Making Cuts - Not Quite Plumb

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Gumposam

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if someone could jog my memory on a measuring technique I was shown a while ago. The problem i have is that I'm tiling up to an internal corner where the adjacent wall is very nearly, but not quite plumb. I went on a tiling course not long ago where I was shown a technique to deal with this exact problem but I can't for the life of me remember it, all I recall is that it was something to do with pushing the tile up against the wonky wall, marking the tile, and flipping it.

Ive attached an exaggerated illustration of my problem, I realise the perfect solution would be to make the wall plumb, but it's not really feasible to do so here, and the deviation is really only 1/2 inch over 2.5 metres. I'd still like to be able to complete a very neat job without thick grout / sealant hiding the problem.


2zscsuw.png


Thank you in advance for any help

Cheers!

2zscsuw.png
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Flipping the tile is ok. But if you want tight joints, a clearly marked ruler is best. Measure then remove width of spacer+1mm
 
Flipping the tile is ok. But if you want tight joints, a clearly marked ruler is best. Measure then remove width of spacer+1mm

Thank you, so to clarify do you mean I should measure the distance of the space top and bottom and then transfer those measurement to the tile (less 1mm + 2mm for the spacer)?
 
Yes he does mate.
The method you're referring to is to take a piece big enough for the cut and with the GOOD edge away from the existing tile, place the TOP of your soon to be cut tile inline with the BOTTOM of the empty space and mark, then without turning or flipping your soon to be cut piece, place the BOTTOM of this on the TOP line of your empty space and mark. Judging enough space for your joint each time you mark your soon to be cut tile.
Cut the piece, THEN flip it around to fill the empty space.
Easy eh! Haha
Good luck, and to be honest, fair play for having the sense to ask rather than making do!
 
In your illustration the bottom tile looks bigger than the rest - are these English tiles?


Yes he does mate.
The method you're referring to is to take a piece big enough for the cut and with the GOOD edge away from the existing tile, place the TOP of your soon to be cut tile inline with the BOTTOM of the empty space and mark, then without turning or flipping your soon to be cut piece, place the BOTTOM of this on the TOP line of your empty space and mark. Judging enough space for your joint each time you mark your soon to be cut tile.
Cut the piece, THEN flip it around to fill the empty space.
Easy eh! Haha
Good luck, and to be honest, fair play for having the sense to ask rather than making do!

That's the one! Haha Thank you, I'd tried all sorts of combinations but always ended up with the inverse of the angle!
 
This advice may not be applicable to your situation specifically, but generally the goal of a tiler is to cut accurately and more importantly to cut quickly.

One method to speed up measuring and cutting is to find out how much bigger each new cut gets. Let's say that each new cut get's 2mm larger than the last. Then you measure once from the bottom. You adjust the tile on the cutter so the cut is 2mm larger at the top. And you repeat this process. With enough practice you only need to ever measure once then cut e.g. 8 tiles at once.

Also remember tiles should never touch adjacent walls or tiles, a 2mm gap should always be present. For me, this generally means I subtract 4-5 mm from what I've measured (depending on the tile and joint).
 
You check the wall is flat although leaning, measure the top of the wall and the bottom and lay a row of tiles on the floor, transfer measurements to those tiles.

A long straight edge and mark from top to bottom, then cut.
 

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