I am just about to have my first attempt at fixing porcelain tiles (600mm x
300m ones). Has anybody got any tips which may be useful?

I have bought a decent diamond saw for cutting and I am expecting major
problems when it come to cutting around pipes etc. or drilling holes for
bathroom fittings.

I also understand that I need special adhesive.

KW

Bilbo Baggins wrote:
I am just about to have my first attempt at fixing porcelain tiles (600mm x
300m ones). Has anybody got any tips which may be useful?

I have bought a decent diamond saw for cutting and I am expecting major
problems when it come to cutting around pipes etc. or drilling holes for
bathroom fittings.

Yes, they are tough. I don't know what kind of advice you are after -
cut them with a diamond disk, and drill them with a decent tile drill bot.


I also understand that I need special adhesive.

No, just normal tile adhesive.


--
Grunff

"Bilbo Baggins" wrote in message
...
I am just about to have my first attempt at fixing porcelain tiles (600mm
x
300m ones). Has anybody got any tips which may be useful?

I have bought a decent diamond saw for cutting and I am expecting major
problems when it come to cutting around pipes etc. or drilling holes for
bathroom fittings.

I also understand that I need special adhesive.

KW


I put up tiles that sounds very similar and found fixing them
straightforward, no special adhesive required

I used a cheapo plasplugs electric tile saw and it did a very good job,
cleanly taking 5mm strips off of the whole 600mm length, and I was only
after the 290mm section. ...But as with any tiling job plan it so that thin
cuts are not crucial to job.

Cutting around pipes will depend just where abouts in the tile the cuts need
to be made. Again, this pretty much comes down to your planning of the
layout, ideally you want the big holes to coincide with a join which makes
life much easier. Where the pipes for the shower did not fall right on a
join I only had to cut out maybe a 50x50mm square,then cut a small section
for the pipes from this square section, which looks pretty unobtrusive. For
the waste pipes from the sink I found it easier to half a complete tile, and
then took out a couple of sections with the tile saw, but this is all hidden
by the basin pedestal so you don't actually notice it.

Drilling holes for fixings is a bugger, expect it to take a long time, be
patient, drill slowly and keep the area wet.

An electric tile saw is essential, when using the saw I found it useful to
mark the cut line in pencil, If you do not fill it up with too much water
the line should remain visible, this removes some dependence on the accuracy
of the guide rail and also helps enormously if making small angled cuts.

Drilling holes was most definitely the worst part of the job, fixing and
cutting is straightforwar as long as you plan ahead and take your time.

cheers

David

In article ,
David wrote:
An electric tile saw is essential, when using the saw I found it useful
to mark the cut line in pencil, If you do not fill it up with too much
water the line should remain visible, this removes some dependence on
the accuracy of the guide rail and also helps enormously if making small
angled cuts.

I'd say it's important to keep the water level correct if you want a clean
cut with minimum blade wear.

Mark the tiles if needed with a Chinagraph pencil (wax) - that will
survive water, but wipe off with a cloth.

--
*To be intoxicated is to feel sophisticated, but not be able to say it.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
David wrote:
An electric tile saw is essential, when using the saw I found it useful
to mark the cut line in pencil, If you do not fill it up with too much
water the line should remain visible, this removes some dependence on
the accuracy of the guide rail and also helps enormously if making small
angled cuts.

I'd say it's important to keep the water level correct if you want a clean
cut with minimum blade wear.

Mark the tiles if needed with a Chinagraph pencil (wax) - that will
survive water, but wipe off with a cloth.


Perhaps I wasn't clear here, but when using a standard pencil there is no
problem with the line wiping away, rather the problem is that the line will
be obscured by the slurry if an excessive amount of water is in the
reservoir. By using enough water to keep the blade wet and topping up
regularly, life is easier, and you don't get a shower everytime you make a
cut. It is of course essential that the blade is kept wet when cutting the
tiles.

cheers

David

In article ,
David wrote:
Perhaps I wasn't clear here, but when using a standard pencil there is
no problem with the line wiping away, rather the problem is that the
line will be obscured by the slurry if an excessive amount of water is
in the reservoir. By using enough water to keep the blade wet and
topping up regularly, life is easier, and you don't get a shower
everytime you make a cut. It is of course essential that the blade is
kept wet when cutting the tiles.

On mine with the level set to the mark it still throws out lots of water.
If the water is clean, you'll see the mark.

However, for most cutting it's best to use the fence, and if needed at an
angle to use the device supplied for that. Freehand cutting has the
possibility of the blade grabbing and breaking the tile.

Since the blade is water wetted, I'm not quite sure how you could drop the
level while still keeping it submerged?

--
*A fool and his money can throw one hell of a party.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

Freehand cutting has the
possibility of the blade grabbing and breaking the tile.


Not in this case; porcelain tiles are very, very difficult to break. But
for ceramic tiles I totally agree.


--
Grunff

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
David wrote:
Perhaps I wasn't clear here, but when using a standard pencil there is
no problem with the line wiping away, rather the problem is that the
line will be obscured by the slurry if an excessive amount of water is
in the reservoir. By using enough water to keep the blade wet and
topping up regularly, life is easier, and you don't get a shower
everytime you make a cut. It is of course essential that the blade is
kept wet when cutting the tiles.

On mine with the level set to the mark it still throws out lots of water.

Is this the min water level mark or some other mark? There is no correct
level marked on the one I've used as far as I can recall, only min and max..
so anywhere between these marks could be taken as correct.

If the water is clean, you'll see the mark.

Unfortunately when cutting a few tiles the water rarely stays clean in my
experience, Perhaps with ceramic tiles there may not be so much of a
problem, but with the pocelain tiles we're dealing with here you quickly
get a cream cloourted slurry as the tile is cut.


However, for most cutting it's best to use the fence, and if needed at an
angle to use the device supplied for that.

Agreed, If the guide is well set up it also makes reproducing the cut on a
number of tiles much easier. For angles I cut them all freehand, no other
devices were supplied with mine to help out any of this.

Freehand cutting has the
possibility of the blade grabbing and breaking the tile.

While I did a lot of freehand cuts, noneof the tiles ever broke, but
porceleain tiles are pretty difficult to break anyway.


Since the blade is water wetted, I'm not quite sure how you could drop the
level while still keeping it submerged?


I wouldn't ever want to use it submerged, that really would be an
excessive amount of water :-)

However, for example, you can run it with the bottom 25mm in the water or
drop the level so that there only the bottom 5-10mm of the blade picks up
the water, that's quite a difference.

Maybe its just my cheapo Plasplugs model, but If I fill it anywhere above
half way it throws out an excessive amount of water, As I've said by running
it close to the min level and topping up regularly the problem is not so
great, Of course it doesn't dissappear completely , as you still have some
water around.


cheers

David

On Mon, 23 Aug 2004 14:58:30 +0100, "David"
wrote:

Maybe its just my cheapo Plasplugs model, but If I fill it anywhere above
half way it throws out an excessive amount of water, As I've said by running
it close to the min level and topping up regularly the problem is not so
great, Of course it doesn't dissappear completely , as you still have some
water around.

Hi,

If doing a lot of tiles it might be worth arranging a hose and siphon
using small bore aquarium PVC, so the water is kept clean and level
maintained.

cheers,
Pete.