Slots in floor tiles for central heating pipes

[garfield59]

Hi,

I'm hoping to tile my new WC this weekend and there are two 15mm copper pipes coming up through the floor. I am looking at making a neat "slot" in the edge of each tile that is affected. I have a water cooled electric tile cutter that would make the straight cuts but I'm not sure about the semi circular end of the slot. Being a DIYer doing very occasional tiling jobs I'm not sure I can justify the expense of the fancy diamond core drills I've seen on this site. The floor tiles are ceramic, about 7-8mm thick. Any suggestions welcome please!

Garfield

 

[Mike]

either put a grout line through the centre of the pipes (if possible) or cut out with a grinder. you can probably get a core drill for about 10 to 15 quid from a decent tile shop if you don't want to buy a drill set

 

[peteablard]

You could get a 15mm core drill from b&q for about £7-£8, well worth it for a decent finish

 

[peteablard]

And as long as you keep them wet they last for ages on ceramic tiles. Porcelain seems to kill them quite quickly though!!!

 

[kilty55]

as above buy a core cutter

 

[garfield59]

Hi,

Just called in to B&Q on my way home from work and bought a diamond core drill for about £8 - result!

Thanks guys, good advice as usual!

Garfield

 

[Deleted member 1779]

I'd say the same too. Just get a budget drill from a DIY shop.

Our stuff really only comes into its own on porcelain (the hard stuff) Ceramics are too easy!

Good value for money when drilling porcelain tiles but for the DIY-er with Soft Ceramics then the £49.99 is a big outlay.

 

[garfield59]

Thanks. I have watched some of your on-line videos and your kit does look very impressive. I think if I had a lot of tiling to do, even as a DIYer, I would invest in some of your drills because on ceramics I'm sure they will last ages and I have no problem spending money on something that is going to last. I just don't see another tiling job coming up in the foreseeable future.

Garfield

 

[garfield59]

Just to let you know I'm dead chuffed with my results using the core drill. Wasn't sure how to keep it from "wandering" so I watched some videos by 365drills and liked the idea of the plastic guide template. So I drilled a hole of similar size in some scrap mdf; used that to keep the core drill on centre while I drilled into a piece of scrap tile and then used the drilled scrap tile as a guide for drilling the two holes I wanted. Lovely neat result for not much spend! Thanks again for the replies lads.

Garfield