Shaping porcelain tiles

[matthew4444]

Dear All

I'm currently in the process of tiling our new downstairs shower room and hallway. I'm using 30cmx30cm porcelain tiles and so far my tile scorer - the score and snap type has been fine for straight cuts and my diamond wheel wet saw has been fine for double or L-shaped cuts.

The problem I now have is how to tile around the soil pipe where the toilet will go. The pipe comes straight up out of the floor about 20 cm from the wall. The tile layout has left me with the need to cut a pipe sized semi circle in two tiles. The pipe itself has a 11cm circumference.

My question is what is the best way to do this? Do I need a diamond drill or would a scorer and tile nippers do? I'm trying to get the best finish possible with as smooth an edge as possible.

Any advice gratefully received.

Regards

Matthew

 

[jctilingservices]

well i am surmising you dont have a drill bit the size you need, if you think you are accomplished enough then a tile scorer and nippers would do, but i would think your best bet may be an angle grinder with diamond tipped wheel, cut along your line, when you got the semi circle out, use a tile file to smooth the edges off for a nice clean finish

 

[tictic]

as above...alright jimmy..

a rubbing stone as well to smooth off.

 

[bathstyle]

Your best bet is to firstly mark on your tile where you want to cut. You then need to score where you have marked, an easy way to do this is to firstly place a tile glazed side down onto the bed of your manual tile cutter, place your marked tile on top then slide the tile on the bed gently scoring the marked tile. Having the glazed tile under your marked tile will help to glide the tile round to follow the curve. Lastly, use a wet saw to cut little fingers up to your scored curve, then snap the fingers off, neaten up with nippers, sanding stone or even your wet saw.

I tend to keep a few McAlpine soil pipe shrouds in the van to go over the pipe/soil fitting. Not always an over the counter item, but available in a day or two and really finishes it off nicely.

 

[matthew4444]

Excellent, many thanks for the advice. I also realised I had said the pipe had a 11cm circumference - I meant diameter!

One further question - I've got a vitrex mesh tile file but I'm struggling with this on the tiles I've got. Is there a better file for porcelain tiles or do I just need to persevere?

Regards

Matthew