# Glass tile 12X35" cutting and drilling



## Charles_cz (Mar 13, 2008)

Hi guys, I have a bathroom to do with big glass tile on walls. 
I have *Felker GB-10 Glass Cutting Blade* that should help with smoother cut. If there is better blade please let me know. 

I will have to drill 3/4" hole for toilet water supply line. I have nothing for that. I hope you can give me some suggestions what to buy. 

I would rather spend a little more for better product that works and lasts. 

I assume that only way is to go with diamond hole saw. I bet they are not all equal and not sure if glass is in same category as porcelain tile and stones.

Thanks for you input.. :thumbup: Charles


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## Mike Finley (Apr 28, 2004)

Isn't there going to be an eschution plate? If so you can simply cut a square hole using the wet saw blade. Cut the 4 lines of the square hole as much as you can then do a X connecting the corners and you should be able to remove the glass and have your square 3/4 hole, the pipe goes through and the eschution will cover it just fine.


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## angus242 (Oct 20, 2007)

I likey me some Raimondi blades:
http://www.raimondiusa.com/db_glass_2008.html

Never used the Felker blade.

For the water line, get a DIAMOND tip hole saw (I use Dewalt) and a Felker Water Ring!


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## jarvis design (May 6, 2008)

Angus, are those hole saws shown by dewalt?? If so, why don't we get that stuff up here - never seen them from Dewalt before


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## angus242 (Oct 20, 2007)

jarvis design said:


> Angus, are those hole saws shown by dewalt?? If so, why don't we get that stuff up here - never seen them from Dewalt before



Can you order from here?

http://www.contractorsdirect.com/Ti...b4e8ba99c3326d52.e3eSc38TaNqNe34Pa38Ta3aLchn0


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## Charles_cz (Mar 13, 2008)

*Glass tile*

Hi Mike, yes there will be eschution plate. That is what I do with tile where I have plenty of tile left. I use grinder to do that. I'm not sure if glass tile is as strong as porcelain tile and I thought that diamond hole saw would be safer way to cut the hole. It's big tile and customer will have may be two extra pieces. ( I told them to get more but they are willing to take the risk). I just do not have that much experince with glass tile. 




Mike Finley said:


> Isn't there going to be an eschution plate? If so you can simply cut a square hole using the wet saw blade. Cut the 4 lines of the square hole as much as you can then do a X connecting the corners and you should be able to remove the glass and have your square 3/4 hole, the pipe goes through and the eschution will cover it just fine.


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## Charles_cz (Mar 13, 2008)

*Glass tile*

Hi Angus, I already have Felker blade that I have used on one of my previous jobs for glass mosaic tile. I could not really tell how good or bad the blade was but I thing I will find out on this job. 
I like setup with Dewalt diamond hole saw and water ring. It should do the trick and as they claim it should be good for glass too. 
I have noticed that hole saw doesn’t have anything to keep saw in place at the beginning of drilling. Do you use any type of guide or do you just start drilling with slight angle with edge of the hole saw and straighten up the drill once you can keep the saw from running all over the place?
I assume that water ring is just to hold water and there is no way to use it as guide for the saw. 
Thanks Charles


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## Mike Finley (Apr 28, 2004)

Charles_cz said:


> Hi Mike, yes there will be eschution plate. That is what I do with tile where I have plenty of tile left. I use grinder to do that. I'm not sure if glass tile is as strong as porcelain tile and I thought that diamond hole saw would be safer way to cut the hole. It's big tile and customer will have may be two extra pieces. ( I told them to get more but they are willing to take the risk). I just do not have that much experince with glass tile.


It will work without a problem. If it's a normal toilet shut-off eschution plate it should be over 2 inches wide. You'll have no problem cutting a square hole less then 2 inches wide. :thumbsup:

The key is the X. It takes 6 cuts of the saw, not 4.


