Manual Tile Cutter

• Tiling professionals use both manual tools and power tools to cut tile. The most common manual tool for cutting tile is the tile cutter. The tile cutter creates straight cuts across relatively soft tile materials, such as ceramic and porcelain tiles. The tool has a flat, rectangular base that holds single tiles of varying sizes. Above the base, a set of rails accommodates a retractable cutting disc. The disc attaches to a long, polelike arm. To use a tile cutter, the tile worker presses the arm downward to lower the cutting disc onto a tile's surface. The tile worker runs the disc across the tile, scoring its surface or glaze. Once the tile is scored, a specialized pressing attachment snaps the tile along the scored line.
  
  

Tile Wet Saw

• Common for large jobs or cutting hard tiles, such as stone or masonry tiles, the tile wet saw is essentially a trade-specific table saw. As with a woodworker's table saw, the tile setter's table saw consists of a circular blade that protrudes from the center of a flat table. Abrasive mineral grit, such as diamond, coats the edge of the tile saw's blade, and a motorized pump distributes water across the blade. To use the tile wet saw, tile workers fill the tool's reservoir with water, activate the tool's motor and push a tile through the tool's spinning blade. Water lubricates and cools the cutting area, reducing dust and improving the quality of the cut.
  
  

Tools for Mixing Mortar and Grout

• Mortar bonds tile to a substrate, such as a concrete surface or cement backerboard, and grout fills the joints between set tiles. Tiling professionals typically purchase both mortar and grout in a dry, powder form. Tile workers use specialized mixing tools to combine mortar and grout with water and achieve a smooth, spreadable paste. Mixing tools mount to standard power drills and resemble propellers or a chef's power mixer's paddles. Tile workers combine dry goods and water in buckets, insert the mixing tool, activate the drill and mix the ingredients the way you would mix cake batter.
  
  

Trowels and Floats

• Tilers use trowels and floats to apply mortar and grout to work surfaces. Tiling trowels consist of a flat, rectangular base plate and a U-shaped or C-shaped handle. Square or V-shaped notches line one or more sides of a trowel. When drawn across a wet bed of mortar, a trowel's notches distribute the mortar into an even set of lines. Tile finishers use floats to apply grout to tile joints. As with trowels, floats have a rectangular base and a C-shaped or U-shaped handle. However, a float's base is made of soft materials, such as rubber or sponge, that won't damage tiled surfaces during grout application.