Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

  • Shop Our Houses
    • Our Current House
    • Our Richmond House
    • Our Beach House
    • Our Duplex
  • Before & Afters
    • Our Current House
    • Our Previous House
    • Our Beach House
    • Our Duplex
    • Our First House
    • Our Second House
    • Our Showhouse
  • DIY & Decorating Tips
    • Most Popular
    • Home Improvement
    • Painting
    • Cleaning & Organizing
    • Crafting & Art
    • More . . .
  • Painting Projects
  • Plants Guides
  • Shop
    • Our Fav Home Finds
    • Our Lighting Line
    • Our Books
    • Book Club Picks
    • Black-Owned Businesses

Young House Love » Home Improvement » How To Drill Through Tile

| By John Petersik | February 19, 2020 |

How To Drill Through Tile

One challenge when building the floating shelves in our duplex kitchens was drilling through the tile backsplash. After all, we had just spent a lot of time and money installing all of this beautiful tile. We didn’t want to mess it up! Was it a little scary? Yes. But is it totally doable? Also yes. Let’s talk about it.

Wood Askersund Ikea Cabinets With Blue Tile Backsplash
wood cabinets | white cabinets | tile | counters | fridge | range | pendant | faucet | hardware | walls: SW Spare White | trim: SW Extra White

Ideally, we would’ve hung our shelf supports before tiling. Buuuuuut we weren’t seeing eye-to-eye about where to (or even *if* to) hang shelves. Luckily we resolved our stalemate shortly after tiling (I won’t bother you with who was right… but let’s just that person is very handsome and very humble). We decided to install a chunkier version of these DIY floating shelves that we built for our bonus room.

Tools Need To Drill Through Tile

Holes In Tile Backsplash Where Shelf Support Bracket Is Being Placed

You will need some special equipment to successfully drill through your backsplash without damaging your tile. Here’s what you should have on hand.

  • Power drill
  • Various sizes of tile drill bits
  • Water delivery system guide (optional)
  • Water cup
  • Painter’s tape
  • Paper towels
  • Spare tile (optional)

And our #1 tip for this project: take your time! The process is slow and doesn’t reward rushing. So maybe I should add “patience” to that supply list above.

Step 1: Mark Your Drilling Locations

This isn’t technically part of the drilling process, but it’s a vital first step. Drilling a hole in your tile is can be slow going (it took about 5-7 minutes per hole) so do whatever prep necessary to ensure you’re working in the right spot. For us, this first meant finding studs behind our walls since we were hanging floating storage shelves.

Pink Tile Bar Patterned Tile Installed In Blue Ikea Kitchen With Exposed Chimney
blue cabinets |white cabinets | tile | counters | pendant | faucet | hardware | walls: SW Spare White | trim: SW Extra White

This took a bit of detective work on our part because our wall was already tiled and our stud finder didn’t work through the thick porcelain material. We used photos during our renovation and some careful measuring to identify where the studs were. Things like the location of outlets and drywall mud marks were useful clues.

Unfinished Drywall In Duplex Renovation With Kitchen In Background

Beyond locating studs, It was also important to pick the right shelf height. We held things up (which involved some flatting squatting) until we liked the look.

Man Holding Up Shelf Support Brackets Against Tile Backsplash

Once we knew the general height (and had check it for level) we marked the precise drilling location by (1) placing blue painter’s tape at each stud and (2) drilling lightly through our shelf bracket with a small, standard drill bit.

Man Drilling Through Tile Backsplash With Wood Support Bracket Held Up

This left a small mark on the tape to indicate where we should drill our pilot hole. And forgive the tile color changing. We performed this process in both sides of our duplex, so photos may jump from one kitchen to another.

Marked Hole On Tile For Drilling Into

With our precise drilling locations marked, we could officially move to the next step.

Step 2: Buy The Right Bit

Drilling through tile requires a drill bit that is specially designed for tile. Unlike traditional drill bits that stab through softer materials like wood, a diamond bit slowly grinds as it spins. Our tiles are porcelain, but these types of bits also work on other tile materials like ceramic, cement, or glass. Just make sure your material is listed on the packaging. We bought this diamond drill bit kit as well as these carbide glass & tile bits too. I ended up using a combination of both so I’m glad I grabbed them all.

Diamond Drill Bit Kits For Drilling Hole In Tile

Diamond bits have a tendency to wear down quickly and become less effective over time, so you may want to purchase extras if you plan on drilling lots and lots of holes.

