# Cutting 35" Porcelain tiles?



## ThomasPernille (Oct 25, 2009)

Hello we are new here, but need urgent help of how to cut 35" long Porcelain tiles. Its the rip cut that will be 35" long.
We have looked at wet saws that cost $900 or so, but are trying to get around it for less, as its the maximum of 10 tiles we need to cut that length. Any ideas or tips?
thanks


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## oh'mike (Sep 18, 2009)

What you need is a 'bridge saw' -A big one.
You should be able to rent a 36" bridge saw,make a few calls.

Google Bridge saws ,You will find a few pictures.


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## diy'er on LI (Jul 6, 2009)

what? you shop at porcelanosa too? yeah, those 35" porcelain tiles are a pain. since we intend to do several more floors, we actually bought one of those bridge saw beasts. Definitely rent a pro-quality brige saw. (My father in-law didn't believe me when I said an $$$ saw was required. He took our sample tile and tried to cut it with a small saw (7" blade). Wasn't pretty!)


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## ccarlisle (Jul 2, 2008)

Find a tile+natural stone supplier - they'll do it for you...


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## R&D Tile (Feb 6, 2006)

Not many bridge saws will even handle a 35" tile.

Angle grinder and diamond blade, score the tile, place a nail under each end of the scored cut and snap them suckers.

This tool will work also.

http://www.contractorsdirect.com/Ti...86ecb828d327db88.e3eSbNqNc38Le34Pa38Ta38Sbh50


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## ThomasPernille (Oct 25, 2009)

Yeah. They look great, but we just thought it was great and easy that we could use fewer tiles because of their size. Of course, at that time we didn't have a clue it would be difficult to cut and hang them! Oh well. How did yours turn out? Thanks for the advice.


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## ThomasPernille (Oct 25, 2009)

I just looked at the Felker you recommended. Do you know anything about the Alpha aws-125? It has a guide rail and looks like it can make very straight cuts. Thanks.


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## diy'er on LI (Jul 6, 2009)

our big-tile bathroom is about to be demo'ed on friday... (our tile order only was delivered this monday). My father-in-law is going to help us. I think it will take a few weekends to get all of this done. Frankly, I'd be happy to just have the entire room demo'ed by the end of this weekend.

"Huge tile" issues didn't occur to us either until after we placed the order. I'm hoping it all turns out well. Good luck with your project!


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## oh'mike (Sep 18, 2009)

As a professional tile setter I have only set the GIANT tiles twice.

The floor must be absolutely flat and have virtually no movement.

This means no wood framed floors,and extra time and money to level a concrete slab prior to installing the tiles into a very deep bed of mud.

Most people select a different tile due to the extra work and costs involved with the GIANTS.

I have never seen a wood floor that was stable enough throughout the year,to take a tile installation of any tile over 14x14. 

I didn't post this to spoil your day.Just to help you all avoid a floor failure.


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## diy'er on LI (Jul 6, 2009)

that is some VERY good info we'll keep in mind when we pick out tiles for our upstairs bathrooms.....


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## ingeborgdot (Mar 30, 2008)

Would 18" tiles fit under the category of giant? Are they hard to work with? This would be for a floor and not a wall. It will have ditra under it which helps for shifting and moving.


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## R&D Tile (Feb 6, 2006)

> I have never seen a wood floor that was stable enough throughout the year,to take a tile installation of any tile over 14x14.


That's strange, I can set any size tile or stone over a properly prepared floor over wood.

What's the problem?


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## diy'er on LI (Jul 6, 2009)

R&D Tile said:


> That's strange, I can set any size tile or stone over a properly prepared floor over wood.
> 
> What's the problem?


I'm getting confused. 

I love large porcelain and stone tiles... and initially, would have loved to have huge 24" by 24" in our upstairs bathrooms (wood-frame house with plywood subflooring). I'm a total tile newbie. 

What is the ideal subfloor for a large tile floor in that situation? (what would you put on top of the plywood to create a tile-friendly surface?)


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## ccarlisle (Jul 2, 2008)

The main floor parameter that changes with the increasing size of the tile is the deflection limit of the floor itself, all other things being equal...so for in your example of a 24"x24" tile, the deflection of the floor would have to meet the L/720 limit, plus have control joints etc. And to get _that_ (L/720 deflection limit) you need a thick subfloor, which in turn requires full evaluation of your floor joists.

To put that into perspective, a floor of a house built to minimum code these days, would not even allow basic 12"x12" (L/360) ceramic floor installation and would be considered good for carpet only...so even the basic tile floor needs work in most house I see today. Goes to show you...


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## R&D Tile (Feb 6, 2006)

diy'er on LI, what is it you want to install, stone or the porcelain tile?

What size joists, spacing and unsupported span of them do you have where this tile or stone is going?


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## diy'er on LI (Jul 6, 2009)

R&D Tile said:


> diy'er on LI, what is it you want to install, stone or the porcelain tile?
> 
> What size joists, spacing and unsupported span of them do you have where this tile or stone is going?


this is in the future (sometime next year?).... so we haven't given it much thought yet. Ideally, if there were no limitations, we would install 24" granite, but porcelain is also a possibility. I merely chimed in becuase I am clueless as to the limitations of tile floors on a 2nd floor of a wood home. 

what are generally the requirements for joists, spacing, and subflooring for larger tile floors? is it rather difficult and complicated? If it is, I'll bypass aesthetics and go with good ol' 12" tiles or even smaller. It's simply not worth jumping through hoops to us...

thanks


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## ccarlisle (Jul 2, 2008)

Well, what you need to do a granite floor depends on what you already have - but I can almost say with 100% certainty that you'll need to strip the floor back down to the joists and rebuild it. That's only because most houses aren't structurally built to take the weight of granite tiles.

The result of NOT doing this is cracked grout or worse cracked tiles due to bouncing floors.


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## diy'er on LI (Jul 6, 2009)

yikes.... scrap the granite idea then. so porcelain is lighter and requires less subflooring work?

right now we're so winded from working and taking care of a baby while redoing our downstairs 1/2 bath that peel-and-stick vinyl is starting to look better and better to me :laughing:


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## ccarlisle (Jul 2, 2008)

OK, this has gone way farther than the original poster wanted it to go but it has opened up a ton of questions and answers...someone asked me what I meant by "L/720"...these ratios are deflection limits or measures of stiffness. 

"L/360" is typically the maximum allowable deflection for a floor under maximum design load allowed by building code, where "L" is the span length in inches. For example, to meet L/360, a 10 ft floor joist can bend a maximum of 1/3" under its max design load (10' x 12" = 120" / 360 = 1/3"). So, to meet "L/720", that same joist can only bend 1/6" (120"/720=1/6").

Basically a floor designed to "L/720" is twice as stiff as a floor designed to L/360. And to meet one or the other depends on what you already have and may or may not require stiffer joists and/or another layer of plywood to meet the maximum alllowable deflection. There's more to it but that's it in a nutshell...


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## R&D Tile (Feb 6, 2006)

Adding plywood doesn't strengthen the floor as far as the joist system, it only adds strength to the flex between the joists.

Two layers of wood are better than one, then a CBU or membrane of choice.

You NEED two layers of wood if stone is used, one layer of 3/4" ply for ceramic, which is bare minimum.

Best to come back when you decide what you want to install.


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