Porcelain cutting?

[benchivs]

Hi, this is my first post as normally i just do a search of all the usefull posts and find my answers but with this im going round and round in circles.
I am getting towards the end of refurbishing my first house, and my current project is the bathroom. I have everything ready to tile but when i went to start tiling at the weekend i found it an absolute headache cutting the tiles. I have 300x600-10mm textured porcelain tiles.

http://www.homebase.co.uk/webapp/wc...|cat_10308051|Wall+tiles+and+borders|10583525

I have tried a score and snap but useless. I have a Clarke wet cutter but took around an hour to cut 3 tiles and one of those chipped!!
Please can you advise me on my best option?

Ive since done a little homework but not sure what to do.

1.New blade e.g Marcrist in my clarke cutter- Blade would be around £60 but dont wand to waste £60 on a new blade if it would be useless in the Clarke.
2.B&Q do a larger bridge cutter for £80 - Bit more pwerfull and looks up to the job but is it?? Again, dont want to waste £80 on a cutter if its not much better than what i have already.
3.Hire a Rubi score and snap from Topps-cheapest option but not sure even a good score and snap will cut textursd porcelain.
4.Hire a big bridge cutter from hss. £90 for a weekend??? doesnt look a lot different to the one in b&g to buy for £80.
5. Balls to it all and find someone to do it for me. would obviously be quite expensive!

If im having this trouble on the bathroom tiles, dread to think how long it will take me to do downstairs-25m2 600x600-10mm polished porcelain!!!

Sorry for the long post but please help, any advice will be very gratefully received.
Thanks,
Ben.

 

[Bilioustrumpstaine]

Just got this off the net.

The cutting of porcelain tiles is much harder than standard ceramic tiles. Professional tile cutters such as the Rubi TX700 make the job simple because of the longer cutting bed, larger breaking bar and re-enforced carriage rails which allow for increased breaking pressure.

 

[benchivs]

Just got this off the net.

The cutting of porcelain tiles is much harder than standard ceramic tiles. Professional tile cutters such as the Rubi TX700 make the job simple because of the longer cutting bed, larger breaking bar and re-enforced carriage rails which allow for increased breaking pressure.

will a rubi manual cutter work on textured porcelain? Ive never used a manual tile cutter so dont really know how capable they are?

 

[gcol]

If you want my opinion; unless you're very experienced in tiling and have perfectly smooth walls, get a tiler in. Those are large tiles and will show up any uneven walls or poor technique in fitting.
Also, make sure that you use a decent powdered adhesive suitable for porcelain tiles.

 

[benchivs]

If you want my opinion; unless you're very experienced in tiling and have perfectly smooth walls, get a tiler in. Those are large tiles and will show up any uneven walls or poor technique in fitting.
Also, make sure that you use a decent powdered adhesive suitable for porcelain tiles.

I have two guys coming round tomorow eve to quote.... The walls are all good as two of the walls are brand new studs and all of the walls have been re-plastered. Its all down to cost really as im on a very tight budget. Im quite a perfectionist with most things i do so if im forced to do it myself i will just take my time and make sure its finished to a good standard. At the moment im thinking i mght try the rubi from topps....Gotta be worth a try for £7.

 

[Deluks]

You might have luck with a small angle grinder using a proper tile cutting blade, but will be fiddly if there are many tricky cuts to do.

 

[Softus]

At the moment im thinking i mght try the rubi from topps....Gotta be worth a try for £7.

A Rubi or Vitrex that's man enough for porcelain is likely to cost you upwards of £160 to buy, so a hire price of £7 implies that you'll get something that's either worn out or suitable only for cutting cheese. The cutting wheel alone will cost a fiver.

If you plan to do more tiling, then get the right tool(s) for the job). Otherwise, no matter how perfectionist you are, you'll be wasting your time.

 

[benchivs]

At the moment im thinking i mght try the rubi from topps....Gotta be worth a try for £7.

A Rubi or Vitrex that's man enough for porcelain is likely to cost you upwards of £160 to buy, so a hire price of £7 implies that you'll get something that's either worn out or suitable only for cutting cheese. The cutting wheel alone will cost a fiver.

If you plan to do more tiling, then get the right tool(s) for the job). Otherwise, no matter how perfectionist you are, you'll be wasting your time.

They have a Rubi TS60 i think. The bloke said i have to pay £250 deposit which is the cost of the cutter as a deposit and then £7 per day hire. I dont plan on doing loads of tiling in the future, i just havnt got the money to pay somone hundreds-maybe even thousands to do my tiling. Im also much more reluctant to pay somone when i know with a little time and effort i could do it myself, providing i had the right tools which is what im really asking.
Please dont shoot me down for this reply, i understand that a proffessional on the job would be better than my efforts but i cant really afford to pay somone. Im a tradesman myself, and find it slightly insulting when people think that what i do is easy, im not saying that im just saying that if i was advised on the best tools to use i could get the job done even it does take 3 times longer.

 

[tnarg999]

Hi,
Have you figured out the weight of your tiles and adhesive? Porcelain that thick might be upwards of 30-35kg sq metre. As far as I know, plaster board is up to 32kg and plaster slightly less.

I used the same tiles on a recent bathroom and covered the walls with a Marmox tile board, having reinforced the studs first. Marmox claim to hold at least 60kg sq Metre with the correct adhesive.

BTW, I got a professional in and he used a great big manual cutter (Rubi I think) he did a superb job and I was happy to pay £400 for 20sq Metres. ( I supplied the adhesives and tiles).

Got BAL single part flexible from Topps, normally charge £50 a bag, but asked nicely and got it for £30!

The Tiler I used didn't advertise and had 6 weeks booked up ahead. If you can find someone from word of mouth it might be worth it.

cheers

 

[Symptoms]

bench - obtain a NEW cutter to go in the hired tackle, don't use the 'old' one that might be in there.

 

[Bilioustrumpstaine]

Just got this off the net.

The cutting of porcelain tiles is much harder than standard ceramic tiles. Professional tile cutters such as the Rubi TX700 make the job simple because of the longer cutting bed, larger breaking bar and re-enforced carriage rails which allow for increased breaking pressure.

will a rubi manual cutter work on textured porcelain? Ive never used a manual tile cutter so dont really know how capable they are?

I don't know

I have never worked with porcelain, I saw the article and hoped it might help.

I would buy a manual Rubi, you could then use it when you want to and not be fretting about it sitting about costing £x per day. you could always flog it on Ebay when the time comes. Ask Rubi which cutter they recommend.

The same with Marcrist, I found them very helpful. The blade I bought from them is amazing (ceramics) very clean cuts.

 

[Max1ne]

Hi Ben,
I have just finished helping my husband tile the bathroom floor with porcelain (I did all the cutting). He bought a Plasplugs Contractor Plus electric tile cutter from B&Q (on offer at ~£50). The blade that came with it was not much good so I bought an extra blade (the diamond edged one for glass cutting - about £18:00). It worked a treat on the porcelain, cutting a neat line with no chipped edges. It zipped through a 30 cm tile in about 20 seconds.
Hope this helps,
Maxine