Tiling Advice And Tips What Types Of Tile Cutting Tools Are There

Tiling DIY Advice And Tips - What Different Types Of Tile Cutting Tools Are There?

There are many different ways to cut tiles using both hand held and power tools.  If you are considering using power tools or tools of any kind for home improvement jobs then you should always ensure that safety first.  Watch out for cable and pipework and ensure you use a good quality cable and pipe detector.  If you are undertaking home improvement bear in mind that many accidents happen as a result of undertaking property renovation work without due care and attention.  When cutting or working with tiles make sure that you use goggles as flying tile chips can cause irreparable damage to your eyes.  Also, keep your hands clear of tiling blades which can seriously injure.

Using electric power tools to cut tiles can be quite daunting so if you are new to tiling jobs it might be worthwhile to practice for a while with hand held tools until you gain some confidence.

Basic Manual Ceramic Tile Cutter

This looks rather like a paper cutting guillotine and you literally run the blade down the tile.  Its difficult to achieve curved cuts with this and you might need to use a nibbler to cut pieces out of tiles.  Great for newbie tilers who just want to cut straight lines.  Not very good if you want to tile round toilet bases.

Hand Held Tile Cutting Tools

There are many hand held tile cutting tools on the market which do not use power.  These are a good starting point for new tilers to set out on early tiling jobs.  However, good tilers tend to progress to electric power tools for cutting tiles as they move through various levels of expertise.  Hand held tiling tools can make a tiling job naturally take much longer than power tools and this is part of the reason why commercial tilers or tilers undertaking paid tiling work move very quickly onto the 'speed' electric tile cutting tools.

Nibblers

This is a small hand held tool which literally 'nibbles away' at the tile and is used to take very small pieces away from tiles before you fit them by using a very simple toothing structure.  Nibblers are sufficient for use on very small tiling  jobs but do not create a perfect finish generally speaking.  These are fine to use if the tiling that you are fixing is going to be out of view.  Not very sophisticated in terms of aesthetics however.

Electric Tile Cutting Tools

There is a huge range of electric tile cutting tools on the market.  Generally speaking electric tile cutting tools use a very fast blade so it important to remember safety first when using these.  Wear goggles and gloves when cutting tiles.  The blade which cuts the tiles naturally gets very hot and this is cooled down by a container within the tile cutting equipment which holds cold water which should never be allowed to empty completely for fear of overheating the electric tile cutting tool.  Electric power tile cutting tools are becoming more sophisticated and there is even equipment now which can be used to create fancy templates within wall tiling, such as pictures of horses in one colour tile on a white tile background.  Tile cutting and tiling jobs are becoming more sophisticated.

Diamond Blade Tile Cutting Tools

A superior tile cutting tool used by serious tiling professionals.  This is the high performance equivalent of an electric tile cutting tool.   Allows fast and accurate tile cutting but only in the hands of the right tiler.  This type of tile cutting tool is most certainly not for the first time amateur DIY tiler although some will progress to this level of tiling with practice and time.