The never-ending debate: expansion bits vs. hammer drill for brick (I've got a strong opinion)

I just wrapped up a job downtown where I had to mount six cable boxes on old brick walls, and it got me thinking about this debate that never seems to die. I've always been a hammer drill guy myself (you know, the old rotary kind with a sledgehammer action), but my partner on this job swore by his new fancy expansion bits for the first three holes. Man, those expansion bits were loud as heck and they kept wandering off the mark, leaving these ugly oversized holes that I had to patch with mortar later. I switched back to my trusty Bosch hammer drill with a 1/4-inch carbide bit for the last three, and each hole was clean, straight, and took maybe 20 seconds instead of a minute of fighting. Am I missing something with these expansion bits, or is old school still the way to go for brick work?

3 comments

3 Comments

troy_ross14d ago

I mean, the third hole on my last brick job wandered a full inch and a half off my mark with an expansion bit, so I'm pretty sure those things are designed by someone who's never actually hung anything heavy. Maybe it's just me but it feels like every new tool these days is just solving a problem nobody really had. Like, we've been drilling straight holes with hammer drills for decades and it works fine. Idk, seems like a lot of noise over something that's not that complicated.

fisher.mason14d ago

@troy_ross I had the same problem until I switched to using a smaller pilot bit first before going in with the expansion bit. That let me keep the hole straight and then follow the mark without the bit walking all over. Saved me a lot of frustration on my last job with concrete blocks.

the_kim4d ago

Oh man @troy_ross, pilot bits are my go to for keeping things straight too. I had the same wandering problem until I started drilling a smaller guide hole first and it made a world of difference.