My cordless Makita doesn’t want to drill into my concrete garage wall. I’ve got a few tough jobs lined up but I’m defo DIY rather than tradesman. Do I need an SDS drill and will the £99 Bosch one at Screwfix suffice? Or do I just need a new drill bit and patience?

Reccomendations please.

SDS would make life much easier and get an electric one (not battery). My Makita is OK for concrete but normally the Bosch comes out if I’ve got a bit more to do than a couple of small holes.

edit: if you mean this one ( http://www.screwfix.com/p/bosch-2kg-sds-drill-gbh2000-110v/26459 ) then it’s a great drill for the price. That’s basically the newer version of mine..

The 240v one but yep, that’s drill. Are the Bosch drill bits that they sell any good?

Not used Bosch bits. Just don’t buy cheap and they’ll last you. I bought a set with mine (SDS drills/chisels etc) and they have lasted very well..

Put a unit up in my garage and went through 6 masonary bits to drill 4 holes for rawl-plugs… 🙄

Not cheap and nasty either, preformed concrete slabs are tough going even with a good mains hammer drill.

Ouch!

Check out the 5kg Titan Rotary Hammer from Screwfix for £80

It comes with a load of accessories and is absolutely flippin amazing.

I had a 6″ concrete floor with rebar that i needed to make an 18″ hole in. Not quite like a hot knife through butter, but not far off. It drills through concrete lintels as if they were cardboard.

Did i mention it’s flippin amazing?

They do cheaper ones too.

The Bosch drill bits are fine. Mine came with a 5.5, 7 and 8mm all of which lasted me ages with a fair bit of use.

If it’s a pre-formed concrete sectional type garage, then are full of re-bar too. That and the very hard concrete will destroy most drill bits and mean you get no where.

If anybody knows of a bit that’ll do it I’m all ears, no really I’ve the same problem.

screwing into the joints or hanging off of cross members or bolt fixings is the other option

actually these might be what you and I need

I’ve got both Makita and Bosch SDS drills and both make light work of stone/brick/concrete although I’ve never pitted them against re-bars myself. I’ve also got plenty Irwin bits and they seem good so the set 29erKeith has seen ought to do the trick.

Punch me in the face if I’m being stupid, but.

You do have it set to hammer?
The bit is for masonary?
They do drills for concrete, bit dearer than Brick ones.
SDS is just a chuck type.

Thanks for all the info.

Maybe I should try a new drill bit first, then buy a better drill if that fails. Although a customer is dropping me a decent 110 one in.

And yes to the first two Old Git, no to punching you and I’d not actually thought about what SDS meant 🙂

You want to look for a rotary hammer drill rather than a percussion hammer drill if you are doing a lot of concrete work. You do not need to lean heavily on decent drill let the drill do the work. Consider hiring if you can get your work done in one w/e.

a Bosch multi construction bit( blue) will go through without hammer. might take a while, but it will do it. They even go through porcelain tiles

I finally got round to buying a decent drill. I bought a corded Makita SDS thingy for £175 from Wickes including 3 x Drill bits & a chisel.
Literally like a hot knife through butter and the chisel made short work of opening up my fireplace 🙂