Cutting small amount off porcelain tile

[DazJWood]

I am about to start tiling the walls and have spent a long time planning the setting out of all the walls. The result being that I need to tile down on to on to a raised tiled shower tray. Because the shower tray has a fall I will need to take a small amount off the bottom of some full tiles for the length and width of the shower tray; the rest of the room I will be able to cut down to the floor using a tile cutter.

What is the best method of cutting 5mm off the bottom of a tile? Ideally I'd like to cut them at a slight angle as they will be 5mm closest to the centre of the tray but only 1mm at the other end.

Thanks,

Daz

 

[finlay]

Angle grinder if you definitely need to cut them .you could leave a 5 mm gap between tile and tray so don’t really need a lot of cutting

 

[DazJWood]

Thanks.

Yes I could leave the gap as is I guess but I'd ideally have liked the gap less than 5mm so I don't have to have a large silicon line to hide the gap.

How easy is it to cut an accurate straight line with an angle grinder? And its not a consistent 5mm for the length of the tile so would be 5mm one end reducing to 1mm. Is it easy to free hand or can I use some sort of guide or fence somehow?

Thanks,

Daz

 

[finlay]

Make sure you get a good blade take your time and with a bit of practise you should be ok

 

[Boggs]

I would score the cut line in the tile first then use an electric cutter/grinder and follow the line.

 

[DazJWood]

I would score the cut line in the tile first then use an electric cutter/grinder and follow the line.

Would you use a manual cutter to score the line? Or a hand scribe tool? I have a wet cutter but it's not easy to follow a line without using a guide/ fence. It only allows you to have the fence perpendicular to the blade so wouldn't be able to do a cut that is 5mm going down to 1mm.

Any tips for using a grinder and following a line?

Thanks

 

[Smiler5714]

I use my ruby wet cutter and manage really well to cut taperered edges and slithers off of tiles.
I mark the line on the tile with a HB pencil several times so it is quite prominent then with the tile flat on the bed of the cutter I line the pencil mark up with the blade by eye as best I can, obviously this means that I have not got the tile against the square back stop edge of the cutter, then laying my 600mm level on the tile I carefully slide it against the edge of the blade so it basically extends the visual cutting line along the top of the tile. I can then adjust my tile to the line of the level and the pencil line giving me an accurate alignment fo cutting.
Remove the 600mm level when lined up and cut away.
Easy peasey.

 

[Smiler5714]

If youre going to use an angle grinder then get a 1 or 1.5mm continuous diamond blade and not segmented as it will splinter or chip your tile. If you have a shakey hand then use a piece of timber batten or architrave as a straight edge to cut against, even if you just use it to get a decent score with the grinder before taking it away and then freehanding the rest of the cut.