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## angus242 (Oct 20, 2007)

Charles_cz said:


> I have noticed that hole saw doesn’t have anything to keep saw in place at the beginning of drilling. Do you use any type of guide or do you just start drilling with slight angle with edge of the hole saw and straighten up the drill once you can keep the saw from running all over the place?
> I assume that water ring is just to hold water and there is no way to use it as guide for the saw.
> Thanks Charles


No boring hole bits have a drill bit guide. You go at it with a 30° angle or so. The ring is just to create a water dam. Once you use a boring bit, you'll get the hang of it. Practice on a scrap piece first!


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## Frank P (Nov 2, 2009)

Does the glass tile have a "painted" back? You will need to completely back butter each piece to hide any trowel marks. Be careful with the painted backing when your drilling and cutting. Post up some pics when your done.


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## angus242 (Oct 20, 2007)

Good point Frank. Paint-backed glass tile are a little finicky when using a wet saw. The paint can chip thus making a small portion of the tile clear. You cannot use white thinset to make up for missing white paint on the tile. Worse yet if the paint is a different color than white. 

It that case, a good tile cutter may be a better option.


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## PrecisionFloors (Jan 24, 2006)

Mike Finley said:


> It will work without a problem. If it's a normal toilet shut-off eschution plate it should be over 2 inches wide. You'll have no problem cutting a square hole less then 2 inches wide. :thumbsup:
> 
> *The key is the X. It takes 6 cuts of the saw, not 4. *


Excellent advice here. Way back in the day, once I learned this, it made those cuts in super hard porcelain a lot less frustrating....cut..cut..cut...*SNAP*....   :furious:

:laughing:


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## Charles_cz (Mar 13, 2008)

*Glass tile*

I did not see the tile just yet but it will be white. I guess I will have to cut very carefully.
It is tile by Porcelanosa. I do not know if anyone has used it before. May be you can share experience with it. 
If there is chipped paint what do you fix with? Paint? I would think that it migh change color over the time…


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## Mike Finley (Apr 28, 2004)

Charles_cz said:


> I did not see the tile just yet but it will be white. I guess I will have to cut very carefully.
> It is tile by Porcelanosa. I do not know if anyone has used it before. May be you can share experience with it.
> If there is chipped paint what do you fix with? Paint? I would think that it migh change color over the time…


Just so you know - the 1st step in any glass tile installation is to always contact the glass tile manufacturer via phone or website, (preferably both) and talk to them directly about their product. All glass tile manufacturers have done extensive testing on their tile. They have very specific methods and especially a short list of thinsets that they have specified as acceptable to use with their product. 

Along with finding that out you can discuss with them this last issue.

Believe me, no matter what you do, do not avoid contacting the manufacturer of this glass tile prior to installing it. I can't stress how important that is.


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## Charles_cz (Mar 13, 2008)

*Porcelain tile.*

I agree and thanks for the remainder. This tile is imported from Spain I believe. I hope they have sales rep. here that is knowledgeable enough to answer my questions. :clap:


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## Mike Finley (Apr 28, 2004)

Careful, thats where we contractors get screwed. Not saying this is the case with what you are experiencing, but when a customer tries to save money or source product and comes up with some crazy product with no support, we end up try to do our best and wing it and if anything goes wrong we are the bad guys in the end most of the time. If you can't get any company support on that product I would seriously have a sit down with the customer and get things squared away with them to understand the issues they are facing now and that you as an installer will not be held liable for a product you can't get support on. Good luck with it all.


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## Charles_cz (Mar 13, 2008)

*Porcelanosa tile*

Hi Mike, I think I should be fine as far as quality and support for the product goes. It is high end tile and one of the selling points of the company is quality of the product. Porcelanosa is known for their large format tiles, both porcelain and conventional ceramic. They make some beautiful rectified tile that will look nice if installed correctly. I am looking forward to this job. 
I will contact Porcelanosa with questions about installation as I have never worked with their tile. We will see if they are ready to help contractors. :whistling


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