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Any tilers amongst us??!!

Zeussy

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Hey guys, I know theres a few plasterers, and sparkies out there, but as the thread name suggests, just wondering if there is any tilers out there on J/C??!!


I will soon have the pleasure of dealing with some 'jet black' polished porcelain 400 x 400mm floor tiles, for my parents downstairs bathroom,

I got a few tips off some of our plasterers on here for the sheeting/plastering of it, (thanks guys, came up a treat, sanded it off today - borrowed my old bosses vacucm sander = best thing ever that thing!)


So basically just wondering if you can cut the porcelain tiles just like ordinary tiles, with a diamond tip disc on a grinder? or will it splinter/split/crack??? could I prevent this by taping the edge im going to cut?

And can you use diamond tip hole saws on them too? I only really need to drill two holes, one for the floor waste, out of the basin 40-50mm, and one for the toilet ballcock valve about 25-30mm...

The toilet can just be cut out, doesnt have to look pretty, gets hidden anyway! And that just leaves the floor waste, hoping I can get a clean/snug cut with the grinder! lol, hoping...


Thanks guys for taking the time to read this jibberish,
And yesss I googled it, only really came up with suppliers and such, one site said something about laser cutting them?? pfft...
 

Julie

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I'm no tiler but have done plenty of home reno tiling work before, my advice for making difficult cuts is to just go to the tile shop and pay a few bucks to get it cut professionally, looks much better than you will achieve with a grinder and its usually only a couple of tiles so it won't break the bank :)
 

Zeussy

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Ahh ok, sounds like a good idea Julie... never thought of that, its only really a couple that need the holes in them, so it couldn't be that much hey?!

Im hoping ill be able to do some straight cuts, need to do half a tile high on the walls all the way around,

Do you think a normal tile cutter would work with them??
 

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i've done plenty of tiling with ceramic tiles but never worked with porcelain tiles before.
when i drill the holes in ceramic i use a diamond hole saw in a cordless drill with a hose keeping the tile wet, can't see why this wouldn't work on porcelain.
i'd imagine the porcelain would chip with a normal tile cutter but i would try cutting a tile with one anyway and see what happens (there'd be a tile somewhere with a big enough offcut to try this).
if that doesn't work you may need a wet saw or take them in and get them cut
 

AirStrike

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Porcelain tiles are just ceramic tiles with a lower absorbency which means they are a lot tuffer and a bitch to drill:p
Use a diamond tipped drill bit as the ones to suit porcelain are very expensive, do not use a standard ceramic bit it will just get chewed out.
Best is to use a small (4.5") angle grinder with a good diamond disc if your not keen on a manual cutter, which I would recommend.
 

Zeussy

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Ahh cool, that sounds like the plan AirStrike, I've got the grinder ready and waiting! I bought a disc today, (only got one, wasnt sure how fast they wear?) Thats the way I was originally thinking, smooth diamond disc, bit of water maybe?

But after reading something about laser cut, it sort of had me thinking... lol,


gopher - I've got 11.2 square meters of tiles to work with (the odd number because of the amount in the boxes) and only really need 7-8 meters, so if the diamond disc splinters it or anything ill try one on a tile cutter to see how it turns out... And I've only got two holes to drill, with the hole saws, so I might try like you said, cordless, bit of water, and take it easy through them,


And could any one reccommend a grout size for this size tile?? Im thinking that something like 1.5mm would be nice - try and keep it as smooth and flat as possible, can you go a smaller gap? like a 1mm, or do you need room for expansion or something?
And black grout? - anything special with that stuff? or just the normal gear???!!


Thanks guys and girls!! for your input/advice, turns out J/C is more than just a website to find helpful information for all your commodore needs!!!
With all this onboard I see it turning out quite nice..
Thanks again..

Josh.
 

AirStrike

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Ahh cool, that sounds like the plan AirStrike, I've got the grinder ready and waiting! I bought a disc today, (only got one, wasnt sure how fast they wear?) Thats the way I was originally thinking, smooth diamond disc, bit of water maybe?

But after reading something about laser cut, it sort of had me thinking... lol,


gopher - I've got 11.2 square meters of tiles to work with (the odd number because of the amount in the boxes) and only really need 7-8 meters, so if the diamond disc splinters it or anything ill try one on a tile cutter to see how it turns out... And I've only got two holes to drill, with the hole saws, so I might try like you said, cordless, bit of water, and take it easy through them,


And could any one reccommend a grout size for this size tile?? Im thinking that something like 1.5mm would be nice - try and keep it as smooth and flat as possible, can you go a smaller gap? like a 1mm, or do you need room for expansion or something?
And black grout? - anything special with that stuff? or just the normal gear???!!


Thanks guys and girls!! for your input/advice, turns out J/C is more than just a website to find helpful information for all your commodore needs!!!
With all this onboard I see it turning out quite nice..
Thanks again..

Josh.
On a floor you can use any size space you want, personally 1.5's are too small, I would use at least a 3mm.
Black grout is no different than others except its a prick to work with getting nice and level and getting all the haze off the face of the tiles.
 

Zeussy

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Mmm, too small you rekon? might be?

Its just the tiles have rectified edges (thats what the tile rep called them - square edges) and I was kinda going to go for the no grout lines look, just a smooth 'sheet' of uniform tiles, does that make sense?!
Now im unsure on the grout size.. mmmm?

And the grout haze will be a bitch, they're polished, like a mirror just about (I rekon when you walk on them it will leave footprints?!)
 

AirStrike

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Mmm, too small you rekon? might be?

Its just the tiles have rectified edges (thats what the tile rep called them - square edges) and I was kinda going to go for the no grout lines look, just a smooth 'sheet' of uniform tiles, does that make sense?!
Now im unsure on the grout size.. mmmm?

And the grout haze will be a bitch, they're polished, like a mirror just about (I rekon when you walk on them it will leave footprints?!)
Grout is basically coloured sand, so get as much off as you can wet so you don't scratch the glaze.
If thats the look you are going for then yes use a smaller spacer.
 

Zeussy

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Ahh ok, will do, would hate to lay them all then ruin the glaze with fine scratches..
I might do the grout carefully, try and keep it off the tiles as much as possible, just around the joins? and wipe most of it off wet, like you said..

Sweet, small grout lines, when I mentioned that to my parents they were all like "yeah that sounds nice!! sort of like one big sheet" lol,
(hope it looks the goods with the smaller lines, havent had that much experience doing fancy modern type stuff? so im basically guessing! haha)


Thanks again for your help AirStrike,

One last thing, lol! Just use normal tile adhesive for them, or do I need to get a special porcelain tile adhesive??
 
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