I successfully made all of the straight cuts on the tiles but it was quite a process. After the first few cuts, I decided I would gradually cut my way towards the cut line. I kept cutting away portions of the tile until I got to where I wanted it to be. This worked quite well.
All was going well until I had to start cutting the hole out of the tile to make way for the toilet. A Home Depot employee recommended I use a diamond tipped blade for a jig saw to make the cut. This way, it'll go faster and still be able to guide the cut along the curve. It didn't work very well.
The blade barely got through the tile. I had to lean on the saw to get it to move, which it hardly did. It got so tiring I had to start taking breaks. Well, at one point as I lifted the saw away, the tile snapped in half!
All was going well until I had to start cutting the hole out of the tile to make way for the toilet. A Home Depot employee recommended I use a diamond tipped blade for a jig saw to make the cut. This way, it'll go faster and still be able to guide the cut along the curve. It didn't work very well.
The blade barely got through the tile. I had to lean on the saw to get it to move, which it hardly did. It got so tiring I had to start taking breaks. Well, at one point as I lifted the saw away, the tile snapped in half!
I stood there in shock! The tile had suddenly broken-debris flying onto the ground. That's when I thought I'm really glad I take safety precautions like wearing eye protection, hearing protection, gloves, pants and closed to shoes, especially the shoes. That broken piece of tile could have caused a pretty good injury to my feet had it landed on them.
I took a moment and reconsidered my options. I decided I would practice some more on some other scrap pieces of tile. The same thing happened. They just shattered as I went along. I needed another approach.
I got on YouTube and discovered the angle grinder option. I learned I could buy a blade for the angle grinder to cut porcelain tile. A few nights later, I went out and bought the Makita 4 in. Continuous Rim General Purpose Diamond Blade. Once I got it on, I was nervous and ready. I'd watched a bunch of videos that stressed safely using the angle grinder because the blade is spinning at 11,000 RPM and could cause a whole lot of harm.
So I practiced on a scrap piece of tile and it worked. I went ahead with cutting out the holes and it went really well! I cut out the hole, I didn't hurt or kill myself nor did I cause any type of property damage. Success!
Here's a dry fit. This is how it should look once it's all been installed.
I placed the toilet there to see how it'll look.
Up next, installing tile.
I felt nervous as I was reading about how the tile broke. Maybe if there's another mishap (hopefully there won't be), you can let us know upfront that you're okay? :) By the way, the floor looks great!
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