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.

Giant tiles laying - only a few can do it!

Very few tile layers know today the correct installation techniques and tricks to lay large format tiles without damaging them, those tiles that have dimensions from a minimum of 1 meter by 3 meters by 6 mm or more. I do not mean Kerlite, the 3 mm one which now seems to be a little outdated.

Tilers and contractors of construction indulge themselves to call them in the most different ways

Giant tiles

Large format tiles

Large-format or giant plates

Extra large tiles

and so on and so forth.

The fact remains that today this material is on the market, producing companies promote it and architects include it in their projects, but the drama remains on finding installers who can place them seriously with guaranteed results.

Being a new product, few have had the opportunity to learn how to lay it and almost nobody has the suitable tile cutters for cutting and handling these huge and very expensive tiles.

Those who currently pose with the famous “Italian technique”, use an angle grinder as a tile cutter to do everything, including damaging tiles.

With this type of tile which can cost more than 500 dollars each, one is not allowed to play and if you don't rely on a professional and experienced tile layer it's easy to throw hundreds of dollars from the window.

The improvised tile layer says that the tile is defective or impossible to cut but that's not the truth.

Anyway, this pose is (finally) making a selection between Sunday tilers and the serious ones.

The producers, on their hand, are attempting to rapidly train layers using the right tile cutters, but we all know this is a process that takes time. Let's wait and see.

What is certain is that in terms of aesthetics and practicality, these giants tiles are changing the world of architecture and indirectly also the world of tile-laying, which is our own.

New Tile Cutter is arriving in a few weeks

Hi Guys, A very innovative Tile Cutter Made in Italy will soon appear on the market! I'm excited. I will keep you posted :-)

Montolit professional tiling tools in Canada

Finally it is possible to find also in North America all the range of professional tiling tools made by Montolit.
This is a exicting news!
Brevetti Montolit Spa has opened a branch in Canada. For further information www.montolit.com

I'm very exicited because after many years we can find quality tiling tools also here in USA and Canada.

These tools are needed in the market because of the varaity of porcelain tiles avaliable for purchase it is necessary to find a way to cut and drill every kind of porcelain tile fast and efficent.

Professional Wet Saw for Porcelain tiles, Marble and Granite

Cutting giant tiles with a professional tile cutters

Hi, I visited one very important ceramic fair in Italy and I was surpriced to see that more than 5 ceramic tiles producers are now producing very big tiles.
I'm not talking about Kerlite from Cotto d'Este but tiles 1 x 3 meters x 4, 6, 8 till 10 mm!!! a real GIANT TILE.
I visited the stand of Laminam and Graniti Fiandre. It was unbelieveble, so large tiles. With only 5 tiles you could lay a bathroom.
Buy my question was...how to cut these 3 meters tiles?
I was very busy looking the ceramic tiles during the fair and I had not time to visit the tiling tools producers in order to check which solutions they are putting on
the market.
When I was back at home I checked Internet and I found this incredible tile cutter able to make the incision and to split these giant tiles:

It was the only professional and complete tile cutter for giant tiles that I found. Other systems was too simple and studied only for standard Kerlite.

For me it is fantastic! One 3 meters tile cutter. Unbelieveble!

The reality is that the tile layers work is quickly changing. Laying these tiles (that cost till $1000 each!!!) is not easy and the tiles need to pay a lot of attention.
It is important to use professional tools. As I wrote in my preview post, the time of bad quality tile cutters and in general low cost (and bad quality) tiling tools is finisching.
The tiles cannot take the risk to breack $500 tile because he is using a bad tile cutter :-)
By the way. Looking in internet I fond others tile cutters for very large tiles but all these tools are very similar to the original tile cutter (glass cutter) studied to cut Kerlite. The problem is that now these new tiles are very hard and with till 10mm thickness so it is not possible to use simply sistems for cutting them!
Who will take a risk to brek $500 tile?
Joung tilers will face a big challage in their future.

