• Tile serves as a durable and stylish flooring option, but has to be cut before installation.Footprints in Tile image by bnstrong from Fotolia.com
  
  Stone-based porcelain and ceramic tile add an ageless look to the home, but some do-it-yourself installers feel intimidated by cutting and installing this type of flooring. Specialized hand tools and power tools help installers along by cutting, trimming and nipping tile at straight edges, joints, curves and angles. Make sure your toolbox is complete and your layout is meticulously planned before starting to cut tile.
  
  

Hand Tools

• Two basic types of hand tools cut through porcelain and ceramic tile---push cutting tile cutters and pull cutting tile cutters, both of which employ platforms equipped with a sliding handle, carbide scoring wheel and breaking foot. Push cutters use two steel bars with scoring wheels to create deep grooves---or scores---in pieces of tile. Users then apply the breaker foot to make the tile break along the score. Pull cutting tile cutters use only one rectangular bar as a handle guide; users pull the scoring wheel toward themselves to create scores in the tile. Hand-held tile nippers---which take a shape similar to pliers---make small circular, angled and straight cuts in tile while chisels and utility knives can be used to make minute cuts and shaves to tile. Inexpensive carbide rod saws cut tile into circular shapes for special jobs.
  
  

Power Tools

• Diamond wet saws---expensive contraptions with diamond-tipped cutting blades---are perhaps the most specialized tool in the tile-cutting arsenal. These platform-mounted electric saws cut straight and angled lines through tile, slate, marble and granite using circular diamond blades. Using built-in pumps, wet saws recirculate water over the blade and into a retainer pan, keeping the blade wet as it cuts; this keeps the blade from becoming dull over time. Revolution power saws, which employ ring-shaped blades, grind and smooth as they cut inside and outside radius curves in tile and stone. Carbide circle hole saws are specialized power tools that cut tile into circular shapes.
  
  

Tips

• When cutting tile to measurement specifications, get as close to the required measurements as possible. Though this may be difficult for first-timers, stay within 1/16 of an inch of the measurement you're shooting for or you will experience problems with your layout and grouting. When laying wall tile, cut and arrange your tile so it has 1/8-inch gaps for grout. When making L-shaped cuts in tile, cut one side out with a hand-held saw and then use a tile cutter to make a score to complete the shape; simply snap the tile at the score. When cutting a lot of straight tile edges, look in to using a diamond wet saw. Though these tools are generally too expensive for nonprofessionals to consider purchasing, think about renting a wet saw or using one that belongs to a professional. Before embarking on your first tile cutting and setting job, it's not a bad idea to invest in a piece of cement board. Experiment with various cutting tools and lay the tile on the board to get a feel for cutting and installation.