Drilling wood is fairly straightforward but harder material such as concrete is a completely different story. First you need to have the right tools, a hammer drill and special drill bits for masonry drilling. But even with the right equipment you still need to know what you are doing. Here are some basic drilling guidelines for concrete.

Drilling into hard materials, such as masonry and concrete, requires special tools. It is not absolutely necessary to use a hammer drill but a hammer drill is highly recommended. Drilling in hard materials is tough work, a drill with hammering action will do most of the hard work for you. A standard drill on the other hand has to work very hard and you may overheat the motor of the drill. That said, also cheap hammer drills may have trouble with concrete.

Note that if you are going to drill large holes, larger than half an inch in diameter, into concrete, a hammer drill may not be good enough. You need a rotary hammer instead. Rotary hammers are fairly expensive so you may prefer to rent rather than buying a rotary hammer. Of course, the rotary hammer can also be used to drill small holes in hard materials as well. Some rotary hammers also have a chipping function.

You need good drill bits for concrete. Standard twist bits, made of HSS steel, are seldom good enough. Special masonry bits are much better. Typically they have a tip made of tungsten carbide or durium while the body is made of steel.

Concrete drilling must be done slowly. Fortunately, the hammering action will help you so you don’t need to push hard against the drill. You need to withdraw the bit from the hole once in a while to remove the concrete dust. Since the drilling will take some time, make sure that your position is comfortable. If you hold the drill too high, you may not be able to hold on to the drill. The hammering action also makes it tougher to handle a hammer drill than a normal drill. It is much easier to drill into mortar than concrete, so if you can choose drill the hole in mortar rather than concrete.

Note that you should use safety goggles when drilling in concrete. It will be dusty so a vacuum cleaner can be handy afterwards. If you are doing a lot of concrete drilling you may want to use a dust mask. Beware that the drill bit will get very hot so don’t touch it for a while after the drilling is finished. If you want to change bits, wear gloves.