Laying floor tiles.....

After a recent bit of minor water damage, I am going to recorate my hallway and no thinking of laying floor tiles instead of carpet.

The kitchen leads straight off the hallway, and via 2 doorways, so does the WC and utility room which is really part of the integral garage.

The hallway is a very long L shape and approx 6 metres in length by about a metre, which widens a fair bit at the opposite end to the front door and WC.

The area in the Kitchen to tile is approx 3.5 sq metres. and utility room about the same.

So not a massive area overall and in relatively small batches.

Because the utily room houses a Fridge, tumble dryer and washing machine, I thought the porcelain tiles would be the best option, which I would also use throughout.

I have laid floor tiles before (30cm sq tiles) without too much hassle, but those were ceramic. I obviously know that porcelain tiles are much tougher and thicker. I do have the normal snap type tool and also a diamond circular saw. Is it likely these are man enough for the job or would I need special porcelain cutters. Another area I not sure on, is cutting odd shapes (eg around a door frame) Whats the best way for that?

I guess my very basic question here, is it much harder (skillwise) to use Porcelain over ceramics?

I have also though about using under tile heating, but given the thickness of porcelain - and the fact the underfloor is concrete, is it really worth it? ie heating on a concrete surface, plus through times about 1cm thick, is likely to take ages and also cost a fair bit.

Any views appreciated.

Thanks

I'm no expert etc, but I laid some porcelain tiles earlier this year and used the same equipment that you have. I did try to use my local tile shop for the cutting, but they were unable to get within +/-1mm of my marked outlines; so I bought myself the chepest electric tile cutter. Messy in use, but every line is straight and where I want them. Your tile cutter will likely give instructions on how to make intricate cuts.

A couple of things I'll mention;

1) I ended up marking the tiles on the back, and cutting up-side-down. This seemed to reduce chipping. 2) If you need to remove a tile (as in my case I wasn't happy with one I'd laid), then it is not a case (as was suggested in this ng) that all you need do is tap it with a pair of pliers and remove the shards. The porcelain tiles that I used are really tough and a hammer and bolster was necessary.