I've minimal tiling experience... and the maximum size of tile I've used previously is 4" square two decades ago.
I intend to tile a bathroom... and I intend to tile it with large format porcelain tiles... 90cm x 45cm. I've been thinking through my tile layouts - and think I can do the entire job with no complicated cuts. I will need to do neat straight cuts for the entire length and width of the tile. The tiles are heavy - but have exactly the look I want.
While I accept it might be possible to use a cheap score and snap tile-cutter... I have very low confidence that I could do a good job with one of those. The tiles are expensive and I want the best result possible (given my lack of experience/skill). I feel that a wet tile cutter is probably the right tool for me to do the cuts.
I've watched YouTube - and this has mostly improved my level of confidence to tackle the job. One problem I have, however, is selecting an appropriate tile-saw. On Youtube I see huge industrial scale tile-saws and demonstrations saying that 24" tiles are 'huge'... while mine are 36". These very big tile-saws have a top-down blade action and big sliding trays (on bearings?) which make it look as if it would be easy to make my cuts using one of them. When I look for tile-saws to buy... however... I see mostly small wet tile saws that look as if they'd be great for, say, 6" tiles - but might easily not work at all on 36" tiles. I note that their blades are fixed bottom-up affairs and there's no sled as such. While a small wet tile saw is easily in budget... the big wet tile saws seem to cost way over £1000. My project will involve about 30 cuts and I can only imagine doing (at most) 2 similar scale jobs in the next decade. This makes it difficult for me to justify paying >£1000 to buy a big wet tile saw... even if I were to sell it when I'm finished.
My options:
1. I could buy one of the many small wet tile saws (priced ~£50 to ~£100) and build a table around it from plywood. Perhaps I could use thin strips of wood to help the tile slide across the ply... I could fix wooden guides with clamps. It would look Heath-Robinson - but, I think, it would get the job done with the precision cut of a wet saw.
2. I could buy cutting disks and try to dry hand-cut using an angle grinder. ( I anticipate disaster... I don't expect I'd be accurate enough this way.)
3. I could hire a huge tile saw. The down-side with this is that 24-hour hire seems to cost ~£150+... and, owing to other commitments, I'd need to keep it for a long time to ensure I get the job finished... This makes renting a tile-saw look an expensive option (compared to buying one and selling it when I've finished.)
4. I could buy a big tile saw... This one looks big enough... it is expensive for the level of use I envision... and... should I be concerned that tile-saws of this size, for places other than B&Q, seem to be 4 or 5 times as expensive?
Any suggestions. I'm wavering towards building my own sled-system for a cheap wet tile saw. How bonkers is this as plan?
I intend to tile a bathroom... and I intend to tile it with large format porcelain tiles... 90cm x 45cm. I've been thinking through my tile layouts - and think I can do the entire job with no complicated cuts. I will need to do neat straight cuts for the entire length and width of the tile. The tiles are heavy - but have exactly the look I want.
While I accept it might be possible to use a cheap score and snap tile-cutter... I have very low confidence that I could do a good job with one of those. The tiles are expensive and I want the best result possible (given my lack of experience/skill). I feel that a wet tile cutter is probably the right tool for me to do the cuts.
I've watched YouTube - and this has mostly improved my level of confidence to tackle the job. One problem I have, however, is selecting an appropriate tile-saw. On Youtube I see huge industrial scale tile-saws and demonstrations saying that 24" tiles are 'huge'... while mine are 36". These very big tile-saws have a top-down blade action and big sliding trays (on bearings?) which make it look as if it would be easy to make my cuts using one of them. When I look for tile-saws to buy... however... I see mostly small wet tile saws that look as if they'd be great for, say, 6" tiles - but might easily not work at all on 36" tiles. I note that their blades are fixed bottom-up affairs and there's no sled as such. While a small wet tile saw is easily in budget... the big wet tile saws seem to cost way over £1000. My project will involve about 30 cuts and I can only imagine doing (at most) 2 similar scale jobs in the next decade. This makes it difficult for me to justify paying >£1000 to buy a big wet tile saw... even if I were to sell it when I'm finished.
My options:
1. I could buy one of the many small wet tile saws (priced ~£50 to ~£100) and build a table around it from plywood. Perhaps I could use thin strips of wood to help the tile slide across the ply... I could fix wooden guides with clamps. It would look Heath-Robinson - but, I think, it would get the job done with the precision cut of a wet saw.
2. I could buy cutting disks and try to dry hand-cut using an angle grinder. ( I anticipate disaster... I don't expect I'd be accurate enough this way.)
3. I could hire a huge tile saw. The down-side with this is that 24-hour hire seems to cost ~£150+... and, owing to other commitments, I'd need to keep it for a long time to ensure I get the job finished... This makes renting a tile-saw look an expensive option (compared to buying one and selling it when I've finished.)
4. I could buy a big tile saw... This one looks big enough... it is expensive for the level of use I envision... and... should I be concerned that tile-saws of this size, for places other than B&Q, seem to be 4 or 5 times as expensive?
Any suggestions. I'm wavering towards building my own sled-system for a cheap wet tile saw. How bonkers is this as plan?
