cutting and drilling glass faced tiles, advice please

[happyhero]

Hi My friend is putting in a whole new bathroom and has insisted I help him as I used to do building services and was pretty handy, but I am not a tiler. I have done some pretty good tiling jobs in the past but he has picked giant glass faced tiles, just to make sure its not too easy for me .

They are 900mm x 350mm and I would be reasonably confident of working with that size if they were not glass faced, so can anybody give me some guidance please?

Can I cut the straights with an ordinary tile cutter, I have a wet table saw type?

what about cutting holes, what do I need?

Is there anything else I should know about working with these tiles or cutting them?

Any help/advice would be appreciated.

 

[IJWS15]

I fitted a feature row of 50mm by 200mm coloured glass tiles in a bathroom.

Can cut them with a traditional wheel tile cutter but.....

I had one where the back edge of the tile split away a little, not a problem with ceramic tiles as it is in the grout and hidden but with the glass tile you could see the defect through the front of the tile. Took the tile out and tried again and eventually got one perfectly straight.

If the tiles are clear at the front expect problems.

 

[Richard C]

Diamond wet wheel cutter with a new blade, I would not attempt using a manual cutter. Not sure if porcelain tile drills will cut glass but diamond tipped will.

Some other considerations fo you;
What is your tile base? It will need to be very flat for tiles that size. They are also large & will be heavy; plaster has a maximum weight of just 20kg/sqm so if they weigh more than around 18kg/sqm & intending to tile over plaster, you have a problem. You must check the weight of the tiles.

Only use cement powder adhesive of the correct type for your tile base with that size tile tub ready mix is not suitable. Plaster/plasterboard surfaces normally require acrylic priming to avoid a reaction between the cement & gypsum but in your case I think a plaster base is going to be unsuitable for the weight of tile anyway if they are over 8mm thick.

Are you also tiling onto a suspended floor? if so they need special consideration/preparation if you want the job to last.

I would also advise you read the Tiling Forum Sticky & Forum Archive posts before doing any more work or buying tiling materials, it could prevent you making disastrous & potentially expensive mistakes. It’s important to use only quality trade tilling materials of the correct type for your tiles & tile base; cheapo own brand & DIY stuff is mostly crap.

 

[lancenotalot]

You can get wet saw blades especially for glass,they have finer diamonds on them and give a much cleaner cut with less breakout.Also use a manual glass cutter dipped in oil,only score once.
It can be a bit hit and miss with thicker tiles.

 

[Richard C]

Also use a manual glass cutter dipped in oil,only score once.

Interesting, never tried that

 

[HERTS P&D]

Also use a manual glass cutter dipped in oil,only score once.

Interesting, never tried that

That's what they do in glass shops, but they sometimes dip the glass cutter into Meths.

Andy