Granite, and most other types of natural stone, are much more difficult to drill than concrete or metal. Since this rarely needs to be done, most simply do not know how to do it, as well as how to install fasteners into the resulting hole. Let's look at the intricacies of drilling stone.
What you will need:
- carbide drill with diamond coating;
- perforator;
- chemical anchor;
- vacuum cleaner, compressor or brush.
Natural stone drilling process
Drilling is performed with a diamond-coated carbide drill using a hammer drill in percussion drilling mode.
To prevent the drill from sliding to the side at first, you can feel a natural depression in the stone with your finger and rest against it. This will eliminate the need for core punching.
It is best to install a chemical anchor in the stone. For this reason, the hole should be exactly as needed, not deeper. It is advisable to mark the aiming depth on the drill with an duct tape mark so as not to overdo it.
After drilling, it is important to clean the hole from dust, preferably with a vacuum cleaner or by blowing out the dust with a compressor. But if this is not the case, you can clean the hole with a brush.
Next, a chemical anchor is filled into it and the necessary fasteners are installed.
After the composition has set, the bolt or stud can be used at full load. It is risky to use expansion anchors for stone, as it can break.
