Tile cutting

In this first picture where I have my knife
pointing is where I am marking the tile.
I have the tile flipped upside down in the
same place it is going to be and I am marking
the back. Mark both sides,on the left and the right.
you can slide the tile slightly to the right and left
to see where the tile that is already in place is.



Once both sides are marked I can take a tile to
use as a straight edge and "score" the back of the
tile. Now this is VCT, Vinyl composition tile, which
is much softer than a ceramic tile. Once you score
the back, you can snap the tile and flip ti back over
and it will fit perfectly in place


Now in the bottom picture, I use another trick,
Since the cut is on an angle,I place the tile I need
to cut face up directly on top of a tile that is in place
and use my straight edge cutting tile , place it
against the wall and where it overlaps is where
I make my "score", snap it and put it in place.
the reason I use these methods is because
I don't need a clumsy tape measure slowing
the process down.


Although you can't see the tile underneath the
one I am cutting, You can see the direction of
grain. In VCT installation each tile is set in a
checker board pattern.
this technique can also be used for ceramic tile.
Just remember you are probably using spacers,
so make sure you have a couple of spacers against
the wall when you mark your tile.
Good luck.And feel free to e-mail me at
rich@allflooringinc.com