How to drill into tile without cracking it

Tile does not crack because drilling tile is impossible. It cracks for three specific reasons: the wrong bit, hammer mode left on, and speed. Get those right and a glazed wall gives you a clean hole for a towel bar, a mirror, or a shower door in under a minute per hole. This page covers the bit choice for ceramic versus porcelain, the speeds that work, the tape-and-dimple starting method, water cooling, whether to aim for grout or the middle of the tile, and the specifics of the common jobs: backsplashes, floors, shower walls, mirrors, and shower doors and rods.

First decision: the bit

Standard twist bits and ordinary masonry bits are the wrong tools here. A twist bit skates on the glaze and overheats; a masonry bit is built to survive percussion in concrete, not to score a brittle glazed surface, and will chip or crack tile. The bits that work, confirmed independently by DeFusco's tile drilling guide, D and G Flooring, and Fine Power Tools' tile vs masonry bit comparison:

One more bit-family note: a tile bit's shaft is smooth with a spear tip, while a masonry bit has spiral flutes and a chisel-edge tip. The geometry difference and why they are not interchangeable is covered from the tool side in our drill bits by material guide.

The setting that cracks tile: hammer mode off

If your drill has a hammer setting, it was probably still engaged from the last masonry hole you drilled. Hammer action hammers the bit forward thousands of times a minute, which is exactly what brittle glaze cannot take: the tile fractures along lines you did not choose. Every source on this page says the same thing in the same words: rotary only, hammer off. The mechanics of what hammer mode actually does, and what it is for, are explained in hammer drill vs regular drill.

What speed to use

Sources agree on the shape of the answer even where the exact numbers differ: start very slow, speed up only once the bit has bitten, and stay slower for porcelain than ceramic. The most commonly quoted figures, from DeFusco and D and G Flooring:

PhaseCeramicPorcelain
Starting the hole (until the dimple is set)100 to 300 RPM100 to 300 RPM
Drilling through the body400 to 600 RPMStay low; some diamond bit makers allow 300 to 600 RPM max
Breaking through the backDrop back to entry speedDrop back to entry speed

On a cordless drill you control this with trigger pressure; if your drill also has a two-speed gearbox, use low gear. If the variable-speed side of your drill is a mystery, the clutch and gearing background in torque settings explained covers it.

Step by step

  1. Mark the spot. Measure and mark with a marker. Aim for the middle of a tile, at least 1/2 in (about 15 mm) away from any edge or corner: tile is weakest near edges, a point made with matching numbers by D and G Flooring and GoTiles. Check what is behind the wall: pipes and cables live in shower and bathroom walls.
  2. Tape it. Put a cross of painter's tape over the mark and re-mark the center on the tape. The tape stops the bit skating across the glaze and reduces chipping around the hole edge. This is the single most repeated tip across every guide.
  3. Make the dent. With the drill at its slowest speed, hold the bit at a slight angle (5 to 10 degrees off perpendicular) until the tip bites, then square up to 90 degrees and cut a shallow dimple about 1/8 in deep before adding any pressure. An alternative some pros prefer: tap a starter divot with the bit held by hand and a light hammer tap, then drill into the divot.
  4. Drill the body. Light, steady pressure: the weight of your hands plus the drill, no more. Pushing hard stalls the grinding action, builds heat, and cracks tile from the inside. Let the bit cut at its own pace.
  5. Keep it cool. Water every 15 to 20 seconds on ceramic, close to continuously on porcelain: a spray bottle, a wet sponge held above the bit, or a putty dam holding a small puddle at the hole. Heat ruins bits and stresses the tile. If the bit smokes or the tile is hot to touch, you are going too fast or too dry.
  6. Ease the breakthrough. When resistance drops you are through the tile into the wall behind. Slow down: punching through at speed blows out chipboard, drywall, or the back of the tile.
  7. Swap bits for the wall. Once through, change to the right bit for the substrate, a masonry bit for brick or block, a twist bit for wood stud, as Homebuilding's tile guide and GoTiles both instruct. The tile bit is only for the tile.

Grout or the glazed tile?

Two schools, both defensible. The mainstream rule is to drill the middle of the tile and stay off the edges, because edges and corners are where cracks start. The counter-argument, laid out well by Home DIY Pilot and echoed by trade forum threads: grout is far softer and more forgiving than tile, and a hole in a grout joint is repairable, you rake it out and re-grout, while a hole in a tile is permanent unless you have a spare. Grout lines will not always land where your fixture needs them, and a fixing that straddles the joint between two tiles is the worst of both worlds because it loads both edges. The practical rule: if the layout gives you a choice, the center of a large tile is the default; a grout line dead center under a bracket is a reasonable alternative, especially for renters; never straddle a joint.

Whichever you drill, the anchor logic is the same. Drill slightly deeper than the plug needs so the plug seats in the substrate behind the tile rather than bottoming out inside the tile thickness: a plug expanding inside brittle tile is a slow-motion crack. And snug the screw, do not crank it; the tile is the finish, not the structure.

The common jobs

Quick answers

Related guides

Also on this site: which drill bit for which material for the full bit-family picture, hammer drill vs regular drill before you lean on that mode selector, drill torque settings explained for speed and clutch control on the tool itself, and the drill speed chart for RPM targets across every other material.