Just realized I spent $180 on a tile saw rental and then cut every single piece wrong

I measured the whole kitchen backsplash wrong by not accounting for the spacers, so now I have to buy new tile and rent the saw again, has anyone else made a stupid measuring mistake that cost them?

3 comments

3 Comments

barbara27827d ago

Oh man, that's rough. I screwed up measuring a bathroom floor once. Forgot to account for the grout lines. Had to scrap two full rows. Now I always dry lay a few pieces first, with the actual spacers in place. Saves so much headache.

the_jenny13d ago

Whoa hold on there! Gotta speak up on this one. Dry laying with spacers is actually not the move you think it is. Spacers are for when you're actually setting tile in thinset, not for dry laying. When you dry lay, you're just checking fit and layout, so you want tight joints with no spacers at all, otherwise you're measuring with gaps that won't be there when you actually set it. That's actually how I messed up my first bathroom floor, I used spacers in my dry lay and ended up cutting everything too short because I forgot the thinset thickness pushes tiles apart slightly anyway. You're better off dry laying with no spacers, then transferring your cut marks based on the actual dry fit, not with spacers wedged in. That little detail can save you from having to scrap rows like you did.

the_jason26d ago

Yeah totally with you @barbara278 on the spacers. That's always been my thing too, dry lay saves your butt every time.