How to Drill Into Concrete: Tools & Steps

Concrete earns its reputation for strength. It anchors foundations and industrial floors, and lately it shows up bare and polished in high-end apartments for a clean, minimal look. That same hardness turns simple jobs, like hanging a shelf, mounting a TV, or wiring a light fixture, into a fight.

Treat concrete like drywall or wood and you will burn through bits and barely leave a mark. The trick is matching the tool to the material: the right drill, a carbide bit, and a slow, patient technique. Get those three right and a clean anchor hole takes a couple of minutes.

Below is the full method, from the gear you need to a nine-step drilling sequence, plus how to stay safe around silica dust and a live tool near water.

Key Takeaways

Use a hammer drill: A hammer drill (corded or a high-voltage cordless SDS model) pounds as it spins, so it cuts concrete far faster than a standard drill.
Fit a carbide masonry bit: Only a tungsten carbide-tipped masonry bit survives concrete; wood and metal bits dull or shatter on contact.
Clear the hole often: Pull the spinning bit out every 10 to 15 seconds to eject dust, which stops the tip from overheating and jamming.
Guard against silica dust: Wear safety goggles and an N95 mask, and run water or a vacuum, because concrete dust carries hazardous crystalline silica.

In This Article

Regular Drill for Concrete?
Why Use a Hammer Drill?
What You'll Need
Drilling Into Concrete
Drilling New Concrete
FAQs

Can You Use a Regular Drill to Drill Into Concrete?

Sometimes, and it depends on the concrete. A rotary hand drill with a masonry bit can handle softer, decorative concrete, mortar joints, or a single small hole.

For standard poured concrete, though, a regular drill is the slow, painful route. It only spins, so you have to lean on it with your whole body weight. That builds heat fast, which dulls your drill bit and can burn out the drill’s motor before you finish the hole.

Why You Need a Hammer Drill

A hammer drill does the job a rotary drill cannot. Concrete is hard aggregate locked in cement, so it does not peel away like wood shavings.

A hammer drill adds a rapid forward pounding motion on top of the rotation. The tip hammers the concrete into powder while the bit’s flutes lift that powder out. You get through the slab faster and with far less arm strength.

Top Tip

Look for a hammer drill with a variable-speed trigger and a depth stop. A removable side handle matters just as much; it gives you the leverage to hold the drill steady if the bit catches on a stone or a piece of rebar.

What You Need

Gather your supplies before you start. Take the safety gear seriously: concrete dust contains crystalline silica, and OSHA caps worker exposure at 50 micrograms per cubic meter of air over an eight-hour shift because inhaling it is linked to silicosis and lung cancer. Goggles, a mask, and dust control are not optional.

Hammer drill: Ideally a corded model or a high-voltage cordless one.
Masonry bits: Tungsten carbide-tipped bits.
PPE: Safety goggles and an N95 dust mask.
Marking tools: Pencil or masking tape.
Cleaning gear: Vacuum and a can of compressed air.
Hammer: For tapping in anchors.
Center punch: Or a large masonry nail.

How to Drill Into Concrete

1. Mark the Spot

Measure twice and mark your spot with a pencil. Before you drill, scan the wall for hidden pipes or electrical cables with an inexpensive stud-and-wire detector, since hitting either is dangerous and expensive. On rough concrete, stick a square of masking tape over the spot and mark your “X” on the tape so you can actually see it.

2. Set the Depth

Anchors need a specific hole depth. If your drill has a depth-stop bar, set it to the anchor length plus about a quarter inch of clearance for dust. No stop bar? Wrap masking tape around the bit at that depth and drill until the tape reaches the surface.

3. Create a Pilot Divot

Bits love to skate across smooth concrete before they bite. Tap a center punch or a masonry nail with a hammer right on your mark to knock out a small starter chip. That little crater gives the bit a pocket to sit in, so it starts exactly where you want it.

4. Adopt the Stance

Plant your feet shoulder-width apart for a stable base. Hold the drill with both hands, using the auxiliary side handle if it has one, and keep the bit square to the surface at 90 degrees. Expect vibration and a little kickback, so brace yourself before you pull the trigger.

5. Start Slow

Begin at low speed with light pressure. Drill a shallow guide hole in short bursts to lock in the path. Once the bit is past the surface skin, switch on the hammer mode if your drill has a separate setting for it.

6. Drill and Clear

With the path set, raise the speed and press firmly, but let the tool cut instead of forcing it, because leaning too hard is how bits snap.

Every 10 to 15 seconds, draw the spinning bit part way out of the hole. That flushes packed dust up the flutes. Dust left sitting at the bottom traps heat and can cook the carbide tip.

