Tile Drills used to oversize a hole can be capped off - TilersForums.co.uk | Tile Forums

**365drills** · 16-08-2008

Tile Drills used to oversize a hole to fit service pipes

How to drill a neat hole in a hard or soft tile and cap it off

Whenver you drill a hole in a tile the outcome will be either one of two things for your project

1) The hole is the correct size and the service pipe is a perfect fit.

2) The hole looks oversized. The pipe appears too small. In that case you can cap it off

This is a selection of standard service pipes that you would come across in a project

Our drill kit contains 16mm, 30mm and a 40mm service pipe cutter. As well as 6mm and 8mm for the fixtures and the fittings.

In this shot a raditor pipe is fitted to a tile with a 30mm diamond drill.

The hole looks too big. So a cover plate makes the fitting look neat.

If you use the 16mm diamond drill to cut the hole the results are perfect.

Above are 15mm copper pipes have been fitted into the 16mm hole and look really neat. They need not be capped off.

But cover plates conceal the larger gaps when it is not possible to drill such a small hole.

The main reason that it may not be feasible is because the pipe may already have something fitted to it obstructing the way through like a radiator valve. In that case the 30mm is perfect. Also it may be that you want a certain amount of play in the tile hole so the pipe can move into posistion. A cover plate then hides the gap.

For 15mm cover plates there is a generous 45mm of cover to hide the results of the tile drill behind. So the 30mm diamond drill is a perfect choice. Also we do a 40mm tile drill and yes you can fit that inside the footprint of the cover plate but you get very little clearance at 5mm on the edge. Best to stick with a 30mm.

EXAMPLES

This is a radiator fitted with perfect holes at 16mm so that the pipes are flush with the wall.

Here you see a closeup of the pipes and you can see the 16mm hole is flawless.

In this shot we show you what the pipes would look like if they were fitted with cover plates. You may prefer this look or it may be that the holes require you to fit them. In either case its nice to know that there are solutions.

In this shot the common pipe sizes are laid out as 15mm. 22mm and 32mm next to our drill plate which is 16mm, 30mm and 40mm. The BFKMX covers these service pipes very well.

The contents serve two functions. The smaller drills are for fixtures and fittings. The larger drills are for service pipes.

**365drills** · 05-09-2008

Tile drills for radiator pipes with our kit - By Richard Hazell of 365-Drills

1) Drill a 40mm hole into the tile.

2) Slip radiator pipe WITH the valve over the hole

3) Seat tile down onto grout and press in place

4) The Hole at 40mm looks too big for the pipe.

Slip a pipe cover over to cap off for a perfect result

Main Website for tile drills

**grumpygrouter** · 05-09-2008

If you need to drill an oversize hole because of some additional fitting which can not be removed, how do you get the nice neat cover plate on?

**Dave** · 05-09-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by grumpygrouter

If you need to drill an oversize hole because of some additional fitting which can not be removed, how do you get the nice neat cover plate on?

They come in 2 halves russ and just clip together....

TilingLogistics · 05-09-2008

You can also get them hinged on the inside with snap clips

Another thing I used to do with the actual copper pipe was to use snap on pipe covers they look much neater than bare copper pipe

Kev

**grumpygrouter** · 05-09-2008

Thanks guys, never used or bought any, hence my ignorance.

**365drills** · 05-09-2008

Thats a 15mm cap below.

As Dave says

Its got an interlock clip inside to snap it shut.

Screwfix do the kit for £6.99 per radiator with the chrome pipe sleeves as mentioned by Kev SEE SCREWFIX SITE

TilingLogistics · 05-09-2008

I used to buy them in bags of 10 chrome and white they were cheaper than the kits from screwfix. I used to charge £20 a Rad

Kev

CJ · 05-09-2008

Wickes do these covers in Chrome or white.

**CLAYS TILES** · 05-09-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by grumpygrouter

Thanks guys, never used or bought any, hence my ignorance.

your not on ya own m8!

Fred · 05-09-2008

I get some thing similar from my local plumbers shop.

**365drills** · 06-09-2008

If you do drill holes stick with the 1x40mm from the BFKMX.

Heres why:

We performed a little test ourselves to MINIMISE the hole (and therefore the amount of tile we needed to remove) but found cutting two smaller holes at 30mm made very little difference.

Results:

To the left you can see we removed enough tile to slip the valve through. 2 x 30mm holes were cut so that the hole was an elliptical shape.

On the right you can see the amount of tile saved (shaded in black) when a 40mm crown was placed on top.

As you can tell from that shaded black area the decrease in hole size is so insignificant as to make that particular technique overcomplicated.

Our advice for boring a hole with the simple purpose of bringing through a standard radiator valve on a floor tile is to stick with size 40mm and cap-off with a 45mm cover plate.

The additional benefit is that if the cover plate is lost or broken later then at least the workmanship is neat and tidy with a single hole.