5 Ways To Cut Tile - Everything You Need To Know For Your First Tile Project

hey what's up it's dan perry and in this video i'm going to demonstrate five ways to cut tile so if you're about to break ground on your first tile project and you're wondering which tools do I actually need and which tools can I just forget about this video is going to help you do that so the first tile cutting method I want to talk about is the manual tile cutter this is a very common tool for cutting a variety of tiles including ceramic glass glass mosaic porcelain and even terracotta you can pick one up anywhere from $50 up to $900 so the $50 versions like you see here are fine for ceramic tile DIY projects here it is cutting a larger piece of ceramic tile ceramic is the softest and easiest tile material to cut so even the cheap manual cutters have no problem here however if you plan to cut porcelain tile or even thicker glass tile you want a bigger more robust version of one of these manual tile cutters here you can see it makes easy work of this subway tile here I'm attempting to cut a large porcelain tile and you can see this cheap cutter isn't sufficient for thicker porcelain tile I had to use a rubber mallet to snap the tile after I scored it because I couldn't apply enough force with this cutter to snap it even on a shorter cut I had trouble snapping the porcelain tile again you can cut porcelain with these tools you'll just need a bigger stronger version one thing to note here is that the edge of the tile won't be perfectly smooth after you cut it if you want a smoother edge you'll want to use other cutting methods like a wet saw that I'll demonstrate next this tool is also great for cutting glass mosaic tiles in fact it's really the only way to do it and get clean cuts without chipping the glass you will need to go slow and snap each individual tile separately but this is the best way I've found to cut these mosaics so the manual tile cutter is an essential tile installation tool you want one on most tile projects unless you're installing natural stone like granite or marble for ceramic tile you can cut using a cheap one before the harder thicker tiles you want to use a bigger more robust version which you can rent by the way next let's talk about the wet table saw this is another essential tile cutting tool especially if you are looking to make very clean consistent cuts or you're cutting a lot of tiles to the same size like when doing subway tile tiling around a window or maybe like a custom niche also if you're cutting any natural stone tiles then this is absolutely essential on my last tile project I installed subway tile in this shower here and I found the wet saw to be extremely helpful especially when I was doing repetitive cuts like these pieces here and I wanted it to be very smooth and clean without any rough jagged edges now a manual tile cutter would have worked but it would have taken longer unless I had one with a fence on it plus it would have created jagged cuts that would have made my installation look less professional so again the wet table saw is great for making smooth cuts as well as when cutting lots of tiles to the same size and it's absolutely essential when working with natural stone since a manual tile cutter just won't work now personally I wouldn't do a large tile project without a wet saw if you rarely late I'll then renting one it's probably going to be your best option and you can usually rent one for around two hundred dollars per week for a small wet table saw next up is a handheld manual tile cutter now you can pick one of these up for about ten dollars now you'll probably see videos online about how amazing these things are but I've found it very difficult to use since you have to press really hard to actually scribe the surface of the tile it's difficult to cut in a straight line it's also difficult to follow a straight edge to make a straight cut and it's really only good for thinner softer tiles like ceramic so while this can cut tile it's one of those tools that you will likely never need so go ahead and save your money and skip this one all right let's talk about the good old four-inch angle grinder with a diamond blade on it now this is a great tool for making curved cuts or small detailed cuts however it doesn't create the cleanest of cuts and it does produce a lot of dust as you can see here it has created a very rough edge on this tile now if I had a fresher blade it would have likely cut smoother but it's still not going to be as smooth as a wet saw this is a really versatile tool that can cut just about any Tyler stone even harder stones like granite this isn't really an essential tool to have for your tile project but I still highly recommend buying one because it has so many other uses and you'll probably find it helpful for at least a couple of tile cuts on your next tile project and finally let's talk about using a hole saw to cut tile this is a very helpful tool especially if you need to make holes in a tile for any plumbing fixtures sometimes the placement of a pipe for a showerhead or a bathtub faucet will be right in the middle of the tile and it's really difficult to cut the hole without a hole saw now a diamond hole saw will cut through just about any kind of tile here you can see it cutting through this ceramic tile like butter and here you can see me struggling to get through this porcelain tile until I decide to stop being lazy and just put some water on it will cut through ceramic like butter but with harder materials like porcelain or granite you want to get it wet like you see here to speed up the cut and to avoid burning out the bit prematurely now of course there are more methods for cutting tile that I haven't mentioned in this video but for most DIY projects these are all of the tile cutting methods you'll need for a high quality tile installation so let's say you're about to tackle a ceramic tile project like subway tile in that case I recommend you get a wet table saw a manual tile cutter a drill and hole saw and an angle grinder with a diamond blade you can get away with one of the cheaper manual tile cutters for ceramic if you're working with porcelain which is more difficult to cut than ceramic then you want to use those same tools but stay away from the cheaper manual tile cutters instead get a heavy-duty version that is recommended for cutting porcelain tile as well you can rent one if you don't want to buy it if you're going to be using natural stone tile like granite or marble then a wet saw will be absolutely essential and you'll also want a handheld wet tile saw for those detailed cuts an angle grinder will also work for detailed cuts but having a wet saw will make things go faster and it will eliminate the dust I hope you found this video helpful if you have be sure to subscribe and click that little gell to get notified when I post new videos and be sure to check out my other videos on how to install tile like this complete time lapse of a shower remodel that I did and finally if you're a skilled DIY ER and you want to learn how to turn those skills into a profitable side business then check out my business training resources at handy man startup comm thanks for watching I'm Dan Perry and I will see you in the next video

Channel: Handyman Startup

Views: 978,005

Rating: 4.8411713 out of 5

Keywords: how to cut tile, how to cut ceramic tile, how to cut subway tile, how to cut glass mosaic tile, manual tile cutter, cut tile with angle grinder, tile hole saw, how to cut holes in tile, wet table saw review, tile saw reviews, handheld tile cutter, ways to cut tile, DIY tile installation, tile cutting tools, how to cut porcelain tile, how to use a tile cutter, how to cut a hole in tile, how to cut tile without a wet saw

Id: slRU35Kan7E

Length: 8min 36sec (516 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 07 2019