How to Mount a Wall Sconce on a Tile or Brick Wall

To mount a wall sconce on tile, drill the tile itself with a diamond or carbide-tipped bit at slow speed with the hammer action switched off, then change bits for whatever sits behind it: a 0.156 in (4 mm) masonry hole takes a 0.1875 in (4.76 mm) Tapcon in brick, and a 0.5 in (12.7 mm) hole takes a toggle bolt in tile over drywall. The habit that stops cracks is to drill the tile body, not the grout, and to let the bit grind its way through rather than leaning on it.

The sconce this was written around is the Houseland globe vanity sconce, which stands 5.1 in (13 cm) tall, reaches 6.7 in (17 cm) from the wall and hardwires to a standard wall box, so the whole job is a wire hole plus 2 screw holes. Below: what holds the screw behind tile and brick, the drilling steps with a check at each, the anchor for each wall, and the silicone detail for a bathroom wall.

What is behind a tile or brick wall, and what holds the screw?

Tile holds nothing; the screw holds in the drywall, cement board, stud, brick or block behind it, so the wall build-up decides the bit and the anchor before you touch a drill. Wikipedia's cement board entry describes the board as Portland cement with glass-fibre mesh, screwed to wood or steel studs as the substrate for vertical tile, and notes that it must be cut with carbide-tipped tools and is hard enough that pre-drilling fasteners is often recommended. Behind either board, the wall stud entry puts US studs at 16 in (41 cm) on centre, sometimes 24 in (61 cm), which is the one place a plain wood screw is enough.

Brick is a different animal. The Wikipedia brick entry gives the US modular brick as 7.625 by 3.625 by 2.25 in (194 by 92 by 57 mm) with a standard 0.375 in (9.5 mm) mortar joint, and it classes bricks as solid, perforated or hollow, where hollow means the cores remove more than 25% of the volume. A hollow brick is why a masonry bit sometimes drops into nothing halfway through. Porcelain tile is the other surprise: the porcelain tile entry defines it by water absorption under 0.5% and calls it significantly harder than other ceramic tile, and the Mohs scale entry lists porcelain at 7, glass at 5.5 and diamond at 10.

The toggle numbers come from the Toggler Snaptoggle page, which lists tile over drywall and concrete block among its base materials, states 238 lb in 0.5 in (12.7 mm) drywall and 802 lb in concrete, and notes that its 0.25 in (6.35 mm) bolt needs a 0.5 in (12.7 mm) hole where a wing toggle needs 0.75 in (19 mm). The Tapcon sizes come from Confast's Tapcon page, which names a light fixture on brick as a typical use.

How do you drill through tile without cracking it?

Slowly, with the right bit, with water, and with the hammer locked off. Six steps and a check at each.

1. Mark the hole on a cross of masking tape, at least 1 in (25 mm) from any grout line so the bit sits on solid glaze. The tape gives the tip something to bite and protects the glaze around the rim. Check: the mark sits on tile body, not on a tile edge.
2. Pick the bit by tile hardness. Wikipedia's drill bit entry describes glass bits as a spade-shaped carbide point that runs hot and has a short life, drilled at low speed through a succession of increasing sizes, and diamond bits as lasting far longer and usually needing water cooling. For glazed ceramic a carbide spear point works; for porcelain, which the Mohs entry puts at 7 against 5.5 for glass, use a diamond core bit from the start. Drilax, which sells them, says plainly to use water cooling for best results.
3. Turn the hammer off. The hammer drill entry explains that the mode punches the bit in and out thousands of times a minute to pulverise brick, which is exactly what shatters a glazed tile, and that almost every hammer drill has a lever to lock the hammer clutch off. Check: the drill runs smooth and quiet before it touches the tile.
4. Start the hole at a low angle so the bit scores a crescent, then bring it upright once the crescent holds the tip. Run the lowest speed the drill has and keep the tile wet with a squeeze bottle or a sponge held against the bit; steam or a burnt smell means too fast or too dry. Check: white slurry, not white dust, is coming out of the hole.
5. Feel for the drop. The moment the bit loses resistance it is through the tile, and the bit now has to change to suit the wall: a twist bit for drywall, a carbide masonry bit with the hammer still off for cement board, and the hammer on only once the tile is fully behind the bit in brick or block.
6. Blow or vacuum the dust out, then test-fit the anchor dry. Check: the rim of the hole is clean with no spider cracks, and the anchor enters without forcing.

The reason to avoid the grout line is in the grout entry: tile grout is Portland cement and sand that hardens by drying, weaker than the fired tile on either side and a path for water once pierced. A hole in a 0.125 in (3.2 mm) joint also lands the bit half on a tile edge, which is where chips start.

How do you mount a wall sconce on tile over a hollow wall?

On the electrical box first, and on toggle anchors through the tile only where the bracket needs holes the box cannot give it.

1. Switch the circuit off at the breaker and prove it dead with a non-contact tester at the wire ends. The free IRC chapter 39 mirror on up.codes, section E3905.1, requires a box at every outlet and splice point, so wires poking out of a bare hole in the tile mean a box installation first, and that part is worth an electrician.
2. Hold the sconce bracket to the box and mark. Section E3905.6.1 of the same chapter says a box on a vertical surface must be marked inside if it holds other than 50 lb (22.7 kg), and its exception allows a luminaire of not more than 6 lb (2.7 kg) on other boxes or plaster rings provided it is fixed with 2 No. 6 or larger screws.
3. Where the bracket slots miss the box ears, drill the extra holes through the tile as above and finish with a 0.5 in (12.7 mm) hole into the drywall for a 0.25 in (6.35 mm) Snaptoggle. Toggler asks for 1.875 in (47.6 mm) of clearance behind the wall for the channel to swing, so check the cavity with a bent wire before buying the anchor.
4. Wire it: black to the sconce's live, white to neutral, bare or green to ground, each pair in a wire connector, folded back into the box. The Houseland sconce accepts AC 110-240V and takes a standard US E26 bulb in its E27 socket, so there is nothing to convert.
5. Tighten the bracket screws until the backplate sits flat on the glaze without rocking, then fit the body. Check: the head swivels without the backplate shifting, and the bulb lights when the breaker goes back on.

