How to choose a dowel for a drill: basic rules and features

Repair, ongoing construction work and improvements in the house that occur in every person require careful and accurate implementation according to the rules, even if it is a trifle. Especially when something is done for oneself, one wants the work done to please as long as possible.

This also applies to knowing how to fit a dowel under a drill to create holes. Such questions arise when it is necessary to fix various objects on the wall, for example, furniture, a picture, corners, a profile.

What is a dowel?

Products intended for the implementation of blind mounting surfaces are called dowels. The clutch is carried out in 3 stages:

1. A hole is being drilled.

2. A dowel is installed as an intermediate link in the hole.

3. A fastener (screw, screw, anchor) is screwed or driven into the dowel.

As a rule, a dowel is a plastic or metal cylinder with spacers or presser legs along the outer perimeter.

Before choosing the size of the drill for the dowel, you need to figure out what type of fastening will be, and determine its purpose. The shape of the dowel used also plays an important role.

Types of dowels

The so-called ancestors of modern dowels were wooden corks that were mounted on the walls, screws were screwed into them, thereby creating a reliable fastening. Today the following types of dowels exist:

- expansion of polypropylene - for fastening screws in stone, concrete or brick;

- dowel for drywall (wrapping) of metal or plastic;

- dowel-nail - propylene or nylon, used for non-essential parts, for example, skirting boards, cable channels;

- universal nylon dowel (also called chopped);

- “butterfly” - it can be either metal or plastic, it is used to suspend heavy objects on hollow systems;

- anchor dowel - made of metal, designed for fastening critical and heavy elements. Since we are talking about how to choose a dowel for a drill, it is important to note that the anchor, due to its rigidity, may not enter the hole, since the drill tends to grind;

- dowel-fungus - has an increased height and diameter of the head, is used when installing insulation (mineral wool, polystyrene) on the walls.

Corresponding to the dimensions of the dowel, self-tapping screw and hole

The diameter of the dowel and drill is indicated by a marking on each part. There is a principle according to which the diameter of the dowel must correspond to the diameter of the drill.

It is not difficult to choose a dowel under the drill, while the size of the self-tapping screw should be taken into account. The conformity of sizes is presented in the table below.

Wall Features

Depending on the wall material, the diameters of the dowel and drill may vary:

- in concrete and brick walls they are equal;

- in porous and loose walls, the diameter of the dowel must be 1 mm larger than the diameter of the drill.

Unreliable surfaces (for example, from plaster or a wall in old houses) cannot be drilled with a hammer.

Basic rules for installing dowels

There are some subtleties of work that will allow you to choose the right drill for the dowel. How to observe them:

1. The drill length must be 3 mm longer than the dowel. This is done for a sufficient depth of the hole: it can become clogged with dust or residual material, and then the dowel will not go into it completely.
2. For the convenience of preparing large-diameter holes, you should first use a smaller drill. For example, it is necessary to screw in screws Ø10. Then, to select the dowel for the drill, as can be seen from the table, the hole and part Ø12 are used. The hole is obtained by drilling with a Ø10 drill, then changing it to Ø12. This method allows you to get the desired diameter with smooth edges.
3. For fastening light objects, dowels of small diameter and length should be used, with an increase in the weight and size of objects, the size of the dowel should also increase.
4. When driving a dowel-nail into the wall, a screw should be removed from it.
5. For high-quality and easy drilling, it is better to choose winning drill bits.

Using these simple recommendations, you can easily choose the right option for the dowel under the drill.