Tiling Like A Pro: The Ultimate List Of Tools You Need

If you intend to start a do-it-yourself tiling project, you’ll find out fast enough that there’s more to tiling than picking the right tiles and purchasing grout and adhesive. Before starting your project, you must ensure you have all the necessary equipment to achieve a professional finish.

If you don’t know where to begin with getting the right equipment, don’t panic. Below, we’ve come up with the ultimate checklist for the equipment you’ll require when undertaking a DIY tiling project.

1. Diamond Tile Drill

You’ll probably need to drill holes into the tiles for tap connections, drainer, or pipes as you're tiling. Drilling into the tiles requires high-quality equipment and precision to ensure you break through the tiles' surface without cracking.

A diamond tile drill is essential, especially when using hard materials such as porcelain. You purchase drills with different diameters so that you can drill holes of different sizes on natural stone or ceramic tiles easily and safely to get perfect finishes.

You should ensure that the diamond tile drill has wet cutting to minimize the amount of noise and dust on the site. You should also ensure that it has lateral openings to enhance its cooling.

2. Tile Wet Saw

This is the best equipment for cutting tiles of all materials from glass and stone to ceramic and porcelain tiles. The tile wet saw features a carbide grit that utilizes friction to cut through the tile.

The tile wet saw has water jets spraying the blade to protect it from overheating or getting clogged with dust. The tool helps one make more intricate cuts beyond straight lines like cutting around edges or pipework.

Nevertheless, you must familiarize yourself with how they operate to ensure you use them safely. Additionally, set up the tile wet saw outside or use plastic coverings or sheets to protect surfaces since adding water can make using them messy.

3. Grout Float

During the last stage of sealing the tiles, making the grout application properly is essential to ensuring your tiles’ longevity. This is where a grout float comes in; a grout float is a tool used to apply grout sealant between the tiles.

Even though you may be tempted to use a spatula, this equipment doesn’t have the flexibility to ensure even coverage between the tiles.

A Grout float looks like a standard trowel; however, it has a foam base, giving it more flexibility to work its mortar into the grooves. With the proper technique, one can apply and press the sealant into the gaps once the adhesive is dry.

4. Mixing Paddle

Premixed grout and thinset are excellent time savers; plus, you won’t have to worry about correcting the dry mix and water ratio. However, they come with a significant disadvantage; they’re costly.

If you purchase cost-effective grout and thinset, it’ll be difficult to avoid buying a mixing paddle. Some might argue that one can use a trowel; however, if you’re mixing large volumes, it would be wise to invest in a mixing paddle and other quality tiling tools.

Mixing large volumes of the dry mix by hand leaves huge large chunks and voids that are challenging to mix out. However, with a mixing paddle that you can fasten to the end of a drill, you’ll be able to mix large volumes of grout and thinset effortlessly.

5. Grout Sponge

Grout sponges are must-have equipment during tiling; they are essential in grouting as you can wipe up any messes during application.

Although it may seem like a standard kitchen or bath sponge can get the job done, this couldn’t be further from the truth. The sharp edges of regular sponges pull grout from the joints, and their small size also renders them ineffective.

You should always invest in a heavy-duty grout sponge specifically designed to wipe off grout that can leave tiles looking lackluster. Grout sponges also feature a coarse side that one can use to wipe off stubborn spots. The soft and coarse sides offer a winning combination that effectively gets rid of grout using just clean water.

6. Notched Trowel

This tool spreads the tile adhesive onto the wall or floor. Different types of notched towels depend on where they’re used. V-notched trowels are used for wall tiles (tile Matic), while square-notched trowels are used for floor tiles.

Notched Trowels are a must-have in your tiling toolbox, as without them, you won’t be able to spread the adhesive on the floors or walls. A notched trowel helps improve adhesion between the surface and tile while the groove creates suction.

You should consider the shape and size when selecting the suitable notched trowel for your tiling project. A good rule of thumb when buying this tool is that the larger the tiles, the larger the notch you’ll need.

7. Tile Nippers

Tile nippers, also called nibblers, assist you in making irregular cuts such as semi-circles, that a wet saw can’t. Tile nippers feature biting jaws like a regular fingernail trimmer by nibbling away at the tiles.

Tile nippers are the best alternative to tile grinders when you need to make intricate irregular cuts. Tile nippers look like your regular pair of pliers; however, once you apply pressure, you can snap off tiny chunks in a controlled manner to get the desired cut.

Tile nippers are the perfect tile cutting equipment when making tiny cuts to ensure that tiles fit well around plug sockets, light switches, and pipes with minimal hassle.

In Summary

Remember that a good tiling job requires high-quality equipment with a professional finish. Good results not only depend on your skillfulness or commitment but also on the quality of the tiling equipment that’ll help you get that fantastic final result.

Have you ever completed a tiling project?