I am getting ready to do a tiled shower project, and after that, a roughly 800sq ft floor. In both cases, I will use porcelain tile and the tile will be large format tile (LFT) that measures 12"x24".
I have a wet saw, but the shower is on the second floor and it would be much easier if I could cut the tile in the same room or at least on the same level of the house. To do this, I am looking at purchasing a tile cutter similar to this one. I understand that tile cutter can only cut straight lines, and I am OK with that.
My concern is that I've seen numerous websites/comments that say a tile cutter does not produce a clean edge, and that since porcelain is harder than ceramic, getting a good cut is much harder with the tile I want to use.
I am wondering if anyone can confirm or refute my concern. I am by no means a professional, but I would venture to say I'm an above-average DIYer. Given that, do I stand a reasonable chance of being able to use a tile cutter with a somewhat high degree of success?
Best Answer
Using something like this you better be willing to practice and make sure you have the best tool. You can score and snap and it can be clean. But it can go the other way too and you can have tail pieces, cracks or flaky edges.
We have a tile guy that uses one of these from the 1960s and he sharpens the cutting wheel daily. His lines are great and it saves time. However I have seen many many people use these and I have had to tell them that "hey that cut is crap, don't use it on my floor".
So if you are going this way, you better practice and make sure it is worth it. Those are some big @ss tiles and imperfections will be noticeable.
If I were you I would keep the saw where I was laying down the main floor (not the shower). Honestly if you are making that many cuts in your shower area for that large of tile you have not planned well.
Also know that if you want to snap the tiles - them being porcelain - you will have to score the crap out of them. You will have to make sure the scoring wheel is sharp and is digging deep and you will have to practice putting pressure on the entire mechanism. Putting pressure equally and holding the tile at 24" is really a two person job.
So can you snap tiles and have them look great? Yes - for sure. Seen it done. Is it probably the most reliable method? Probably not. Would I prefer a wet saw? Yes. Can wet saws chip porcelain? For sure.
The answer you want has to do with the quality of the tool you will buy and the amount of time you will invest (or money for scrap tiles) to use it correctly. The guy I hire for high end tiling jobs uses a snapper... At the same time I hire a lot of other guys that do a great job and none of them do.