New Tiling tools blog in french language

Hi guys, I found this new blog dedicated to professional tiling tools. This tiling tools blog is entirely written in French language for France and other countries that use french language.
This is the main link: Coupe Carrelage Blog
bye bye

The time for chines tile cutter is finishing

Hi guys, some years ago I remember that everybody used cheaper and bad quality tile cutters produced in China.
At that time it was easy and it was possible to do that because the tiles were very soft and very small so, also a simple and not professional tile cutter was able to cut that tiles.
Now the situation is exactly the opposite. Tiles are becoming hard, long and with difficult surfaces and it is not possible at all to cut them with simple tile cutter made in China.

I’ll give you an example just to understand what is the problem.
I’m now working inside a Hospital, a new area dedicated for the research. The architect decided to use a new crazy tile! 3 meter for 1,5 meter per 4 mm thickness.
I tried to cut it with a standard cutter but it was not possible because with 4 mm tiles it is not possible to use the same system used for cutting the 3 m x 1 m x 3 mm Kerlite tiles because these tiles are very very hard.

The only solution that I found was to cut it manually with an angle grinder and a small diamond blade for gres porcelain and hard ceramic. The result isn’t so beautiful but it was and in USA it is the only available solution now.
By the way, I’ll inform you as soon as I’ll find another solution by myself or on the market.
Have a nice day

The cheapest tile cutter for cutting big tiles!

What is in this moment the cheapest professional tile cutter for cutting very large tiles with dimension 100, 120, 150 cm?
Surfing in internet I found some tile big cutters produced by Rubi, Montolit and Sigma. Analyzing the machines and asking to my friends (tilers around the world), I discovered that in this moment, in their mind, the best tile cutter for cutting large tiles is Montolit tile cutter ,
followed by Rubi tile cutter and after by Sigma tile cutters. As you know Sigma normally produce pull tile cutters but in this case, for cutting big sizes, also Sigma decided use the best push system for cutting tiles. As you know it is not good to cut tiles pulling due to the body problemt that it creates.

Also the Rubi long tile cutter is not so bad but a little expensive compared with the performance. No other professional and long tile cutters are available on the market.

Which is the best tile cutters for very long tiles?

Hi tilers, I need your help now! Next month I'll start to work with very long gres porcelain tiles (italian producers, Graniti Fiandre) - these tiles are 1 m x 1,5 m x 14 mm thickness. I urgently need some special tile cutter able to easily cut this type of large tiles. I'm sure that some of you already worked with these tiles. So, could you please suggest me which is the best tile cutter for cutting these tiles? Searching on the web, I already found some information. Sigma and Montolit have these tile cutters, Raimondi doesn't have them at all, Rubi has something but not very strong because now Rubi produces most of its tools in China and with this economical situation I'm starting to prefer not to buy chinese made products! Could someone write me about your experience? Thanks a lot!

New blog about tile cutters...in german language!

Hi guys! Checking the statistics of my blog I saw that there are many german tilers interested in my posts and in general on tiling tools. Actually I don't know if you know but I found now a very interesting blog in german language, for sure more useful than my blog (for german tilers of course :-)
This is the address: www.derfliesenschneider.de
This blog is similar to my blog, full of video and pictures.
In this moment I saw that it is focused on Montolit tiling tools but I'm sure that in the future the "administrator" will add some useful information.

Tile cutter with laser guide? Is it a good tools?

Hi, I just spent some money to purchase a manual tile cutter with laser guide. It was fantastic to see it inside the onlineshop but when I received it I was surpriced. The laser is only a gadget because it isn't necessary and it is not exact!!! I spent 250,00 euro for big tile cutter...I think that I'll try to sell it on ebay in the next days.
I'll buy a push tile cutter that I saw in California online shop. The new Montolit 93P2 with reinforced bar. Simply but professional and durable ...for life :-)
Some friend of mine are suggesting me to buy push tile cutter but I'l afraid to have body problems using a push tile cutter. I know many tilers with serious problems on wrist due to the use of pull tile cutter. Let's see. Ok for pushing :-) everytime

Tile cutters. The best price or the best quality?

