Anyone know how to lay kitchen tile?

[FormulaOne]

My only experience is in laying pipe:devil:

Seriously though. What kind of tool do I need to cut the tile and how do I make rounded cuts?

[THRILLSEEKER]

a tile cutting tool with a rounded cut attachment, they can be rented at any Home Depot.

Be sure to tell them how thick your tile is as there are several different tile cutting tool depth guides. They usually go by thick thin or medeum.

[Full Force]

When you learn you can help me do mine!!

[buck183]

Contact Cuda. That's what he does for a living. He shouldn't be too hard to find, he's all over the boating forums. ;)

Buck

[FormulaOne]

Contact Cuda. That's what he does for a living. He shouldn't be too hard to find, he's all over the boating forums. ;)

Buck

Ya, I've seen him on OSO alot. Is he in FL or OH?

[THRILLSEEKER]

In Fl, a member here ;)

[Ironmanwb]

Get out your checkbook.......easiest way.

I just got done laying over 800 sq ft................IT SUCKS.

You NEED a wet saw. They are much easier than the score and break method. Make sure your surface is very flat if it has any humps or rolls you will have problems.

Use some leveling compound to get the humps out.

If you have to put the hardibacker down make sure you screw it every six inches and you put thinset undeneath it. If you don't the tileboard can move and it WILL crack your tile. If you don't screw it off on the X's (every 6") you will have humps in the board and your tile will not sit level.

I could go on about it but after laying 800 ft and having never laid tile before, it is much easier to get out you checkbook. Or find someone who will lay it as a side job. Buy the material at a box store and have them lay it.

Make sure to get tile with a PEI Rating of at 4 or 5.

My .01............cause thats all its worth.

[THRILLSEEKER]

with all the "new home owners" here, Im going to have to add a home improvement forum.

Oh, and Josh, take nothing I said in the first post seriously, I just would have liked to seen the look on the Home Depot employees face when you asked for a medium tile cutting tool with a round cut attachement. :D:D:D:D:D

[FormulaOne]

with all the "new home owners" here, Im going to have to add a home improvement forum.

Oh, and Josh, take nothing I said in the first post seriously, I just would have liked to seen the look on the Home Depot employees face when you asked for a medium tile cutting tool with a round cut attachement. :D:D:D:D:D

ass

[DonziGirl]

just buy it so it fits and you don't have to cut it ;)

[Ironmanwb]

Just put down some of that garage floor epoxy. Its durable, waterproof and has those pretty little specles that add to any decor...

[FormulaOne]

Get out your checkbook.......easiest way.

I just got done laying over 800 sq ft................IT SUCKS.

You NEED a wet saw. They are much easier than the score and break method. Make sure your surface is very flat if it has any humps or rolls you will have problems.

Use some leveling compound to get the humps out.

If you have to put the hardibacker down make sure you screw it every six inches and you put thinset undeneath it. If you don't the tileboard can move and it WILL crack your tile. If you don't screw it off on the X's (every 6") you will have humps in the board and your tile will not sit level.

I could go on about it but after laying 800 ft and having never laid tile before, it is much easier to get out you checkbook. Or find someone who will lay it as a side job. Buy the material at a box store and have them lay it.

Make sure to get tile with a PEI Rating of at 4 or 5.

My .01............cause thats all its worth.

I think that may be where I luck out. A friend of mine just built a house and has 20 or so boxes of tile left over (slight miscalc on the amount they needed I guess) and he said I could take them off his hands free of charge. And second, the dude that lives next door to me built my house. I already played the "dumb kid, new homeowner" route (ok, I wasnt playing I really am dumb). And he offered to help with anything. By "help" assume he meant he wanted to do it himself.

That may be the better route than trying to do it myself from the sounds of it.

[cuda]

A score and break tile cutter is a helluva lot faster than making all the cuts on the wetsaw. It does take a little more practice to use one. First of all, are you going over a concrete slab?

What shape is the area you are tiling? One room, or down hallways and into bathrooms? First and foremost, pop a couple chalk lines to be sure you are running square. Measure off a wall you "think" is square, and pop a line. Then measure off another wall that appears to be perpendicular to that wall. Measure down one line six feet (doesn't matter which line), and make a mark. Measure down the other line eight feet, and make a mark. Then take your tape measure, and completing the triangle with the tape, it should measure exaclty ten feet. The you know it's square (and everyone thought learning the Pythagorean Theorem in school was a waste of time). :) If the area is too small to do the 6-8-10, you can also go 3-4-5. I highly recommend using spacers for the grout joints. We use 3/16. If you don't want to buy a handcutter (about $100 at HD for a 20" Brutus cutter), put all the full tiles in, then go rent a wet saw. They are about $50 a day. I have five of them, unfortunately all five are currently sitting in my garage (dead at work). Never, ever just pick a wall and start running tile off that wall. There is no better way to insure using a non square starting point. Curved cuts suck. You can nibble them out using the wet saw. We use a four inch angle cut grinder with a diamond blade. A good Makita one will cost about $90 new at HD, or you can buy a cheapie at Habor Freight for about $20, which if you are only going to do this once would be the way to go. The diamond blade is $30.

What size tile are you laying?