Half Bath Renovation: Making the Cut(s)

After the ordeal with the tile saw, I felt it best to research what we wanted, at a price we could afford. Of course, I also felt it best to go buy it alone with the return money from the first saw and blade so as to just get one and start using it without an argument ensuing!

The first thing I wanted to do, and I’m not a stickler for things like this, I swear, was look for a name brand I recognized. Why? For the simple fact they are easier to research. Sure I typed into Google “7” wet tile saw 5/8” arbor slate” and was inundated with a multitude of choices and only two names I recognized. But to simplify this search, I decided to find out more about a specific tile saw I noticed at Lowe’s… a Skil Wet Tile Saw.

This compact saw had what seemed to be everything we were looking for: a stainless steel table; water reservoir for wet cutting; portable; priced under $100; and most importantly, a 5/8” arbor hole so we can actually find blades to fit the damned thing! The only thing it didn’t have was reviews because it is so new to the market. So, do I take the gamble and buy it, or do I go with something that has been on the market longer? I took the gamble, and so far, am very glad I did.

We started laying out the tiles where we wanted them to go in the half bath, moving and shuffling them around until they looked nice and randomy. Once we had the tiles where we wanted them, it was just a matter of cutting the tiles that needed to be cut. So, with pencil in hand, I marked out the cut lines and my partner made the cuts for about half of the tiles we needed before he had to go to a meeting at church. This meant that if I wanted the dry fit to be done, I’d have to cut the other half myself. Gulp!

He had cut the two tiles around the toilet ring, and didn’t have success with the cuts around the vent, probably because I marked them from the underside. Of course, I chose those pieces because they had flaws that I wanted cut out anyway and they just happened to be in the area where the vent hole was. Needless to say, the pieces were probably too fragile to begin with because of the flaws, and they both cracked. I wasn’t worried, as we had plenty of tiles, and still needed to make cuts for the one end where we’d need 1¼” strips. Instead I used a scrap piece of cardboard from one of the boxes the tiles came in and made a template the same size as the vent hole and traced my cut lines onto the tiles using that. I cut the two sides first then made half-inch cuts in between and simply broke off the small thin lines of tile I had made, using pliers to cut the small sections at the end to square it off. I cut out the final piece around the door frame and the thin cuts too, and put them into place. Success! Our dry fit is complete! Now onto the next step, numbering and labeling them before setting them with thinset.