Good day, dear authors of the site elektrik-a.su. My name is Alex, and I am your regular reader. I really like your materials, I always read you with pleasure.
Recently I started repairs in the bathroom (I lay tiles on the walls) and was faced with the question of how to make a hole in the tile under the socket. For the first time undertook such work and do not want to spoil the material.
In the bathroom I have two of them: one near the mirror, and the second next to the washing machine. On the advice of a neighbor, he punched out a perforator and a grinder with holes in the wall and buried plastic boxes in them.
One outlet had already been laid with tiles, as this comrade promised to bring a crown, which he did not have as a result. And now I can’t finish the job I started - I don’t know how to cut a hole on an already glued tile and on the rest. Are there any other ways to cut without a crown, as there is no desire to spend 700-1000 rubles for a set.
Thanks in advance!
Justification of this master, they say, there was no special tool, will not pass
Answer to the reader
Welcome, Alexey. We are glad that our resource is of interest to you, since we are really investing our soul in it. We will try to help you with your not so difficult problem. Of course, we are not specialists in finishing, but we know and know something.
- First, let's talk about the already glued tiles. Cutting it from the front side without a crown is smooth, simple, if you know how - otherwise you will get something in the manner of the result on the starting photo. By the way, you don’t have to buy a whole set, because in almost any hardware store there are options sold separately, although you will have to buy a drill for it too.
- The second option is even easier, especially if your tile from the category of budget. It is much easier to buy another tile and make a neat cut in it on the reverse side, which we will talk about later.
- If you still decide to buy the desired nozzle, then proceed as follows. Surely you accurately measured the location of your box before closing it. If not, then you have to definitely shoot.
- Determine the center of the outlet, marking the center point of the circle on the tile surface.
Tip! If the tile is glossy and the pencil does not draw on it, replace it with a marker, or, after wiping it dry, stick a piece of masking tape. Such a measure at the same time reduces the glide of the drill on the gloss at the beginning of drilling.
- Dress the nozzle on the drill, screwdriver or hammer drill (of course in the drilling mode);
- It is very difficult to start drilling precisely, as the drill and strives to “run away” to the side. Here are some tips on how to avoid this.
- The first is to beat out a core or a dowel-nail in this place. Be careful that the tile does not crack.
- The second is to preliminarily take a drill bit for ceramics, which, with ease and precision, will allow cutting the central axis.
- Well, and the third is the find of our Kulibins. Take a square piece of drywall or plywood and make a hole in it, corresponding to the size of the crown. Glue it to the wall on the masking tape, pre-centering. Now you have a guide and you can drill without fear of inaccuracies.
Layfkhak if you cannot center a drill
Here's another trick, how to organize the cooling of the crown with continuous drilling. Take the most ordinary kitchen sponge, moisten it abundantly, and push it inside. By the way, they forgot to say that for a standard hole a crown with a diameter of 73 mm will be required.
As soon as you start drilling, the sponge will begin to cuddle, releasing water, which will immediately cool the cutting surface. Very effective!
Cutting without a crown
If the crown you will not find, the tile will have to cut on the floor. For this we will advise you two methods that can be performed with a drill and a grinder with your own hands. By the way, the first method can be applied on glued tiles.
This is exactly the way we mentioned above:
- To get started, take some solid lining under the tile - drywall and plywood are perfect.
- Place it on a flat surface and make sure that it does not play when pressed. Otherwise, the risk of breaking the tile is high.
- Take the workpiece and mark on it the position of the hole.
- Using a drill bit of any diameter, the price of which in the hardware store will not exceed 50 rubles, drill a lot of holes around the perimeter of the circle. An example can be seen in the following photo.
Drill Bits Near Tile Machining
- As soon as you go through the whole circle, knock it with a metal object - pliers are perfect. Then try to squeeze the central part. Do not overdo it with blows, so as not to split the workpiece - it is best to lay it on a flat surface, propped up on four sides around the hole.
The remaining irregularities are easily selected with pliers or forceps-parrots. No need to worry that the edges do not get perfectly smooth, most importantly, do not get out much beyond the marked boundaries, the rest will hide the decorative cover of the outlet.
Tip! It is very important to work in goggles and gloves, because when the tile crumbles, sharp fragments fly along the sides, which, if they come into contact with eyes, can cause severe injury, protected hands will thank you when the tile bursts right at you.
The second method is a bit more complicated, and requires the ability to handle angle grinders (Bulgarian):
- Insert a small ceramic disk into the machine - it should be smooth on all sides, without chipping or cooling holes.
- Take the tile and lay it on the prepared site face down.
- Make a markup on the back.
- Start cutting through the contours of the circle by tilting the cutting disc in the plane, away from the center of the circle. Be careful not to go beyond its contours.
- Because of the shape of the disc, the slot on the front side will be minimal, while the back end will be cut much stronger. Nothing bad will happen, just when installing this tile, fill all the grooves and slots well with glue.
- In this manner, go through the whole circle. Edges, if necessary, you can also earn extra pliers, putting tile on the installation space.
- There are still some techniques, for example, to make cuts around the circumference in the form of a polyhedron, and cut the central part into slices, but this method is more suitable for large holes. The methods we described are universal. Use!
Another tip
And how is a hole in the tile under the socket, if the cut falls on the seams. The instructions are, in fact, even easier!
After marking, cut the inside of the grinder into thin strips (1 centimeter each), then break out the unnecessary parts with pliers and align the edges, this technique is shown in detail in the presented video. That's all, be careful, careful and everything is with you, Alexey, it will definitely work out.
