While there will be pipes and toilets to work around, the room or home has no baseboards, door trim, cabinets, exterior door casing, or doors. But when you are remodeling a completed home or room, you run into obstructions all the time. One common scenario is when your new tile meets the door casing or trim—the vertical trim running along the sides of the door opening. Do you cut the tile to fit around the casing or do you cut the casing to fit against the top of the installed tile?
When to Cut Tile Around Door Trim
The short answer: In nearly every instance, try to have the door trim or casing overlap the tile. This produces a cleaner, more professional look. Plus, while removing the trim to cut it or undercutting it can be difficult, it is not as difficult as making several cuts into the tile for the tile to form-fit the trim. Also, there is no visually effective way to cover up the seam between the casing and tile. Caulking the seam will work for a while, but caulk never looks good for long, especially on a floor.
Cut in Place
You can make this cut with a small, flexible handsaw, like a mini version of a standard rip saw. A better tool is an undercut saw, which looks like a spatula or pie server but has a squared-off nose and saw teeth along three edges. To use an undercut saw, place a tile on the floor with a spacer beneath to represent the tile mortar, and hold the tile against the casing. Set the saw flat on top of the tile and simply work it back and forth to cut the casing at the tile height. As an alternative, you can use a multi-tool oscillating tool with an undercut attachment.
Remove the Trim
If you can remove the trim without damaging other trim or the wall, this is another viable option. With a flat prybar resting on a protective board, gently pry back the door trim at various spots. With the trim fully removed, you can then place it on an electric miter saw or use a manual miter box and saw. Cut off a section of trim equal to the tile, plus all of the layers under the tile such as mortar and cement board. One advantage of this method is that you can touch up the bottom of the trim with paint while the trim is removed.
