How to cut porcelain tile without chipping

Glass tile and glass mosaic are very fashionable in the world of architecture and interior design in nations such as Australia, Canada and the United States.

It all started a few decades ago with the classic mosaic composed of small sized glass tiles. Recently, however, the glass industry has been following the trend launched by the ceramic and porcelain tile industry, heading towards thick glass slabs of very large size, from 1 meter to 3 meters and sometimes beyond.

If cutting and laying porcelain tiles isn’t a simple task, working with glass slabs on the construction site is even harder, especially when it comes to glass tiles 30cm long and up.

The video shows the cutting process of a 60cm long and 8mm thick glass tile.

The cut was performed with a professional wet use electric tile saw (art. 945EV MINIMASTERBROOKLYN) and a diamond blade specific for glass (art. CPV250).

When cutting glass, it is suggested a slow cutting progress and plenty of water on the cut. Often the best technique is to make the cut with the glass tile facing down, to reduce the chances of chipping the paint on the base of the glass tile.

As you can see in the video, with these specific tools and the right cutting it is possible to cut large format glass tiles without incurring breakage or chipping.

It is fundamental to add that the quality of the glass which is being cut is very important for the final result. There are many glass made materials on the market which are very “tensioned” because the manufacturing process was wrong or too quick. In these cases it will be difficult to cut the glass without incurring frequent breakages, even after laying.

The glass used in this video has been made available by the company Interstyle from Vancouver (Canada).