Jigsaw or Angle grinder to cut tiles?

[Israfel]

Hi All,

I'm about to tile the bathroom in my house, I know they're be various obstructions to tile around and so I'll need to be shaping some tiles. I'm wondering is an Angle grinder with a diamond edged disc or a jigsaw with a ceramic blade a better option? The tile's I'll be using are relatively small 250 X 200mm ceramic.

Also is there recommended adhesive to use considering the tiles aren't larger Tiles and it's a bathroom?

Cheers

 

[tpt]

Cutting wise you'd be best off with a cheapish diy watercooled cutter - it'll keep your dust down! forget the jigsaw idea. tilerite do a few diy focused models.

adhesive wise - depends. are you tiling a shower or just bath and surrounding areas, and what is the substrate?

 

[Israfel]

Cutting wise you'd be best off with a cheapish diy watercooled cutter - it'll keep your dust down! forget the jigsaw idea. tilerite do a few diy focused models.

adhesive wise - depends. are you tiling a shower or just bath and surrounding areas, and what is the substrate?

Cheers for the reply. I'll be using 250 x 200 mm thin ceramic tiles and an old plastered wall that's been tiled before. intend to tile the whole room so around the bath/sink. Wickes are selling a cheap watercooled cutter at the moment but I was thinking I could get a normal tile cutter for straight lines. The rason I'd asked about the jigsaw/angle grinder is that I feel there may be a few occasions where I'll have to cut a curve out of the tile.

I've been readoin other threads on the subject and it appears BAL and Mapei adhesive is the most popular so may go with Mapei Mapegrip D2, would you recommend?

 

[tpt]

mapei is fine - personally i've always sold granfix and would use granfix supergrip but thats just personal preference.

use a watercooled and tile nippers for the curves. would have thought under £80 will get you both normal tile cutter, nippers and watercooled

 

[Israfel]

Cheers again. One last question, I've seen a lot of mention of not using products that are adhesive and grout in one however also from what I'm reading BAL products are highly rated so should a product like this [BAL Tile and Grout] http://www.screwfix.com/p/bal-tile-grout-7-5kg/25925 be avoided or might it be ok?

 

[mypetearthling]

old plastered wall that's been tiled before.

Are the tiles still on the wall?


K

 

[Israfel]

old plastered wall that's been tiled before.

Are the tiles still on the wall?


K

No, I've removed all the old tiles and smoothed down any lumps and bumps as best I could

 

[mypetearthling]

BAL products are very good, but I wouldn't recommend an all in one, the grout finish tends not to be as good as with a separate grout and adhesive.
Remember: do not use Unibond, or PVA to prime in a high moisture area, only use Acrylic based primers, ideally made by your adhesive manufacturer. Wet areas (showers etc) should be tanked before tiling because the grout (unless you use an Epoxy) will not stop water getting through to the base. (waterproof just means it won't disintegrate!)

Have a good read of the tiling sticky

Good luck with your project


K

 

[tpt]

i'd agree on the fix and grout - plus it doesnt actually save you time or expense.

 

[kjacko]

Can someone explain to me the term 'tanked' or 'tanking' when referring to tiling in bathrooms/wet areas please?

So to hijack.

 

[Israfel]

Can someone explain to me the term 'tanked' or 'tanking' when referring to tiling in bathrooms/wet areas please?

So to hijack.

I'm no expert but I'll reply seeing as you haven't had a pro reply yet. Tanking is basically fully waterproofing the area. it's very important if you're tiling onto plasterboard or the walls around your bath/shower are plasterboard. You can buy tanking compound and kits. There's a 3 minute video on tanking a shower room here[url].

 

[paul78]

cutting curves is easy especdially with tiles of your size, get yourself a rubi 6mm blade it comes on what looks like a smaller biro pen. pressure onto the tile "not too much though" make your shape and snap it off. if its a strong curve then score your curve then wet saw the middle of the curve then snap the remaining sides off.

easier to do than to explain