Hi, for sure for me this is a stupid question! But unfortunately every week some of my colleague ask me this question. Where can I find a cheaper tile cutter or a cheaper tiling tool?
My answer is a question. Are you a professional tile layer or a DIY lower? If you are professional why do you want a chinese tiling tools that works for some days and after it is ready to put on the garbage? 30 USD for a 63 cm tile cutters unable to cut very hard porcelain tiles. A cheaper tile cutter able to cut only 100 m of soft tiles...and after?? after you have to buy another one and another one...spending in total more than a new professional tile cutters with life time warranty!

Testing different type of tiles.

Hi, in the last two years I had tha opportunity to lay many brand of italian tiles.
What can I say about italian tiles? For sure some years ago the quality of the italian tiles was better. Now it is possible to find italian tiles with not so good quality...medium quality. I don't know the reason of this decrease of quality but it exists!
By the way, cutting these tiles I discovered that Marazzi, Graniti Fiandre, Cotto D'Este tiles continue to be very good. Unfortunately I can't say the same for the other small brand. if you want to lay perfect tile I personallu suggest Cotto D'Este but it is my personal suggestion. If you buy no branded or chines or wrost spanish tiles you will have the great risk to lay something not good. Especially spanish tiles decreased a lot their quality. Some months ago I'was laying a big house. The owner was an Spanish man. He asked (imposed) me to lay spanish tiles. Unfortunately after some day of work we (I and the owner of this house) discovered that the surface of these tiles absorbed humidity! We had to put in the garbage these tiles and buy Marazzi Tiles for a US dealer of Marazzi. It was a bad but useful experience.

Which is The best tile cutter in the USA?

Hey! this is a very hard question.
Unfortunately there aren't professional "Made in USA" tile cutters. The real challange is between the italian tile cutters Montolit, Sigma, Siri, Raimondi etc.
In my opinion Sigma is very good, a very solid professional tile cutter but I don't like pull tile cutters because they created me problems with my wrist in in the past!
Montolit, you know, is a very tool, full of useful optionals to cut every kind of tiles, also the 14 mm tiles (gres).
Siri is also professional but too complex for me. I need simply tools.
Raimondi has a good tile cutter but Raimondi doesn't produce them.
What is your idea? Which tile cutter is the best in the USA?
I'll be waiting for your comments.

Not only tile cutters...what about the drilling tools?

Hi guys! The market is really crazy. As professional tiler I make a large number of holes in tiles. In the beginning of my job I started using DIY core bits, because my idea was to save money purchasing chinese or other cheaper tools. I was young and I was stupid :-)
During my job I understood that these cheaper drilling tools work for 3 or 5 holes maximum. After that holes I had to purchase another core bits with also a great risk to break the tile.
Due to this experience, I decided to spend more money to buy professional core bits and the results was good. 50 or more holes in very hard gres porcelain with a single tools, no one problem with the tile. Obviousy I made my calculation in order to save my money:

to make 50 holes with cheaper core bits I need 10 x 5$ core bits - total amount 50 USD
to make 50 holes with professional core bits I need 1 x 24$ core bits - total amount 24 USD!!!!

I'm now using only professional core bits Bosch, Hilti, Montolit or other brands but for sure top quality brands because I want to make a good job and for sure to save my money.

Now when I see my joung colleagues start to work with that tools I laugh...they will learn alone with time that chinese tools in reality aren't cheaper tools... it is necessary to make a complete calculation in order to understand the real total cost...

