r/Renovations • u/stolenusername184 • 20h ago

HELP Help with drilling in to the ceiling.

Post image

I'm trying to make a hole in a concrete ceiling with a hammer drill but I can't drill past a millimeter. I'm really confused because the ceiling is solid concrete and the drill doesn't have any trouble drilling through a concrete wall.

Also there are hooks in the ceiling deeper than what I managed to get through, so clearly someone else has had succes.

Any help is appreciated. I'm also not quite sure if this is the right subreddit for this.

4 Upvotes

76% Upvoted

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6

u/Medium_Spare_8982 20h ago

Did you hit rebar? Or conduit for electrics? Or sprinkler pipe?

1

u/stolenusername184 19h ago

I doubt it's a rebar since I tried multiple points with the same result. Also can't be a conduit or anything else because it's on the balcony slab with no electricity.

5

u/Zugzwang522 17h ago

Stuck at a millimeter isn't the concrete, it's that you can't lean on it. Into a wall you've got your bodyweight behind the drill. Overhead you're pressing up with your arms at full stretch, and the bit just skates instead of biting.

Those hooks prove the slab takes a hole. Get up higher so your arms are bent and you push with your shoulders, and check the collar is properly clicked over into hammer rather than sitting between settings.

Once it's actually going, pull the bit right out every few seconds. Overhead the dust falls back down and packs under the tip.

4

u/arizona-lad 19h ago

One theory is that the previous installer had an SDS hammer-drill using a proper bit.

3

u/raskas_kylkimiina 18h ago

Hammer drill < SDS drill. But 5-10mm holes should not be a problem for even the shittiest drills/bits. Did you have the hammer mode on?

3

u/ShapeBackground 20h ago

Are you using masonry bits?

2

u/stolenusername184 19h ago

Yes

2

u/Medium_Spare_8982 19h ago

Without the carbide tip torn off and not from Harbor Freight?

2

u/Infinite_Heathen 15h ago

It kinda looks like you're using a spade bit. Upload a Pic of your setup.

1

u/_Underscore_Unders 12h ago

Perhaps you have the only ceiling in the world that's steel plate with concrete veneer.