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In the middle of laying a bathroom floor, and the time has come to start cutting tiles for the edges.
The tiles need I’m cutting are large (450 x 450) but appear as 4 separate tiles (I.e a quadrant of grout lines)
Is a manual tile cutter the correct tool? Snapping the tiles doesn’t appear to work (have practiced on a damaged tile) because the scoring / fracture point doesn’t run through the channel in the surface of the tile (for grout).
Is it time to buy a bigger electric tile cutter?
Cheers,
I'd get an electric tile cutter, it will save you money in the long run as well as a lot of angst. I did the bathroom in our previous house and after breaking a couple of tiles got a £40 tile cutter from Screwfix. In no way would it cut it for a professional tiler but for the occasional job it was fine. Don't use it indoors - even with a water bath there's a lot of dust!
I had to cut some big Cat 4 (light industrial) tiles for a bathroom... after exploding tile cutters I just resorted to the diamond blade bench and circular saws and angle grinder to cut the whole for the sink.
It takes a lot longer for each tile than a tile cutter but the cut itself is very neat (excepting the sink hole you can't see anyway.
Electric cutter.
Mines a pretty basic one with water bath for the wheel to dip in.
Must be 20 years old and still getting used.
For larger tiles use a bridge saw. Rent one or buy a second hand one (and resell after). The issue with flat bed cutters is that if you offer up a tile even slightly on the piss you can't get the cut back on line. What sort of tiles are they? Porcelain is a nightmare to drill.
Angle grinder for tidying up.
https://www.toolstation.com/vitrex-bridge-saw/p25199
Electric tile cutter - just change the water every couple of tiles (if large tiles) - gives a cleaner cut and doesn't wear the blade out - I managed a whole bathroom, lots of cutting, no wear to the blade. Lent it to my niece for a few tiles, burnt out blade came back - not lending tools to anyone - learnt my lesson.