Diamond drilling sounds like one job, but on site it splits into several distinct types of work. The barrel, the rig, the angle and the diameter all change depending on what you are drilling and why. Knowing which type a job needs saves time at the survey and stops surprises once the rig is anchored.
This is a plain overview of the main types of diamond drilling and when each one earns its place. It is written from the point of view of the person setting the rig up, not a brochure.
Standard core drilling
The bread and butter is straight core drilling. A diamond-tipped barrel is fed on an anchored rig to cut a clean, round hole through concrete, brick, block or stone. The cut cylinder, the core, comes out in one piece and leaves a smooth-walled bore sized to the millimetre.
This is the type behind most fixings, resin anchors, pipe penetrations and small ducts. Diameters run from around 10mm for a single fixing up to several hundred millimetres for services. If you want the full picture of how this is priced and carried out, our core drilling service page covers it.
Wet and dry core drilling
Within standard coring there is a choice of method: run the barrel with water or run it dry with dust extraction. Wet coring binds the fines in slurry and cools the segments, which suits most concrete work. Dry coring keeps the area clean of water where slurry cannot run.
The two are not interchangeable on every job. The material, the position and what sits below the hole all push you one way or the other. We have set the trade-offs out in full in wet and dry core drilling, which is worth reading before you assume one method covers everything.
Stitch drilling for openings
Sometimes an opening is too large, too thick or too awkwardly placed for a single core or a saw. That is where stitch drilling comes in: a line of overlapping cores drilled edge to edge to form a rectangular or shaped opening.
It is slower than a saw but it reaches where a blade cannot, and it works in tight corners and deep sections. We explain the method in stitch drilling explained, including how the overlaps are set out so the finished edge is clean.
Angled and overhead drilling
Not every hole points straight and level. Balustrade fixings, handrail sockets, drainage falls and soffit penetrations all need the barrel driven at an angle or up into a slab from below.
Angled and overhead work asks more of the anchoring, the water management and the operator, because gravity is no longer helping. The particular care these positions need is covered in angled and overhead core drilling.
Large-diameter and services drilling
At the larger end, cores are drilled for soil pipes, flues, extract ducts and ventilation runs. Getting the diameter right matters here, because a hole that is fractionally too small means a second visit and a hole that is too large weakens the structure and complicates the sealing.
Matching the core to the pipe, flue or duct is its own skill, and we go into it in choosing core drill diameters. This type of work often crosses over with riser and service penetrations through a building.
Drilling through reinforced concrete
Most structural concrete is reinforced, so cutting rebar is part of the job rather than a problem to avoid. A quality barrel will cut through reinforcement, but hitting a dense mat or a post-tension cable blind is a different matter.
That is why scanning and clean setting out sit alongside the drilling itself. The way rebar changes the approach is set out in drilling reinforced concrete, which pairs with our concrete scanning work.
How to pick the right type
The choice comes down to four questions. What are you putting through the hole, and how big is it? What is the material and how thick? What angle does the hole need to sit at? And what is hidden inside the section? Nail those at the survey and the type of drilling picks itself.
Round penetrations get cored. Larger or shaped openings get stitched. Reinforced sections get scanned first. Awkward angles get planned around the anchoring. None of it is guesswork once the material and the purpose are clear.
If you are weighing up a job and are not sure which type it falls under, talk it through with My Diamond Drilling Essex and we will tell you straight which method suits the work and why.