# Forum Home Renovation Tiling  Tiling tips required

## cravenhaven

Just started the tiling part our bathroom reno and have come up with a couple of issues that I would like a bit of help with.
1. I tiled the floor in the toilet yesterday and discovered that the little tile cutter I tried to use wouldnt crack the tiles properly so that I kept damaging the offcut piece. I was wondering whether those little bench top electric tile cutters sold in bunnings and on ebay are any good, or should I go and hire a tile cutter. Tiles are ceramic 330x300, but the upcoming wall tiles are ceramic 200x450 and textured. 
2. How do I get the tiles level. The floor underneath is reasonably level but I found my tiling ended up with a gentle dip in the centre.

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## Project1080

Hi Craven,
I'm in the process of tiling all wet areas in PPOR and now finished hall & toilet. Got myself a Ryobi electric saw and it cuts like a dream - 330 x 330 size. Also did a heap of rather thick Spanish wall tiles. I can tell you, they are the "bees knees". Well worth the just over $100 investment. Lost one tile only, due to me being slack and trying to break a tile by hand.  
To level the floor get Lanko flor leveller. Follow directions on bag, can't go wrong. Can tile over in a few hours. Happy tiling. 
Regards, 
Project 1080.

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## cravenhaven

Thanks Project1080,
Convinced now about the tile cutter. 
Its not the floor thats not level, its my tiling thats not level.

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## Project1080

> Thanks Project1080,
> Convinced now about the tile cutter. 
> Its not the floor thats not level, its my tiling thats not level.

  Apart from the use of a spirit level or straight edge, can't help there. Just practice. 
Project 1080.

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## bugsy

> Thanks Project1080,
> Convinced now about the tile cutter. 
> Its not the floor thats not level, its my tiling thats not level.

  Im not pro but .... 
the trowel teeth will give you the correct level .
it sounds like you are not getting even coverage by not spreading the adhesive properly.

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## Gooner

I also bought the 180cm Ryobi tile saw. It really is a bit of a bargain. Works well and comes with 2x 180cm diamond disks. Also good for mitre cuts on the edges. I used it on 600x300 12mm thick ceramic wall tiles and on 10mm thick 400x400 polished porcelain tiles and did the trick.  
Some tricks to learn with it, such as marking the line you want to cut and putting a small cut on the opposite end before cutting through so that the tile does not crack when you reach the end of the cut. 
The little Ryobi thing saved me a small fortune in hiring fees considering how long it took me to complete the tiling job. Even if I had to throw it away after the job (which I obviously didn't) it still would have saved me money. 
Also, as bugsy said, you should be using a notched trowel for laying down the adhesive, paying attention to keeping the angle of the trowel more or less the same as you trowel. A straight edge and rubber mallet also help, but mallet won't be very effective with 250x450 tiles. In this case it's more of a matter of using the straight edge and wiggling and pushing the tile down into place and checking for level.

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## blonk

I've always wondered if you can use the little crosses for getting tile gaps even, to get them level. Providing the floor or wall you are doing is level, could you stick some onto the area under where the tile will go giving you an even level for the tile, or is the adhesive likely to be too thick or thin for this?

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## cravenhaven

Just had a look around the web, and now I'm a little confused. Are the Ryobi saws wet or dry saws?.

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## Gooner

Wet. They have a simple small water tray at the bottom of the unit that the disk runs through. Needs to be topped up as you use it.

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## Haveago1

My first tiling job was 300 x 300 polished porcelain tiles (which are as hard as%$^& to cut) and layed on the diagonal, so every edge tile had to be cut.  Like Gooner, I found nicking the opposite corners with a wet saw was the only way to go, but then used a manual tile cutter to score and snap the tiles to save time and noise.  
As they were on the diagonal the actual cut would have been around 450mm long for each tile and as there was so many I was concerned about the noise and if the blades would last. Don't use the lever on the manual cutter to snap the tiles, every time I did they went awry - just put a large nail under where it has been scored, hold the tile with one foot and stand firmly on the other side to snap it.

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## Animalector

I bought a large'ish tile cutter from the tile joint when we did our first job a couple of years back.  Never had a problem with straight cuts unless the cutoff was very small (less than 20mm width)  You just have to be "positive" with the score and snap.. like give it a quick snap rather than gently applying pressure.  
for anything other than full length cuts i use a diamond blade on an angle grinder. Takes a while but I'm cheap!!! 
Andy

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## nww1969

I used a cheap GMC tile saw years ago and was fine.$99.00
I noticed bunnings had the same design on sale the other week for about $70.00

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## cravenhaven

Decided to buy the Ryobi tile say at Bunnings. They have three saws there, Mastercraft?, Ozito, Ryobi. All looked similar but in the end I decided to go with the popular choice.
I reckon I have easily saved the cost of the saw in unbroken tiles and ease of tiling, eg trimming 1-2mm off a tile to get it fitting just so-so.
Cuts quickly too, though I am using standard ceramic tiles rather than Porcelain.

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## leeton

Make sure you keep the water up to it...they cut easy with plenty of water...if it doesn't get enough water...they are no good...and you will wear out the blade.

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## col5555

> My first tiling job was 300 x 300 polished porcelain tiles (which are as hard as%$^& to cut) and layed on the diagonal, so every edge tile had to be cut. Like Gooner, I found nicking the opposite corners with a wet saw was the only way to go, but then used a manual tile cutter to score and snap the tiles to save time and noise.  
> As they were on the diagonal the actual cut would have been around 450mm long for each tile and as there was so many I was concerned about the noise and if the blades would last. Don't use the lever on the manual cutter to snap the tiles, every time I did they went awry - just put a large nail under where it has been scored, hold the tile with one foot and stand firmly on the other side to snap it.

  Did you put down a cement screed before laying the poliched porcelain.

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## Haveago1

Col, 
Had to replace the bearers and resheeted the entire area with 15mm compressed cement. Did not use a screed, just a reasonable thickness of flexible tile adhesive.

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