I bought a home last year and have been trying to put up interior walls inside my shop in the back yard. I built a wood frame and want to secure the frames to the concrete floor using masonry screws. The screws came with a masonry bit but I also bought an additional one just in case. My first hole I drilled went about 1 1/2 inches and since then I am unable to drill further than 3/4" into the concrete in multiple spots using both bits. For the life of me I cannot figure out why it can't go any further. I have tried vacuuming away debris while drilling, using oil in case the tip was getting too hot and just increasing speed and pressure in case I wasn't going fast enough. I don't think I am any where deep enough to hit rebar either.
I am completely stumped. Any tips are greatly appreciated.
Best Answer
You most probably hit a bit of hard stone aggregate in the masonry and you’re using a regular drill and not a hammer drill.
Masonry bits have hardened tips but on hard stone, the tip will just skip and slide if you’re using a regular drill.
A hammer drill adds percussive hammering to the drill so that the hardened tip can break up any aggregate or stones in its way. Hammer drills have gotten quite cheap ($30-$50 for a chinesium corded one) so you should think of buying one.
A rotary hammer which a commenter suggested is a hammer drill on steroids. Bigger, heavier, stronger, and more expensive. Definitely overkill for your purposes but great to have if you’re drilling through hardened concrete, want to make larger or deeper holes, need the chiseling function and so forth.