Hi, Marked out some holes for a gate post and they overlap the edge of my patio tiles and the grout. Is this too close for comfort even with a diamond tip drill bit? The holes are to be 8mm with 75mm anka screws. There will be a cover plate. Edit: * Current setup puts the gates hinge post in this spot based on where the wall‑fixed post is now. * I’ve read it’s better for the gates hinge post to be fixed into the concrete slab, not on a post attached to a wall. * I could move the wall‑fixed post to the opposite wall so the freestanding post sits in the centre of a tile. * But because it’s a pool gate, that change would mean the hinges have to be fixed to the wall‑mounted post and I'm concerned about that. Wherever the slab secured post ends up it will also have one panel securing it to the opposite wall as well offering more stability and strength. Tia, Adam

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How to drill through edge of patio tiles near grout for gate post?

Hi,

Marked out some holes for a gate post and they overlap the edge of my patio tiles and the grout. Is this too close for comfort even with a diamond tip drill bit? The holes are to be 8mm with 75mm anka screws.

There will be a cover plate.

Edit:

Current setup puts the gates hinge post in this spot based on where the wall‑fixed post is now.
I’ve read it’s better for the gates hinge post to be fixed into the concrete slab, not on a post attached to a wall.
I could move the wall‑fixed post to the opposite wall so the freestanding post sits in the centre of a tile.
But because it’s a pool gate, that change would mean the hinges have to be fixed to the wall‑mounted post and I'm concerned about that.

Wherever the slab secured post ends up it will also have one panel securing it to the opposite wall as well offering more stability and strength.

Tia, Adam

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JacobZ

Hi @dant,

Drilling that close to the tile edge and grout line definitely increases the risk of chipping or cracking. The tile itself is brittle, and when drilling near the edge it doesn’t take much to blow it out, especially once you start tightening anchors. For this reason, I would definitely be looking at alternatives.

What is the wall made of and how wide is your gate?

A wall mounted hinge post is generally fine as long as it’s solidly fixed into a solid structure like brick, concrete or timber framing, not just render or cladding.

If you were particularly concerned, you could always add additional fixings to the post or use larger and more robust fixings to help transfer the load from the swinging gate into the structure.

Allow me to tag our knowledgable members @Nailbag, @Noyade and @Dave-1 for their thoughts.

Jacob

Nailbag

Hi @dant

I'm 100% with @JacobZ on this one. If the tiles cracks (which they will), then you have already lost integrity of 2 of 4 fixing points for a load bearing pool gate post.

Where possible, I typically will always fix my gate hinge side post to a house wall, unless it's a modern rendered one as that will be render of foam blocks. Everything else and you're good to go.

Nailbag

Dave-1

Good Evening @dant

Im with @JacobZ and @Nailbag with this one, even if you get through the tile drilling wise, as soon as you start to tighten those bolts up I think the tiles will fracture. I would go for a wall mount if possible with the tiles like they are.

Dave

Noyade

Just a cold Sunday morning thought.

Weld up pre-drilled 'legs' to the mounting plate made from gal pipe. With a diamond corer - cut and chisel out the required holes. My thinking, with careful measurements, the plate remains above the tile.

dant

Thanks @JacobZ , @Dave-1 , @Nailbag and @Noyade

I was too impatient and went for it prior to the other responses. It worked and didn't work. Well, it worked but I could have done better. I've posted what i did and what happened below in case anybody asks the same question down the track as I found it difficult to find any info from anybody that actually has tried it.

By going really slow and carefully I was able to drill the holes very cleanly. The ones on the right had already had the masonry bit used to drill to depth for the anka screws. Ones on the left just through the tile at that point.

I braced my drill on the ground to the left of the holes into the grout (rested the battery pack on the ground and lowered the drill from west to east to get the starting point). That is, I went towards the meat of the tile. I went slow, started the holes and then slowly raised my drill to drill vertically down. Stopped every little bit to dip some water on the diamond bit. Once through the tile swapped to the masonry bit to complete.

The next part is where I went a bit wrong and could have stopped to reassess after I realised the error of my ways.

The anka screws required 8mm holes and I had both the diamond bit and masonry bit in 8mm variants. I started with the hole I believed would cause the most issues - bottom right - and started to pre-screw the anka screw just to get it started. Obviously the thread ends up being more than 8mm so the pressure applied when screwing did break up some tile. It was annoying.

In reality, I should have gone and bought a 10m diamond bit and widened the holes a bit so the anka screw didn't start biting until it was in the slab under the tiles. I reckon if I did that (like countersinking into tiles) it would have been okay as the anka screw would have just bit into the slab below and not tried to bite into the tiles themselves.

But I just kept going and went at it slow and the result is below. Not pretty and certainly not professional, which I'm not anyway.

Rightly or wrongly I wasn't overly concerned because I believe that the force of the screws across the baseplate is spread out and I have a cover to deal with the aesthetics.

I proceeded with the rest of the installation and am quite happy with it. Hopefully nothing bad will come of it. You can just see one tiny part of the trouble corner peeking out from under the cap. It seems very solid and I didn't over-torque the anka screws down. The panel to the right adds a lot of rigidity to the whole span.

I was probably also lucky in that when I levelled it all up with some shims the baseplate is raised slightly off those trouble spots. I guess time is going to tell if this was a complete stuff up.

Maybe I should have put the hinges on the wall but you can see the outdoor power point that was in the swing path just on the right (has to swing in). This setup also lines up with a panel on the other side of the brick post and didn't want to have to move that as well if moving the whole setup 30cm forward. Just wanted it done so I can move on to fixing my colorbond gate, then regrouting the pool tiles, then building a patio and ………..I have too much to do and too much kids sport on the weekends.

So, in the end my laziness bit me in the butt a little bit, but it is what it is.

Not a professional job by any stretch but my wife is pretty happy and my son is happy we have the whole back yard to play cricket on with the pitch being the 9m or so of pool area at the back of the yard.

Thanks for the suggestions and reading.

JacobZ

Hi @dant,

Thanks for taking the time to share all of that, we really appreciate the detail.

It’s super helpful seeing someone go through the process step by step, including what worked and what didn’t. There’s not a lot of real-world info out there like this, so it’ll definitely help the next person tackling something similar.

Realistically, with the cover plates in place, the end result looks solid too, and if everyone at home is happy, that’s a win.

Jacob

Dave-1

Good Afternoon @dant

:) It worked, but maybe not to exactly what you wanted. Id be happy with your effort for sure. The cover plate does work well. I do think it will stay secure.

Thank you for posting the result and explanation :) It will help others out for sure.

Dave

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