How to Make a Hole in Plasterboard

Drilling drywall is a fundamental operation for several reasons. For example, if you want to insert LED spotlights in the drop ceiling or to add an opening for the air conditioner along a wall. In any case, you must have the right tools and the necessary skills to drill a panel of this useful and flexible material. Drywall, in fact, is made of calcium sulfate dihydrate and cardboard lining. Then there are the models that are flame resistant that have special fire-resistant substances.

It may seem easy to make a hole in drywall being a less hard material compared to other building structures. Certainly it won't be like drilling reinforced concrete or natural stone. In these cases, for example, you need solid bits and percussion drills.

But that's not the point: you need to be able to make a hole in drywall to insert anchors or to create a lighting system. All of this without causing damage and breaking the panels. This is possible by following a series of rules and using the appropriate tools.

Tools to drill this panel?

We've said that drilling a drywall wall or ceiling is a relatively simple operation because the material itself is not very resistant. But it can be damaged in an instant. That's why everything starts with choosing the right equipment. Namely, a quality drill, level, and pencil to mark the exact drilling point, bits suitable for the work to be done.

Actually, it's often claimed that drywall can be drilled with any bit, but it's better to avoid solutions for special materials such as marble or glass. The ideal solution: a quality universal bit like the MultiK by Krino, suitable for plastic, wood, metal, but also light building materials like drywall.

How to drill a drywall wall?

To make a small hole in drywall, for example to insert wall anchors, you need to use a drill with rotary motion and suitable bits. The one I suggested to you, the MultiK, works great: identify the point but make sure there's no framing underneath. You should use a stud finder or cable detector to avoid drilling into metal or pipes.

After verifying this step, identify the exact point and place the drill bit and start drilling slowly. The speed should be steady and not excessive, you don't need to accelerate or apply great pressure to drill well.

Make sure you've engaged the rotary motion, the percussion function is not needed because you're not drilling into a stone wall. Remember that if the bit can't drill through the drywall, it's because there's an obstacle: don't insist or you risk damaging the frame. If you need to enlarge a hole to create the recess for a countersunk screw, you can use specific countersinks compatible with drywall.

How to make a large hole

Often, in a drywall wall, you need holes larger than those a normal drill bit can make. For this, different solutions such as cup mills are used. In these cases we can mention another Krino product, a drill bit with serrated teeth that can work on various materials such as wood, metal sheet, hard plastic, and drywall.

The work necessary to make very large holes, for example for pipes or spotlights, is always the same: you mark the point, check for the presence of any metal frames, start drilling slowly and without pressure. If you don't need to reach particularly large diameters, you can use some wood augers that have blades designed to cut through drywall too.

For diametrically opposite solutions, to make very large holes in drywall, Krino's bimetallic HSS cup saws with variable teeth are what you need to achieve a precise result. Without burrs or risks to the panel.

Can I drill drywall without a drill?

In some cases yes. Drywall is a particularly soft material and you can also make a hole with self-tapping screws and a good cordless drill-driver. If you need to make large holes in the wall, for example to run the air conditioner pipe through, you can use the Krino Kit from 51 to 178 mm that cuts the sheets with precision.