Cutting tiles cleanly

Most tiling projects need a few cut tiles at the edges and around fittings. Good cuts are a large part of what makes a wall or floor look finished. This page sets out the main kinds of tile cutter, what each one does well, and how to keep the work comfortable and safe.

Score-and-snap cutters

The familiar hand tile cutter works in two steps. A hardened wheel scratches a straight line across the face of the tile. The tool then presses down below the line and on each side of it, and the tile snaps along the score.

The wheel and the snapping part ride together on a carriage. That carriage runs along one or two beams, which keeps the cut straight. Many cutters have adjustable fences for square and angled cuts. Some have stops, so you can make several cuts of exactly the same size. The scoring wheel is easy to replace when it wears.

When a diamond blade cuts better

Harder tiles need a diamond blade. That includes fully vitrified porcelain, stone tiles and some textured clay tiles. A dedicated tile saw uses water to cool its diamond blade. Like the hand cutters, tile saws often have fences for square and angled cuts.

Water does more than keep the blade cool. It greatly reduces the dust a cut makes, washes the slurry out of the cut and helps the blade last longer. Blades with finer diamond grit chip the tile less and leave a smoother edge.

Curves, notches and holes

Tile nippers look like small pincers. Tilers use them to break off small edges of a scored tile, or to nibble a hole a little wider. A simple hand glass cutter can score a smooth glazed surface, so the tile can then be snapped.

An angle grinder with a diamond blade can make short or curved cuts. It can also make L-shaped cuts and holes. It is more often used dry than wet, and cutting dry makes more dust.

Fewer cuts through good setting out

The neatest cut is often the one you do not need to make. The Tile Association advises setting out a wall so that cuts on either side of a window are the same size. It also suggests centring plain tiles on each wall, which avoids small, awkward cuts that can spoil the look.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) makes a similar point about dust. Choosing a material size that needs less cutting, or a less powerful tool, cuts down the dust before it is made.

Keeping the dust down

Tiles, like bricks, concrete and mortar, contain silica. Cutting, drilling and grinding them can make a very fine dust, known as respirable crystalline silica. It is too fine to see in normal light. HSE says silica is the biggest risk to construction workers after asbestos.

HSE gives two main ways to stop the dust getting into the air. The first is water, supplied at the right level for the whole time you are cutting. Wetting the tile beforehand does not work. The second is extraction fitted to the tool, connected to an H, M or L class extraction unit rather than a general vacuum cleaner.

Where a mask is still needed, HSE gives a protection factor of 20 as the general level for construction dust. A tight-fitting mask needs a face fit test, and it only seals on a clean-shaven face.

Ears and skin

Grinders and disc cutters are among the power tools HSE names as a risk to hearing. Hearing lost to noise does not come back, so it is worth using quieter methods and hearing protection. Wet working can also cause dermatitis, so HSE advises protecting and caring for the skin on your hands.