Incredible wet saw from Italy

Hi, I saw in the Montolit blog the new electric tile cutters named "Tornado". Looking for the videos for me it is very good, especially the cutting finishing. There is a dedicated video that shows the cutting finishing that you can obtain with this new wet saw with mounted a professional blade. This wet saw is similar to Dewalt wet saw but with many additional functions and above all a lot of quality. I'll buy one of this tornado asap and I'll show you some results. I hope :-) bye

Tile cutter Brevetti Montolit in USA

Hi,

I found this new website that promises to sell tile cutters Montolit in USA with very good price and service!!!
here you have the link:

Tile cutters Montolit in USA

The only problem is that they will sell only Masterpiuma tile cutters.. :-(
but we hope with low price. :-)

Ceramic tile producers are crazy?

Are the ceramic tile producer crazy? If you have a look to the last tiles that the tile producers launched on the market you could really think that there is something strange on the market. 120...150 cm and maybe longer tiles, 14, 16 mm thickness with very very special surfaces (special textures, mixed materials). Every day our job is becaming harder and in order to cut and to drill this kind og tilers we need special wet saws with spacial blades. All the tiling tools world is trying to follow this trend that I like to call crazy tiles but I don't know which will be the limit. Today to fix a kerlite tile (1m x 3 m x 3 mm) or Graniti Fiandre tile (1 m x 1,50m x 12 or 14 mm) you ned special equipement etc etc and this isn't the end because next yeear the caramic tile producers will lauch new strange tiles...I personally think that maybe these ceramic tiles are an opportunity for the end users but I think also that the ceramic tile producers should ask to the professional tilers and to the tiling tools producers before to put on the market a new type of tiles! Bye

Manual tile cutter or wet saw...?

Hi! many young tilers ask me to suggest him when and where to use manual tile cutter or wet saw because many times you can cut the same tile with both tile cutters with similar results. Personally I try to do my job with the manual tile cutter due to the speed, easy to move also in not easy situation...working on 4...5 floor etc, cheaper (witha good machine you'll change the small whell once a year! and it is very cheap :-). Obviously there are many tile and many situation in which you have to use a wet tile saw for example with special corrugated tiles with veryu irregular surfaces...very thick or hard tiles. It is incredible because the tile producers are producing "very difficult" tiles. I mean, very difficolt to cut but we will find every time a solution. Finally, I need to have both machine but it is useful to work more with a manual tile cutter :i)

Very fast and cheap wet saw !!?

Hi! how are you. I've just finished a big tiling job with Kerlite tiles by Cotto D'Este. It was the first time for me but I had a good support from the company. Anyway, I'm writing this small post because now I'm following the new montolit blog and I saw that they are lauching the fastest and cheaper wet saw for tiles, marble and granit. I like electric tile saw brooklyn series but I'll happy if they will be able to launch a very fast and compact wet saw. I hope also that this machine will be not expensive. Here you have the link to this post:
http://www.montolit.com/en/category/montolit-blog/wet-tile-saws/


I,m very curious. See you soon tilers!

Tiling tools in USA

Ciao tilers! A friend of mine asked me to help him. He is working on a big project (25.000 square metres!!!) near San Francisco and he need professional tiling tools. He need wet saws (approx 110 cm long - useful for gres porcelain and marble tiles) and diamond blades for these electric saws. He is looking from Europeans tiling tools because I convinced him that these tools are the best on the market :-)
If you are a dealer for europeean tiling tools brands or you have some information please write me. Thanks! and see you soon tiler!

Web news, I found the Montolit official blog!

Tiling Tools Montolit Blog
a very new blog that I hope could give us a great support for our daily job
Bye

A new tile cutter for big tiles

Dear Friends, wake up from my crazy video! I heard from my friend in Brazil that Montolit launched some days ago a new tile cutter able to cut very big tiles! like 100 - 120 cm
I will check it and I will post some news with more detail asap! You can find the standard detail of this new machine in the Montolit website following this page
long cm tile cutter

CURVE CUT IN TILE WITH MANUAL TILE CUTTER

Dear Friends, here I am! I would like to give you more information about how to cut curve in tile with a manual machine. I posted some weeks ago one post concerning the art. S63, with this post I would like to give you more details about this way to cut tiles. As you know there is a steadily growing request for special shapes and/or patterns on tiled surfaces. With the normal tile cutters you can cut only in a linear cutting, with this machine you can cut linear but also you are able to make all type of curve cut. To make this possible, this machine has a special support stand and special scoring wheel carriage capable of movement along two axes, which operators can guide using standards or custom templates, or simply working freehand. In the attached picture you can see an example of realization with this machine named Tile cutter Combi Slalom.

