’ll want to make sure you are using the right kind of drill bit.
Do I Need a Special Drill Bit for Brick?
When drilling through bricks, stones, or concrete, you will need to invest in specific masonry drill bits.
These drill bits are suitable for thermalite or concrete blocks, cement, tiles, bricks, or concrete.
Tungsten-Carbide Masonry Drill Bit
This type of drill is one of the best when doing hardcore drilling tasks because of its durability and strength.
However, it is not unbreakable; it can still break if you hold it at the wrong angle.
Low-Carbon Steel
Less durable but more budget-friendly, low-carbon steel drill bits are mainly used for materials that are not concrete.
This type is also most prone to overheating.
High-Speed Steel
Coated with carbide, diamond powder, and titanium carbon, this stronger type of drill bit has better heat-resistant features.
Because of this, it is more costly than the low-carbon steel types.
For example, titanium nitride is designed to last long and is frequently used for most high-speed bits.
For iron alloys, most drillers use tungsten carbide.
What Is the Difference Between an Impact Drill and a Hammer Drill?
On the one hand, an impact drill or driver is designed mainly for fastening jobs.
It has a higher RPM (revolutions per minute) than a hammer drill and moves in a rotational manner.
This power tool is often interchanged with a cordless screwdriver.
A screwdriver is mainly used for fastening, while an impact drill can handle harder materials like tiles and bricks.
Furthermore, an impact driver has a similar mechanism to a hammer and anvil action.
As the hammer and anvil plates push apart, a significant amount of potential energy is produced before slamming into each other.
This slam produces a considerable amount of torque, and a downward force is produced down to the bit.
On the other hand, a hammer drill vibrates in a back-and-forth motion, allowing drilling into much harder surfaces or materials.
While an impact driver produces a significant torque, a hammer drill has less torque but more forward force.
For this reason, hammer drills are tagged as the right tools for drilling into bricks, stones, concretes, and blocks.
What Can I Use if I Don’t Have a Hammer Drill?
It is always useful to have the force of a hammer drill, but don’t fret if you only have a regular drill driver.
There are ways to work around this if you don’t have that more powerful punching force.
Here’s what you can do if you don’t have a hammer drill:
1. Use your smallest masonry drill bit at first.
The smallest masonry drill bit is the best bit to use to punch through brick and weaken the pilot hole.
Remember that impact drivers are not for punching through extremely hard materials like concrete.
After using a tiny bit, you can now use a wider drill bit.
You’ve already punched through the material, and using a bigger type of drill bit is going to pierce through it.
2. Use a hammer and nail when you encounter blockages.
Do not use the impact drill bit to force your way into the blockage.
What you can do instead is to use a hammer and nail to penetrate the blockage.
3. Remove any excess dust and debris from drilling.
If you think you need an extra set of hands, you can invite another person to vacuum any dust and debris.
Doing this can ensure accuracy and keep you from breathing in dust.
How To Drill into Brick Without a Hammer Drill
If you don’t have a hammer drill, use a regular impact drill to drill into brick.
Again, impact drivers or drills pretty much work the same way as hammer drills.
The only difference is that hammer drills have more force than impact ones, and they can drill through much harder materials.
To drill into brick or mortar, you can make do without a hammer drill by following these four easy steps.
Step 1: Prepare your materials.
As with any project, the first step would be to prepare any and all materials and tools needed.
Here are what you’ll need for drilling into brick:
- Power drill
- Masonry drill bit
- Star drill
- Leveler
- Lump hammer
Choose the right drill size and a masonry drill bit that can handle the density of the brick material.
Set a stopper on the tool to stop at the desired depth and avoid plunging too far into the material.
One of the most common approaches is to use a shaft collar as a physical stop.
Step 2: Use a pencil to mark the hole center.
When drilling into this kind of material, minimize cracking by using a sharp drill bit.
Keep an extra couple of drill bits in case the one you’re using becomes too blunt.
Step 3: Drill a pilot hole and increase the hole size gradually.
Check that the drill you’re using is perpendicular to the brick wall if you plan to drill straight.
This is to ensure that you’re drilling holes at the right angle.
The slower you make the hole, the more likely the brick will survive your attentions.
When using an impact driver or drill, you’d need to remove the drill more often to clear debris from it.
Drilling through any hard material like brick means your drill may get too overworked because of the dense material.
What you can do is use cold water to cool it down. Be careful not to dip the tool into the cold water, though.
What do you do if you get stuck in drilling? The answer is to backtrack or reverse the drill.
Remove dust and other bits and pieces by using air or by pouring water over the material.
Step 4: Seal the openings.
After insertion of a fastener or anchor by a hammer, seal the openings.
Then, you can drill a screw next.
Can You Screw Directly into Brick?
Yes, you can screw directly into the brick. Some people use a screw anchor and a concrete screw.
A tungsten carbide drill bit is usually preferred because of the hard material you have to drill through.
Here are what you need to screw directly into the brick:
Anchor Screw
This type of safety screw is for hanging light to heavy objects on a wall, such as a wall shelf.
The design of the anchor screws (with an extra set of raised threads) prevents the weight of the objects from pulling the shelf from the wall.
Masonry Drill Bit
Drill bits that can drill through concrete, brick, stone, or cement are called masonry bits.
A masonry drill bit has a sharp spade-like tip for working through very hard materials.
The strongest drill bits feature tungsten carbide tips.
In cutting a hole, the sharper the tips are, the more you can prevent cracks from forming.
Safety Measures When Drilling
When doing any DIY project, safety should always be a priority.
These tools produce an extreme force that can cut off a finger or cause severe injuries, and you don’t want to be one of them.
Every time you work, especially with power tools, you should always wear goggles, gloves, and protective earmuffs.
Also, if you’re piercing through cement, wearing a respirator is always helpful against cement dust.
According to this study, cement dust can cause various lung problems, such as asthma, cancer, chronic bronchitis, pneumonia, and tuberculosis.
There are also several things you can do to make sure drilling is safe, including:
1. Use your tools correctly.
Operate your drill using the correct RPM for the diameter of the drill bit and the material you are drilling into.
Putting strain on your drill will heat it up and make it more dangerous for you to operate it.
It might also cause it to malfunction or stop working altogether.
2. Watch out for anything that might snag on the drill.
Loose shirts, jewelry, and long hair are among the most common things that can get tangled on the drill while it’s operating.
When using a drill, it will be a good idea to remove any kind of jewelry, wear short sleeves, and tie your hair up in a ponytail (if you have long hair).
You should also make sure there are no objects around that could get snagged on the drill.
3. Keep yourself secure while drilling against a wall.
If you need to drill into a high part of a brick wall, keep your footing stable and secure.
Avoid standing on unstable surfaces so that you are less likely to lose your balance.
Falling while operating a drill running at 600 RPM is not a fun experience.
4. Properly set the drill bit.
It is your job to ensure that you properly insert the drill bit and tighten it up with the chuck key.
It is very dangerous for the drill bit to come loose as you bore a hole into your brick wall.
What's worse is that it could bounce off the wall and hit your face.
Conclusion
Learning how to drill into brick without a hammer drill doesn’t need to be complicated.
All you have to do is hit the books and do some research.
You can even watch tutorial videos online and see how it’s done in action.
In DIY projects, like everything else, knowledge is power.
By following the tips and tricks presented here, we’re confident you’d be able to finish your project in no time.