7. Handle Obstructions

A sudden hard stop usually means you have reached a chunk of aggregate (rock) or a steel rebar bar.

Aggregate: Drop a masonry nail into the hole and give it a firm hammer tap to crack the stone, then keep drilling.
Rebar: Metal shavings coming up mean you hit steel. Stop right away and either move the hole over or switch to a rebar-cutter bit. Never force a masonry bit through rebar; you will only wreck the bit.

8. Clean the Hole

At full depth, back the bit out and clear every trace of dust with a vacuum or a blast of compressed air. This step is easy to skip and easy to regret: leftover dust keeps the anchor or screw from gripping the walls of the hole, so it works loose under load.

9. Install Anchors

Set your concrete anchors in the clean hole and tap them flush with a hammer. With the anchor seated, you are ready to drive the screw.

How Soon to Drill Into New Concrete

Fresh pours need time. Concrete keeps hardening for weeks, gaining most of its strength early and the rest slowly.

Wait at least 7 days: By a week, standard concrete has reached roughly 60 to 70 percent of its rated strength, enough for light-duty anchors. Drill sooner and the still-green concrete tends to crumble around the hole.
Wait 28 days for heavy loads: Concrete reaches its full design strength at about 28 days. Give it the whole month before setting structural bolts or heavy-duty anchors.

Rush it and an expanding anchor can crack the soft concrete around it, ruining the grip you drilled for.

FAQs

How Can You Tell if a Drill Bit Is for Concrete?

You can spot a masonry bit by its tip: it has a wide, arrow-shaped tungsten carbide head that sits slightly proud of the shaft. The spiral flutes look like any other bit, but that blunt carbide wedge is the giveaway.

This carbide tip is brazed onto the steel body to crush stone rather than slice it. A sharp point means a wood bit and a slanted chisel edge means a metal bit, and neither belongs in concrete.

Should I Use Water When Drilling Concrete?

Yes, water helps, as long as you manage the electrical risk. It cools the bit so friction heat does not ruin its temper, and it turns silica dust into a harmless slurry instead of an airborne cloud.

The catch is mixing water with a corded drill: water can bypass a tool’s insulation and shock you, so plug into a GFCI outlet, which cuts the power in a fraction of a second if current leaks ⁽¹⁾. Indoors, many people skip the water and have a helper hold a vacuum nozzle at the hole instead.

Can I Use a Wood Drill Bit on Concrete?

No, never use a wood bit on concrete. A wood bit is ground to shave soft fibers, so its cutting edges dull the instant they touch concrete, and the heat that builds up can melt or crack the tip. At best it will not make a hole, and at worst the tip fails and becomes a hazard.

Will a Metal Drill Bit Work on Concrete?

Generally no, a standard metal bit will not work on concrete. High-speed steel and cobalt bits are made to cut metal, not pulverize stone, so they overheat and go dull almost immediately.

The one exception is a multi-material bit rated for masonry. If the package does not specifically list concrete or masonry, keep it out of the slab.

How Do You Drill Into Concrete Without a Blowout?

To avoid a blowout, ease off the pressure as the bit nears the back face of the concrete. A blowout is the crater that forms when the bit punches through and blasts a chunk out of the far side.

When you drill all the way through, clamp a scrap block of wood against the exit side. It backs up the concrete and leaves a clean, neat hole.

Is an Impact Drill the Same as a Hammer Drill?

No, an impact driver and a hammer drill are built for different jobs. A hammer drill drives the bit forward and back in line with the hole to chip masonry, which is what actually bores the hole.

An impact driver instead delivers bursts of rotational torque to drive screws, and it has no forward chiseling action. Use the hammer drill to make the hole, then the impact driver to sink the screw.

What Is an SDS Drill?

An SDS (Slotted Drive System) drill is a heavy-duty rotary hammer built for masonry. Instead of clamping the bit in a toothed chuck, the SDS chuck lets the bit’s shank slide in slots, so it delivers a much harder hammer blow without slipping.

For home use, an SDS-Plus with its 10 mm shank handles anchor holes and general concrete work, while the larger SDS-Max (18 mm shank) is built for demolition and big holes, so it is overkill for most DIY jobs. For a project with many holes, renting an SDS-Plus rotary hammer beats a standard hammer drill on speed and effort.

What Size Drill Bit Do I Need for a Concrete Anchor?

Match the bit to the anchor size printed on the anchor’s packaging, which always lists the exact bit diameter to use. As a rule the bit matches the anchor’s nominal size, because the anchor is built to grip a hole that snug.

Drill the hole slightly deeper than the anchor is long so debris has somewhere to settle, and clear all the dust before you set the anchor.

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