Paving Slab Brick Block cutter, very interesting in my opinion!

Yesterday morning I was in down town to buy some diamond drills to finish a special work in a bathroom . Near the tiling tools shop there was a small group of workers that was putting down a paving block for landscape. Their was using a big hydraulic paving block cutter. It was incredible to see how the machine cut the paving block without any difficult! I asked to the layers which was the used of the machine and they told me that that hydraulic paving block cutter is ideal for Flag stone and retaining walls. The name of this machine is 3STR and it will cut any block, paving tile, slab or similar material made from concrete, stone, or granite. Another Montolit products!
I fond in internet some more details about this machine, maybe it will be useful for you too.

“The cutting height according to the thickness of the material is adjustable by a hand operated adjustment screw. The cutting blades are spring mounted to allow for a snug fit with the irregular thickness of the material surface. The hydraulic drive ensures the highest cutting results while the pressure release screw gives maximum speed & control over the blade to return it to its start position. While the material is being cut, it is held in position by a sprung platform to aid handling.”

I found two videos on you tube about paving block cutters. The first one is related with an electric block cutter, the second one with a manual paving block cutter. For sure the electric one is good but sincerely I prefer to have manual machine without the electricity problem and risk. The 3STR I think that is a good machine for landscape. You can use it without electricity on the road. For sure you can use a blade but what about the cost of the blade? Bye bye my friend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1vnRPx2t5o

http://www.montolit.com/schedaprod.aspx?fam=A01TL50

Manual Tile Cutters in Praga....

The best tile cutter in the world. Masterpiuma series

This range of super-professional tile cutter can cut all types of tile, with thickness of 0-20 mm, quickly and precisely. Thanks to the innovative large protractor square, even diagonal cutting is extremely safe and simple. For me this is an exceptional machine: light, extra strong, and accurate. You can buy this tile cutter everywere worlwide and the price is very good above all if you compare it with the duration. And in this case I'm sure that this tile cutter is Made in Italy.

You can find more information following this link:

Tile cutters for large format tiles

Related posts: How to choose the best incision wheel for your snap tile cutter

Tile cutter made in Italy. How to recognize it in comparison to a bad copy?

Tile cutter MADE IN ITALY? How to recognize it ? As all people know, the best tile cutters worldwide are made in Italy. Now the real problem is to recognize it because unfortunately on the market there are many and many bad copies of tiling tools from others countries, copy that works quite good for some weeks or months and after break down without any possibility to repair it…! .
In order to recognize it we must pay attention at the following characteristic:
Solidity: normally a good tile cutter has a base aluminium structure very solid, the base is a aluminium metal casting that grants a very good base to work with precision and stability.
But the solidity is not enough to recognize the real Italian tile cutter. You must take it on your hands and try to move the different principal components. In a good tile cutter this component are well fixed each others and, without any type of small movement!. If you have a minimum feeling with mechanics, you will fill immediately if the structure is solid or not.
Another important point is the quality of wheels. Normally with an Italian tile cutter you can cut some km of tiles without any problem. In the bad tile cutter, the wheel breaks after some days.

It is true, it is not easy to recognise a good tile cutter only having a look on picture in internet. If possible, it is important to ask information to another expert tiler or a good reseller that could grant you a warranty.
Obviously I suggest you to try an Italian tile cutters Montolit. I’m sure that you will not change anymore! Have a good day my friend.