A hammer drill is designed primarily for masonry materials: concrete block, brick, mortar, and stone. It combines spinning with a rapid pulsing action that chips away at hard, brittle surfaces while the bit rotates, making it far more effective than a standard drill on these materials. Most hammer drills handle holes up to 1/2 inch in diameter in lighter masonry, and many models can also function as a regular drill for wood and metal when you switch off the hammering action.
Core Masonry Materials
The bread and butter of a hammer drill is lighter masonry work. Brick, mortar joints, and concrete block (sometimes called cinder block) are the materials where a hammer drill really earns its place in your toolbox. The percussive action, which can reach up to 5,100 blows per minute on some models, pulverizes these relatively soft masonry surfaces while the fluted bit clears the dust out of the hole.
Mortar joints between bricks or blocks are the easiest targets. The material is softer than the surrounding brick, so drilling goes quickly with light pressure. Brick itself requires a bit more patience but is still well within a hammer drill’s capability. Concrete block falls in a similar range, though the denser the block, the slower progress will be. For all three materials, a standard carbide-tipped masonry bit is the right choice.
Poured concrete is where a hammer drill starts to struggle. You can drill small holes in it, but the material is significantly harder and denser than block or brick. If you only need a few small anchor holes in a concrete wall or floor, a hammer drill will get the job done. But for holes larger than 1/2 inch, or if you’re drilling many holes in poured concrete, a rotary hammer is the more efficient tool. Rotary hammers deliver fewer but much more powerful blows per minute, making them better suited to dense concrete and heavy-duty work.
Natural Stone
Stone gets more complicated. Softer stones like limestone and sandstone respond well to a hammer drill with an SDS masonry bit, though you should cool the bit frequently to prevent overheating. Granite, marble, and slate are a different story. These stones are either extremely hard, brittle, or both, and the percussive action of a hammer drill can crack or chip the surface.
If you need to drill into granite or marble, the standard advice is to switch the hammer drill to rotation-only mode (no percussion) and use a diamond-tipped or carbide-tipped bit designed specifically for natural stone. At that point, your hammer drill is functioning as a regular drill. Slow, steady pressure with occasional pauses to cool the bit is the approach that avoids surface damage. For heavy stone drilling, a rotary hammer or a dedicated core drill is typically a better fit.
Wood, Metal, and Plastic
Most hammer drills have a mode selector that lets you turn off the hammering function entirely. In drill-only mode, the tool spins just like a standard drill, which makes it perfectly usable for wood, light metals like aluminum, and plastic. You get smoother, more precise holes without the percussive action splintering or deforming softer materials.
This dual functionality is one of the main selling points of a hammer drill over a dedicated rotary hammer. If you only want to own one drill and you occasionally need to go into masonry, a hammer drill covers both worlds. A rotary hammer, by contrast, is a specialist masonry tool that’s overkill for hanging a shelf bracket in a wood stud.
Keep in mind that hammer drills tend to be heavier than standard drills, so if you’re doing a lot of fine woodworking or driving screws all day, a lighter cordless drill will be more comfortable. But for the homeowner who needs one versatile tool, the hammer drill with its mode switch is a practical choice.
What a Hammer Drill Won’t Do Well
A few materials push past a hammer drill’s comfort zone. Reinforced concrete with rebar inside requires specialized SDS-Plus bits with full carbide heads, and even then, a rotary hammer is the preferred tool. Thick poured concrete foundations, structural slabs, and dense engineered stone (like some countertop materials) are also better left to heavier equipment.
Ceramic and porcelain tile present a similar challenge to granite. The hammering action will crack the tile. If you need to drill through tile, switch to rotation-only mode and use a diamond or carbide bit designed for tile and glass.
Choosing the Right Bit
The bit matters as much as the drill. For brick, mortar, and concrete block, a standard carbide-tipped masonry bit is all you need. These bits have a wider, blunt tip made of tungsten carbide that withstands the repeated impacts without chipping. For harder stone, look for bits specifically labeled for natural stone or granite, which typically have more aggressive carbide or diamond tips.
For wood, swap to a standard twist bit or spade bit. For metal, use a high-speed steel (HSS) bit. In both cases, make sure the hammer function is off. Using a masonry bit on wood or a wood bit in hammer mode on brick will give you poor results and wear out your bits quickly.
Dust and Safety Considerations
Drilling into any masonry material produces fine silica dust, which is a serious health hazard with repeated exposure. OSHA sets the permissible exposure limit for respirable crystalline silica at 50 micrograms per cubic meter over an eight-hour period, and even half that level triggers additional monitoring requirements. For handheld hammer drills, the recommended control method is a dust collection shroud attached to the drill with a HEPA-filtered vacuum system. At minimum, wear a properly fitted respirator rated for fine particulate when drilling into concrete, brick, or stone, and work in a well-ventilated area. A few anchor holes for a TV mount won’t produce the same exposure as a day of commercial drilling, but the dust is harmful regardless of the volume, so protection is always worth the effort.