Step 3: Make A Practice Hole (Optional)

Before taking any of them to our pretty tiled wall, we tested them on a spare tile first. They both worked just fine (nothing cracked – woot!) so it was a nice reassurance before continuing. I highly recommend it.

Small Text Hole Drilled Through Spare Tile

If you don’t have a spare tile handy, you can purchase one (or one made from a similar material) at the home improvement store.

Step 4: Make A Marking Hole

To make sure we didn’t lose track of our marked locations, we first used the small carbide bit to make a small dent through the painters tape. My original mark was very superficial. Slowly and with minimal pressure, I drilled through the tape.

Drilling Through Tile Backsplash Using Marked Spot With Painters Tpae

I’m not kidding when I say I was just aiming for a small dent.

Small Pilot Hole Marked For Drilling Through Tile Backsplash

It wasn’t much, but it was enough that I could remove all of my tape and move on to a larger drill bit.

Step 5: Use A Water Delivery System

Water is another key ingredient in this process. The drilling / grinding process creates dust and heat, which can stress both your tile and your drill bit. So water helps control the dust AND cool your drill bit. This helps keep your tile and bit from breaking prematurely.

We had high hopes for this water delivery system contraption we’d bought for this project. You stick these plastic boxes over your tile and drill through them. The water from the clear box on top is supposed to slowly drip through the hole and over the diamond bit as you drill and then collect in the bottom box.

Water Delivery System For Drilling Through Tile Backsplash

Maybe I did it wrong (although the reviews tell me it’s not an isolated issue) but the water drained almost instantly to the lower box, so the promise of a “slow cooling drip” was a bust.

However, the kit was still helpful because the boxes acted as a steady guide that kept my drill bit in place. So once I’d gotten a good start, I removed the box contraption and continued without it.

Diamond Drill Bit Making Small Hole In Tile Backsplash

Ultimately I relied on my own “water delivery system,” which was just a cup of cool water that I dipped my bit into every 15-20 seconds or so.

Dipping Drill Bit Into Cup of Water While Drilling Through Tile

It wasn’t very fancy, but it did the trick!

Step 6: Take Your Time

I know we said it already, but this process is about patience, not pressure. The grinding process is slow, but with minimal force you’ll be able to slowly drill through your tile backsplash. Again, it took us about 5-7 minutes per hole, which meant over an hour of drilling in total. Our attitude was that it was better to use our time being careful drilling than replacing a broken tile.

Holes In Tile Backsplash Where Shelf Support Bracket Is Being Placed

We were just grateful the process worked as well as it did and we didn’t end up with any cracked or broken tiles. We finished building our floating kitchen shelves and hung them securely to each wall.

Wood Floating Kitchen Shelf Against Pink Patterned Tile Backsplash

And obviously we were just making small 5/16″ size holes to screw through, but a similar process does work for larger holes – like for bathroom plumbing fixtures.

View Into Pink Mudroom From Blue Kitchen Pocket Doors Closed

When drilling larger holes, just be sure to purchase the right size tile drill bit for your job. Many even come with water delivery systems too. Just be sure – say it with me! – to take your time. :)

*This post contains affiliate links, so we may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on our site at no additional cost to you.

More posts from Young House Love

Filed Under: Home Improvement, Our Duplex

#162: What Sherry’s Not Buying For An Entire Year
#163: Our Next Big Project (It’s REALLY BIG)

Stuff We Love

John and Sherry Sitting On Woven ChairHey, we’re John & Sherry. We’ve fixed up 7 homes, written books, designed products, started a podcast, and then downsized & moved to the beach! Here you’ll find over 3,000 DIY projects & home updates. More about us…
*This site contains ads and affiliate links*
See our disclaimer & privacy policy to learn more

Latest Finds

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

SHOP OUR LIGHTING

Young House Love Shades Of Light Capiz Chandelier

GET POSTS BY EMAIL

We’re Digging

Traditional Rug
The “Magic” Rug
Smokeless Solo Stove Firepit
Smokeless Firepit
Outdoor Solar LED Path Lights
Solar Path Lights
Criss Cross Office Chair
Our Desk Chair
Blue Air 211 Air Purifier
Our Air Purifiers
Eufy 11S Max Robot Vacuum
Our Robot Vacuum
Kohler Memoirs Toilet
Our Favorite Toilet
Livable Luxe Book
Fav Design Book
SEE MORE OF OUR FAVORITE FINDS > >

  • About
  • FAQs
  • Press
  • Contact
  • :)

© 2025 Young House Love ® · Disclaimer · Privacy Policy · Terms of Use · A Fun Wordpress theme on Genesis Framework · Hosted by Liquid Web