Cutting a Notch in Tile

I got started on another bathroom surround today. My clients have a nice older home on one of my favorite parts of Inglewood. They are actually wanting to sell their home and have decided to upgrade the tub surround to 4 1/4" square tiles.

I spent most of the day tearing out plaster and installing Hardibacker in preparation of laying tile, but had time to get the first couple of rows finished. I had to cut a notch in a few of the tiles to make room for the shower faucet and thought I'd show how I handled that.

If it's in the center of a tile I like to use a carbide-tipped hole saw. However, in this application, the notch was at the edge of several tiles. You could make the notch with the tile-nippers and that works fine. Today I thought it would be quicker to instead use the wet saw.

After marking an outline of where your notch needs to be, make a series of cuts to the depth of your mark. After making the cuts, the small pieces easily break off by hand, or with the nippers.

This process works well for both small tiles and large ones.

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com