Drilling a hole in tile without cracking the glaze

Last updated 30 October 2026.

Glazed wall tiles in HDB and condo bathrooms are brittle on the face and hard underneath. A masonry bit in hammer mode walks, then stars the glaze, then cracks through. The controlled method is a mark that cannot skate, a bit meant for tile or glass, rotary only until the glaze is through, and then masonry only if the substrate is actually masonry. This is a description of why DIY holes fail. It is not a lesson that invites you to learn on the only spare tile. If you have no spare, a cracked tile is S$80 to S$180 to replace only when a spare or a match exists. Without a match, the crack is the repair you cannot hide.

Listen before you commit. A hollow sound means the tile has left its bed. An anchor there pulls the tile off, and the waterproofing behind a bathroom wall or a wet floor is not something to discover with a screw. The tile page prices injection of four to ten intact hollow tiles at S$350 to S$750, through the grout, without hacking. That is a different visit from a towel bar. In a BTO still inside the period where bathroom tiles should not be hacked, experimenting is how a defects claim dies. Read that restriction before you treat a new bathroom as a practice wall.

Know the services. A shower mixer, a heater outlet and a kitchen backsplash sit near pipes and cables. The glass splashback page prices a diamond hole for a socket in glass at S$160 to S$280 so the faceplate does not stress the glass. That row is glass, not ceramic wall tile. Do not copy it onto a bathroom. A new socket, if you need cable rather than a hole, is an electrician. The dedicated circuit band of S$220 to S$450 applies only when a new circuit is the work. A hole for a bracket is not a circuit.

HDB, condo and landed bathrooms share the glaze problem and not the permission. HDB drilling is weekday daytime if it is noisy. A condo may require registration. A landed bathroom on a timber upper floor is a different substrate again. Tell us the storey. A ground-floor wet area and a maisonette timber wall are not the same anchor. We do not publish a tile-hole tariff. Quote on inspection after a photo of the tile, a tap video if it sounds hollow, and a sentence about what the hole is for.

If the hole is for a grab bar, leave this guide and use the grab-bar page. A first bar you supply is S$65 to S$80. The bar’s fixings are specified by the bar, not by a generic plug from the drawer. If the hole is for a shelf of books, the shelf pages apply and the price is still quote on inspection. If the hole is already cracked because a first attempt failed, send that photo. We would rather replace one tile, when a match exists, than anchor into a star crack.

Homey Furnishing Pte. Ltd. (ACRA UEN 202018148K), 27 Mandai Estate, #06-10 Innovation Place, Singapore 729931, invoices the permit-exempt visit. V On Construction Pte. Ltd. (ACRA UEN 201611708H), on the HDB Directory of Renovation Contractors, invoices hacking, a new layout, windows that are not exempt, and the household shelter. Homey Furnishing is not a MOM-licensed employment agency and does not place helpers, nannies or caregivers.

Stop if you do not have a spare and you are not sure of the substrate.

1. Photograph the tile and the fitting you want to hang.
2. Tap gently. If it booms, do not drill. Send the video.
3. Do not use hammer mode on the glaze.
4. Keep the mark off a valve, a heater and a visible conduit.
5. Ask for quote on inspection. Do not expect a per-hole menu.

HDB bathrooms are small and often waterproofed as a system. A hole in the wrong course is a leak downstairs. Condo bathrooms add the neighbour below as a subsidiary proprietor who will write to the MCST. Landed bathrooms on suspended timber need the joist, not a hope. Say which floor.

Kitchen backsplashes that are ceramic follow this page. Glass follows the splashback page. Stone follows the stone pages. The material is the first word in the message.

A hole is not finished because the screw turned. It is finished when the fitting is tight, the glaze around it is intact, and the substrate took the anchor. Silicone smeared over a star crack is a cover, not a repair. The silicone zone price of S$80 to S$150 is for a mouldy joint that is cut out and resealed, not for disguising a crack.

If the tile must come off, that is the tile page’s cracked-tile sentence or a larger hack. A hack in an HDB bathroom can be a permit and, in a new BTO, a restricted act. V On Construction carries permit work. Homey Furnishing carries the exempt visit. A single careful hole, when the wall allows it, stays the exempt visit and stays quote on inspection.

What a handyman can't do

Permit-exempt fittings stay on the Homey Furnishing invoice. These do not:

• A new cable, a new circuit, or a consumer unit. That is an EMA licensed electrician. A socket on an existing circuit is the S$55 row. A dedicated appliance circuit stays S$220 to S$450.
• A new or relocated water point, or a hacked chase. That is a PUB licensed plumber. Tap labour on the existing outlet is S$55.
• Piped gas. That is a Licensed Gas Service Worker.
• Hacking, a new layout, or the household shelter. That is an HDB renovation permit through V On Construction Pte. Ltd. UEN 201611708H.
• A hole in a fire-rated door that the fire detail does not allow.
• Common-corridor lights, stacks, and letterbox banks. Those follow the town council on the S&CC bill, or the MCST in a condo.

Handyman vs licensed contractor

Questions to ask before you book

• Which published sentence is this, and which page is it on?
• Is the S$55 call-out the whole visit, or is further time at S$45 an hour?
• Are parts included, or am I buying them?
• Who holds the licence if the job is a new cable, a new pipe, or gas?
• Will anyone drill a fire door or the household shelter?
• What will be written down before someone comes?

How to hire

1. Send one photo per task and the block number.
2. Match the reply to a row on the price list. Unmatched work should say quote on inspection.
3. Confirm the scope before the visit. Do not pay a corridor offer that starts with a drill.
4. Keep the town council or MCST for common property.

Company vs freelance

A company visit from this site is an invoice from Homey Furnishing Pte. Ltd. UEN 202018148K for permit-exempt work. The electrician or plumber is named when the law requires that licence. A freelance handyman is a person you hire yourself. Ask the same questions: who invoices, who holds the licence, and whether a fire door will be drilled. This page does not rank freelancers.

Ways to keep the bill smaller

• Put several tasks on one visit. The S$55 call-out is one task. Extra permit-exempt time is S$45 an hour, not a second trip.
• Buy the part when the row is labour only. Tap labour is S$55. Toilet-bowl labour is S$168. Instant-heater labour is S$108 to S$260. Exposed storage-heater labour is S$188 to S$380.
• Send the photos first, so the reply can use a published band instead of a vague hour.

WhatsApp the photos to +65 8561 0630.

These rows are the nearby published jobs. They are not a drilling hourly rate.

Anything not in that table is quote on inspection. A second trade, when the law requires one, is named. It is not folded into a handyman hour.

WhatsApp the photos to +65 8561 0630. The reply uses a band already printed on HomeySG, or it says quote on inspection. It does not invent a third number in the chat.

• Drilling visits
• Tile repair and regrout
• Towel bars on tile
• Grab bars