Good Ceramic Tile Contractors

I am looking to hire a ceramic tile installer to finish the bathroom in my basement. Any good experiences with local contractors? Quick turnaround is a must. Thanks.

 

Quick? I don't know... but Weller Tile is supposed to be good.

 

O'Neil Tile (Terry O'Neil) did a backsplash and later a bathroom floor for us. Great job both times.

 

Thank you for your replies. Do you happen to have phone numbers for them? Thanks.

 

Terry is very professional, very experienced, and does all his own work. Find his number on www.oneilltile.com. He did our kitchen floor in the summer of 2003 and did a great job. Very honest.

And you likely won't find "quick" that you are satisfied with...we went with quick through Sterling Carpet for our backsplash and were less than happy with the final product. It was outsourced, providing little checks-and-balances on quality.

Mr. Weller has been in the business for years (did our parents' kitchen floor 25 years ago and it still looks great!) and we would have gone with him had we not been so impressed with Terry.

 

Old world Tile in Leesburg

 

I'm thinking about doing my own tile in a few bathrooms.... anyone else here do it themselves? Do you use a wet saw or just score and break the tiles? Wondering if it's worth buying a wet saw...

 

A wet saw wouldn't be worth it, in my opinion. A good scoring table works great, and most tile places rent them. Home Depot has a big rental department too, which may have one. The ones you rent are much higher quality than those that are typically sold at HD or Lowe's.

Another useful tool for cutting tile is a variable speed jib saw, with a ceramic blade. Turn the speed down as low as possible, and cut away. Cuts like butter. Works good for "L" cuts in tiles. The type of cut that would have to be used, for installation around electrical outlets. This can be used in place of "nippers" (code word for pain in the axx) and a wetsaw. In fact, if I were into tool aquisition mode, I'd rather buy the variable speed Bosch jig saw, than a wet saw. Many more uses for the jig saw, than a wet saw.

Between the scoring table, and a jigsaw, there shouldn't be any cuts you can't handle. A wet saw wouldn't be worth the mess, expense, or the trouble. Especially for this "bathroom" application.

If you're bent on tool aquisition (something I can relate to) I saw that DeWalt has a new wet saw, which was just announced. Info should be available on their website.