By Mark Clement
If you think about it, there's a lot of tool crossover between jobs.
On a framing site, I'm likely to set up the miter, table and circ saws along with the compressor and guns. Likewise trimming: The saws get sharp blades, and I swap the framer for a finish gun. But when it comes to tile, the basic core of my tool corps changes and I swap those wood working tools for my tile rig: a mix of low-tech trowels, buckets and sponges and high (higher anyway) tech power tools.
Buckets
Five gallon. For me, the right buckets are a total time saver for tile. I carry my gear in a five-gallon bucket, which is just the right size.
Two gallon. I mix thinset mortar/adhesive and grout in a no-name two-gallon plastic bucket. It's not just any bucket, though! Its flat, non-textured bottom is ideal for mixing; you can get the trowel in without skating over ridges. And it cleans out easily — a huge time/effort saver.
Trowels
My trowels have so much mud caked on them, I'd have to guess at their makers. However, they could be Marshalltown. I like that brand.
Margin trowel. I use a margin trowel a lot on a tile job.
I use it to mix and dispense my grey goop. I can get every bit of mud out of my two-gallon bucket (oh, my mom would be proud — I can get all the mud out of my bucket!) with its squared end. The margin trowel mixes thinset and grout better than mixers I've attached to my drill, and I use it to fluff the grout after it slakes without having to manage another tool. Clean-up is lickety-split, too.
Notched trowel. I've been using the same 3/8" x 3/8" notched trowel for a long time. It's about 8 inches long with teeth on one long and two short faces, enabling me to get into all kinds of places or just wipe out a mound of thinset or adhesive with the flat edge. It has a nice wooden handle that has nice traction in my hand. It also has a bolt I can retighten if the handle ever loosens up. That happens sometimes.
It pays to clean your trowels periodically throughout the day and certainly at day's end. If you keep them clean you can have them for a long, long time.
Floats and sponges
Floats. Once the tile is down and spacers removed, you need to float in the grout. I have two sponge floats for this: rectangular and margin. I use the rectangular float to sweep grout over most of the floor, but to get around pipes, behind toilets, and into oddball spaces, I use a margin float.
Sponge and rags. I usually have two nice grout — not regular — sponges. They're awesome for, of course, wiping down grout, and for cleaning tools. I use two for wiping grout. While I use on, I let the other one soak in water in (what else?) my two-gallon bucket. I also use grout sponges to clean my drywall knives and pan; nothing works better.
To bring up the tile's sheen, I wipe down the excess with terrycloth shop towels. I've tried to skimp on these, but nothing but terry is so very ? here.
Pull saws. I use Shark Corp.'s pull saws for raising door jambs. They work better than jamb saws I've seen and are great on other projects, too.
Saws
Wet saw. You can use hand-powered tile scoring tools, but nothing beats a wet saw.
You can also drop a grand on a full-bore, 100-pound wet-cutting tile saw, but those are usually best suited for full-on tile setters. For the generalist, the light and portable Porter-Cable tile saw has proved its mettle in usefulness and profit for me. This is a smartly designed tool. It sets up super fast, cuts the @#$% out of all kinds of tile from marble to ceramic to terra cotta. Clean-up is a snap, and it requires little money from my wallet and little space in the shop.
Rotary cut-out tool. I use a RotoZip for making oddball cuts like some notches, but mostly for radius work, say around drains and pipe penetrating the floor or a shower diverter on the wall. I've tried nippers and files, but they don't work as well as the RotoZip with a tile cutting bit.
One of the things I like about using the RotoZip (this tool invented the rotary cut-out tool category, by the way) is that I can set the cutting speed to where I like it for various cut outs and materials. The key is to secure the tile you're cutting (clamping it to a bench works well) and carefully following your line. I also like that this tool is one of the few from my tile rig that's a crossover to other projects. And because I use it for getting out of oddball cutting jambs, I've actually nicknamed it my "get out of jam free card."
And, with its new flush-cut attachment, you can use the RotoZip to raise door jambs or cut along base trim so the tile or threshold material slides under it. Swap out the wood blade for a tile blade and you can and even cut individual tiles (better for a tile repair or notching I'd say than bulk cutting).
Drivers
Another cross-over tool for tile comes in the form of drivers. Before laying tile, installing the substrate is usually necessary.
Greenwall is suitable for bathroom wall and backsplash applications, as is cement board, while I use BC plywood over existing subfloor on kitchen, bathroom, and/or other floors like foyers and hallways.
Cordless drivers. Of course the mainstay of driving screws for the last two decades has been the cordless drill-driver and there's a reason for that (they work ? duh) but for my money cordless impact drivers are faster and better, even at a gentle-ish job like counter-sinking rock screws.
If you set lots of rock, cement board or subfloors, or build decks or do anything that requires lots of rapid-fire screw shooting, check out the Senco DuraSpin. I've been using it, and it saves a lot of time in these applications.
And that's the key ingredient with any tool rig: Find the right mix to increase quality, jack-up production, and while you're at it, pump up profit.
Mark Clement is a remodeler and author of The Carpenter’s Notebook and The Kid’s Carpenter’s Workbook, Fun Family Projects! Check out his books and current projects at his new website.
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