Tiling Kitchen: First Question

[Ed]

So I am tiling the kitchen between work surface and wall mounted cupboards above. Plan is to remove face plates from double sockets and tile behind them so that when I refit the face plates it gives a nicer finish.

But what is the best recommended way to cut the hole in the middle of a tile.?

I'm thinking of just marking out the position of the oblong shape on the tile and drilling holes all around n then using a hand tile saw to remove the piece.

Is that the best way to do it? Or are there better alternatives..

Ed

[F Murtz]

Angle grinder.

[F Murtz]

It is really, four inch angle grinder with diamond saw,just mark the hole, saw from the front carefully till the saw just touches marks at each end then finish from rear,the saw can go a bit over the mark on the back without exceeding the front marks

[Cicero]

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An abrasive tile cutting jigsaw blade works well. Cover the tile with masking tape and clean up the edges if you're fussy, with a tile file.

Cic.

[Ed]

Is it really that simple? With a steady hand , you just place the grinder wheel on the line and let it dig through? I'm fearful the whole tile will shatter .. ???

Ed

[Vortex7]

Years ago I purchased a cheapo (Plasplugs branded) electric tile cutter.

Simple to use

IIRC it was 30 or 40 quid and well worth it.

Here's something similar:

[Ed]

yer but u can't use that to cut a hole in the middle of a tile. ?

[Nutkey]

Why don't you just organise your tiles so that your sockets all fall on the line between two tiles (assuming your sockets are all level with eachother, this should be easy). That way you never have to cut a hole in the centre of a tile - you always cut into two edges instead. Much easier, and the electric tile cutter which do that just fine.

[F Murtz]

It works, I do it all the time, Practice on an old tile.

[Vortex7]

Valid comment. Should have RTFQ properly.

Are we talking fancy and expensive tiles?

[Ed]

Some guys suggest fitting a tile blade to a gig saw.. What u reckon about that?

[Weatherlawyer]

Why not move the boxes?

Then you can justy have straight cuts. Pity they'd be cut edged showing in places though.

How much settlement are you expecting before you retile?

Or do you wnat them to last to time indefinite and have archeologists step back in amazement?

[Ed]

Of course, I have tried all that with tile gauge. And no matter, there still 2 or 3 three that require central hole cut out..

I just looking for way to cut out central socket hole..

Can you help?

[Ed]

They are as they are. Given that, do you know how to cut tiles to accommodate?

[Ed]

Does it matter??

[Peter Johnson]

Some years ago I bought a Plasplugs one because it said on the box that it could be used to cut holes. However, the instructions said that using it to cut holes was not to be attempted unless you knew what you were doing. (When my kitchen was fitted I was out when the tiling was done, otherwise I would have seen how the fitter cut the whole for a power socket - it's been puzzling me ever since.)

[Vortex7]

It does if you absolutely need to get it right first time because you have no spares and/or the tiles are darned expensive

I'd go with a flat bed electric cutter with the safety guard removed, very carefully lowering the tile down by hand to grind the desired hole from the glazed side... It would be necessary to cut to the corners with a manual tile saw

It would make a hell of a mess...and I would expect to break a few while trying

[Jim K]

yup worked for me numerous times

eh? nah just mark the face and "feel your way" from the rear..

no as you can overcut into the corners from the rear as noted earlier and watch the progress of the cut from above on the face (not the rear as you advocate), also the sockets etc face plates have an extra allowance to take note of before mark up and before you consign too many to the bin..

with a wet wheel not much more than usual?

Jim K

[The Medway Handyman]

What makes you think you are going to need to? Most of the time you will simply need to cut tiles to an 'L' shape.

You might need to buy some backplate extender screws from TLC.

[The Medway Handyman]

How big are these tiles then?

I've never had to cut a central hole & I've never seen it done either.