Where the sconce sits matters as much as how it is fixed: the numbers for 2 lights beside a mirror are in the guide to how many lumens a wall sconce puts out, and if the globe will be at eye level, why you can see the bare bulb from bed explains the frosted-bulb fix before you drill.

From the shop

Vanity Sconce with Exposed Globe Bulb, Adjustable Iron Wall Lamp, 5 Colors

Stands 5.1 in (13 cm) tall and reaches 6.7 in (17 cm) from the wall, hardwires to a standard wall box on AC 110-240V with no visible cord, and its E27 socket takes a standard US E26 bulb; the cone head swivels to aim the light.

View the globe vanity sconce — 10 colourways & current price

How do you fix the sconce to solid brick or block?

With Tapcon concrete screws in a hole drilled one size under the screw, into the brick body, with the hammer on.

1. Choose brick over mortar. Confast's rule of thumb is that the harder the base material, the better the holding values, and a 0.375 in (9.5 mm) mortar joint is too narrow to guarantee the hole stays inside it anyway. If the sconce position lands on a joint, move it by half a brick, which is 3.8 in (9.7 cm) on a modular course.
2. Match the bit to the screw: a 0.156 in (4 mm) carbide bit for the 0.1875 in (4.76 mm) Tapcon, a 0.1875 in (4.76 mm) bit for the 0.25 in (6.35 mm) Tapcon. Confast calls the standard blue screw a light-duty anchor for dry indoor use, which is exactly a sconce bracket.
3. Drill with the hammer on, deeper than the screw will reach so it cannot bottom out. Confast sets the embedment at a minimum of 1 in (25.4 mm) and a maximum of 1.75 in (44.45 mm), and the screw length is the bracket thickness plus that embedment, so a 1.25 in (31.8 mm) screw covers a thin steel bracket.
4. Blow the dust out, drive the screw with a driver on low, and finish the last few turns by hand so the threads it taps do not strip. Check: the head pulls the bracket tight and does not keep turning.
5. If the bit dropped into a void, the brick is cored or the block is hollow. Do not fit a Tapcon there; put a toggle through the shell instead, and never remove a Tapcon and put it back in the same hole, because Confast warns the holding value can fall to zero.

Cable is the other brick problem, since a bare wall rarely has a box waiting. A switched feed in surface conduit to a box screwed to the brick is the usual answer; if no feed exists at all, the piece on lighting a dark corner without wiring covers the plug-in and battery routes that avoid the drilling entirely.

Does a bathroom tile wall need sealing around the sconce?

Yes on any wall that sees steam, and the seal goes around the backplate and the hole, not inside the box. The IRC chapter 40 mirror, section E4003.9, requires luminaires in damp or wet locations to be installed so water cannot enter or accumulate in wiring compartments, and section E4003.11 draws the zone 3 ft (914 mm) horizontally and 8 ft (2438 mm) vertically from a tub rim or shower threshold where a fitting must carry a damp or wet marking. The Houseland sconce is sold for dry bathroom walls beside a mirror, not for inside that zone or anywhere it would be splashed, so the sealing is about condensation, not spray.

• Use 100% silicone, not acrylic caulk. GE's kitchen and bath silicone pages list a 30-minute water-ready time and mould-free product protection of 7 to lifetime years depending on the grade, and GE's shower guide says most sealants still need 24 hours to cure fully.
• Run a thin bead around the wire hole and any anchor hole before the bracket goes on, and a bead along the top and sides of the backplate after it is tightened. Leave the bottom edge open so any moisture that does get behind the plate can drain out.
• Cut the nozzle at 45 degrees and smooth the bead with a wet finger, not a soapy one; GE's guide warns soap affects the sealant's integrity.
• Let the wall dry first: silicone will not stick to tile that still carries drilling slurry.

The socket is the part to keep dry, and the product page's own care note is to keep moisture away from it and wipe the painted iron with a dry cloth. That is a reason to run the extractor fan, not a reason to caulk the fitting shut.

What I'd do

Buy the bit before the sconce arrives: a diamond core bit for porcelain, a carbide spear point for glazed ceramic, and a 0.156 in (4 mm) carbide masonry bit for brick.

• Find what is behind the tile by tapping and by checking the cavity through the wire hole with a bent coat hanger; a hollow ring and 1.875 in (47.6 mm) of space means toggles, a solid thud means masonry and Tapcons.
• Tape the spot, drill the tile wet at the slowest speed with the hammer off, and change bits the moment the tip drops through.
• On brick, aim for the brick body, drill 0.25 in (6.35 mm) deeper than the screw, and turn the last threads by hand.
• Silicone the holes and the top edge of the backplate on a bathroom wall, then leave it 24 hours before the first hot shower.

Every sconce in the Houseland wall lamps collection hardwires to a standard box the same way, so the bit table above is the only part that changes from wall to wall.

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