3 Drill Hacks For Your Next Home DIY Projects
This week, I put up a shelf and a mirror and swapped the handles on (22 argh) cupboard doors and drawers, so it’s fair to say my drill saw some action!
I thought I’d share some of the hacks and tricks I use when using my drill, that make my life easier, in case they are useful to you too. Safety note: Before drilling into a wall, always use a stud finder first to check there aren’t any wires or pipes in the way.
1. Make a dent first
We’ve all been there, you put your drill bit against the spot on the wall and it slips as you start to drill. To prevent this happening, make a little dent in the designated spot. There are lots of tools that you can use to do this job, but as our walls are (feeble) plasterboard, I’ll often use the round end of a screwdriver handle, or even a pen. Alternatively, you could hammer the end of a nail into the desired spot to make a helpful dent to rest your drill onto.
2. Use masking tape to prevent splitting
There’s nothing worse than drilling into a wall and causing a crack or split in the surface. If you pop a piece of tape over the location and drill through it, it should prevent this from happening. It’s a super quick trick that can save you time and effort later on in repairs.
3. Make mess-catching shelf
I know you can hold a dustpan under the drill to catch any dust, but I personally find it quite hard to drill accurately with one hand, so this quick little trick is super handy and saved lots of mess.
You can use a post-it note if you have one, if not then fold a small piece of paper up to make a little shelf and stick it to the wall, under the location you need to drill, using some masking tape. If you are drilling multiple holes, then you can simply unstick the tape and move it along to the next location.
Et voila! Three handy little tips to help you drill with ease. Let me know in the comments if you use any of these already or plan to after reading this.
On the subject of drilling, I just wrote a post about how to remove a Rawl plug which can be a pain if you don’t know how.
Or you might be interested in my post about Wet n fix pads which fix loose Rawl plugs.
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