Tools, Equipment and Materials: Selection, Use and Maintenance
Questions here ask you to choose the right tool for the tile and the task, use it safely, and keep it working - because a worn diamond blade or a clogged trowel shows up later as a defect in the finished work.
Matching tool to task
- Notched trowel: 6 mm notch for mosaics and small ceramics, 10–12 mm for large-format tiles and uneven substrates. The notch must leave enough adhesive for full contact.
- Manual score-and-snap cutter: fast and clean on standard ceramic; struggles with hard porcelain and thick stone.
- Wet saw with continuous-rim diamond blade: best edge quality on porcelain, large format and natural stone.
- Angle grinder with diamond blade: straight cuts, notches and curves; needs a guard, eye protection and dust or water control.
- Tile nippers: small curves, notches and mosaic. Hole saw or diamond core bit: pipes and fittings. Profile/contour gauge: transferring irregular edges. Rubber mallet and levelling clips: bedding and lippage control. Suction cups: handling 1200×600 sheets safely.
Maintenance that protects quality
Clean adhesive off tools before it sets; rinse the mixing paddle; dry blades and store them flat; check grinder cords and RCD; replace the cutter wheel when scoring no longer snaps cleanly.
Worked example
A job specifies 1200×600 porcelain on a wall. A manual cutter will chip and cannot handle the length; a freehand angle grinder will wander. Choose a wet saw with a continuous-rim blade, a large-format suction cup for lifting, a 12 mm notched trowel plus back-buttering, and clips to control lippage. Each choice follows from tile hardness, size and weight - not from habit.
Traps that cost marks
- Using a worn blade and blaming the tile for chipping.
- Washing tools in a sink, where slurry sets in the trap.
- Removing a grinder guard to reach a corner.
- Using a trowel notch that is too small, leaving voids under the tile.