Porcelain Tiles

[waynestores]

Hello to all you Pro's,

I've got a job on which is Porcelain tiles 300mm x 600mm x 10mm thick to fix into two bathroom floors, the floors seem to be plywood and are fixed down securely, could someone inform me as to which "BAL" adhesive i should be using, as I've had mixed reports from tiling shops. As these tiles are approx 10mm thick, will I be able the cut them with my Rubi TS50 dry cutter or will they all have to be wet cut? Which grout should I be using, I'm using 4mm spacers...

[McP77]

Do you know how thick the ply is?

If not, to be on the safe side go for Fast Flex.

Should be able to cut them with your TS50. Worth a go. We have the ts50+ and have only come across 2 tiles they won't cut. Although you won't be able to cut them length ways as the bed is only 570 so the 600 won't go in.

Use a flexible grout. I like MicroFlex if you are using grey.

[waynestores]

Thanks for your reply, not sure how thick the ply is, but "Fast Flex" had been mentioned to use, to cut the tiles will I have to scribe them harder than normal with a 10mm cutting wheel or just use the standard 6mm, also I was going to use white grout or would that look daft on floor?

[McP77]

I think I'd go Fast Flex.

I prefer an 8mm cutting wheel for porcelain. Scribe quite hard, try the breaker gently, if you're getting a lot of resistance scribe it again and try breaking again.

I don't use white grout on floor as it's so difficult to keep white, even if you seal it. Leave the choice with the customer at the end of the day. If they really want white you could consider epoxy but a lot more time consuming.

[Dan]

I concur once again. If the plywood isn't "18mm marine ply or similar" then it has to be the expensive fastflex route. If it is 18mm and screwed at a minimum of 300mm centres with noggins where there's nothing to screw into on the underside then you could use a two part cement based adhesive or there are a few single part adhesives that should cope from the odd adhesive manufacturer, although I think I'd over-engineer if the tiles were not cheap.

From a cutting point of view the more times you scribe on certain tiles (elthough maybe not porcelain if it's fully vitrified / full bodied) the more chance there is of the tile breaking over all lines and possibly causing it to snap the tile to a shape nothing like the shape you need.... usually cutting 90% of the tile where you want it and the end away from the breaker usuall just sort of shots to the left or right so sometimes you can nibble the bit off it's left on and you can use your cut but sometimes it will shear off into your cut and render it useless.

So the less scoring the better but if it's not breaking the first time I suppose you could give it another scribe but dont break too many tiles before opting for the wet cutter as it will give a much neater cut on a stronger tile anyway and if you have time it might be worth just using the wet cutter anyway for that reason.

And like Mr McP I hate seeing a cement based white grout in a floor grout joint. Epoxy yes but that's a different ball-game alltogether. Use grey as it's neater and more consistant. And you'll be using a Wide-joint grout for your 4mm+ grout joints.

[Dave]

When using rubi dry cutters on porcelain score tile then pull snapper handle fast for cleaner breaks.........

[McP77]

When using rubi dry cutters on porcelain score tile then pull snapper handle fast for cleaner breaks.........

Interesting. I find that using a gentler action with the handle works better on porcelain. Guess it's what works for you.

[Dan]

I used to kind-of use a sharp motion when snapping any tile on a rubi to be honest and found very few problems.

I found on ceramics if you go too slow the score starts to snap at one end first and slowley breaks like you would imagine ice breaking or something which left a less neater edge.

But as you said mate, it's a case of don't do anything different if it's working for you. I suppose wheels and tile makes and types are all factors of the snapping situation. lol