Does the tile cutter affect the cost of paving?

This is a good question. The first answer is no, it should not affect the cost of laying a pavement directly. However, this is true only if the tiler who is doing the work is using a good cutter from good brands like Sigma or Montolit. These companies have been studying for years the best solutions, creating professional products that reduce the undesired damage of new tiles. The problem arises if the tiler is using a some Chinese low quality cutter. In this case, it often happens that while cutting there is a lot of damage to tiles, especially if you are laying porcelain hard tiles. These damages mean that the end user will for sure have a higher price to pay, since to obtain a good result, more tile have to be used.

Unfortunately some (non professional) tilers prefer to save a few tens of Euros buying Chinese manual cutters which cause a lot of damage, slowing the work progress and thus increasing costs.

Check what kind of tile cutter your tiler is using. In Italy it would be very suspicious to find other brands than Montolit or Sigma which have been leading the market for several years. There are some other small producers but there is always some doubt about their tiling tools. The same reasoning can be applied, even with more caution, to electrical tiling tools used to cut ceramic tiles. Also in this case other brands than Montolit and maybe Raimondi, are not well known and there are no certainties about their products. It is way better to focus on quality if you want to avoid unpleasant surprises. Regarding electrical tile cutters, Montolit or Raimondi have more experience than Sigma since the latter is specialized in manual tile cutters.

When hiring a tiler, don't hesitate to ask what tile cutter he uses, this will be a first step to understand if he is a good professional or not.

To summarize:

Leading brands which mean very high quality tiling tools:

Manual tile cutters - Montolit and Sigma

Electric tile cutters - Raimondi and Montolit

How to prevent cracks in new laid tiles with the right tiling tools

How to avoid cracks in new tiles

As in any other profession, not all tilers are the same, meaning that not all tilers are true and dedicated professionals. It is challenging to keep up with with progresses and to be constantly updated on new materials like the hard tiles on the market today, knowing which tiling tools to use i order not to ruin them. In this post I will go into detail about a common problem, regarding cracks in tiles when making round or square holes. These holes are necessary to hang bathroom fixtures, for the passage of different types of tubes or even for the small led lighting that is getting more and more fashionable.

So what's the problem? The problem is that there is an old habit of bricklayers and tilers with less experience (or working to save money) of making holes in tiles (for both floor walls) using a small diamond disks, not getting a circular hole but a square or rectangle hole, which is inevitably uneven. What happens at this point? Either immediately or after a few weeks / months, usually from the corners of these holes small cracks propagate on the main tile and if you are very unlucky continue even on tiles laid next to the damaged ones. The cost to fix these cracks is very high, both in terms of price and in terms of discomfort of the customer who is forced to have the house upside down again, breaking through a wall and trying to reposition the tiles in the same way. I assure you that there are a lot of these errors around. In my career I've repaired over a hundred of these damages caused to tiles by a wrong laying procedure.

We've talked about the problem but now let's see what's the best solution to avoid this problem and to understand how the tiler is working.

Make sure the tile layer makes the round holes using diamond drills or saws. These tools are similar to a drill but have diameters that can reach up to 120 mm. Pay attention because these must be diamond tools, not the old drill bits simply because with the new porcelain tiles drill bits can't drill and cause damage to tiles. The diamond tools I mentioned also work on flexible or angle grinders, whatever you need . Be careful then, in the estimate phase, to check with the tiler that all the round holes are actually made ​​with round diamond tools and diamond saws. This seems trivial but the damage that comes from the old square holes made ​​with the small disk is unfortunately very high , especially with the new materials. So make sure that the tiler, bricklayer or whoever is piercing your beautiful tiles, works with the latest and most suitable technologies.

It might happen that the tiler or bricklayer tells you that these saws are very expensive and that you need to increase your budget. If this happens, be aware and if possible look for another professional. It is true that these professional tiling tools are not cheap, but it is also true that they last for a very long time and make dozens of holes, sometimes even more than 80 holes. This means that the cost per hole is very low, and the initial higher price of the diamond saw is amortized during years of work.

These little secrets I'm telling you about seem to go against tiling professionals like myself, but this is not true. Statements like the ones above can only bother improvised tilers or those who are not updated, those working in the ways I have explained.

The goal of my blog is to value the category of professional tilers.

I would like to help the end customers understanding if they are dealing with serious people and experiencing fair value for money.

Chipped porcelain tiles? Easy to avoid if the tiler uses the right tools

Has it ever happened to you to see a good quality porcelain tile completely chipped? This happens if the layer uses a low quality electric wet saw, or another type of saw, not suitable for this type of ceramic tiles. The chips on the tiles will be clearly visible after it has been laid ending in a poor esthetic outcome. When the non professional layer uses a generic low cost diamond saw the results can be awful.

Chipped tiles

The problem is easily solved if the tiler uses a special fine grained saw, for instance one that can be commonly used for cutting glass, glazed or vitrified tiles. With this type of tool you can have a perfect finish even on very delicate or enamelled porcelain tiles. The price of these tools is not far from that of a basic saw, so the price is not a problem. The major problem is the lack of professionalism of improvised layers who unfortunately tarnish the image of a whole category.

This is not an easy process, but if you notice someone laying ceramic tiles in a wrong way, point it out and encourage the layer to purchase a proper diamond saw, which guarantees a perfect job. 

From my experience, one of the best saws currently available is manufactured in Italy by Montolit, there are some details on http://www.montolit.com/en/2011/05/diamond-blade-ceramic-cermont-cpf/. If you can't find this one, ask for something with the same characteristics from another brand. There is also this other company proposing good tools http://www.martinabrasivi.it/prodotti-abrasivi/dischi-diamantati.html, look for the last product in the page... unfortunately info is in Italian language only.

This is all for the moment, if I have any other suggestions I'll post them further on.