Flooring advice

[Horse with no Name]

First of all--let me explain our project. We are converting a 70's ranch to beach cottage.

However, we live in a market that no matter what improvements we make to the home, it will not improve the value of the home.

That being said.

The sub-floor is concrete in excellent condition.

We have toyed with concrete stain or paint.

We do know that we want a floor and no carpeting.

We are tossing around ideas for the kitchen and bathroom right now.

In the kitchen...idea is to paint the cabinets extreme white (it has nice existing hardware that was updated not too long ago in pewter). The wall color will be a robin's egg or similar blue.
Counter tops and back splash are off white tile (not going to mess with at this time).

Appliances are white. There is one wall that has damage so we are going to put beadboard on it and call it a day.

What I was thinking was either a solid blue or solid white tile floor.

But I don't want the peel and stick.

How hard is it to lay ceramic tile? What about the old-timey asphalt tile. I've laid it before and would tend to want to do that if it is still a possibility.

Thanks for any suggestions here.

[Stinky The Clown]

1. Generally speaking, laying a ceramic tile floor is fairly easy.

It is definitely within reach for a moderately skilled DIYer. The key is to get the first few tiles laid right. After that, it is a matter of just keeping your grout lines consistent. They have spacers available that make it easy to accomplish.

I went to a tile store and talked to the people there before I started my first try at it. They seems not just willing to help, but actually eager to do so. That first project was successful and the one's since then have been just as successful.

With a concrete slab as a subfloor, the hardest part is already done for you - a sound, smooth, level surface on which to install the tile.

[Horse with no Name]

2. Thank you!

Let me show you what I have I want to do...and I respect your DIY bonifides,lol, and let me know if it is possible and how to start.
Thanks!

[Stinky The Clown]

3. That's VCT. Here's a web site that talks about it.

http://www.armstrong.com/commflooringna/products/vct

The closest I've come to installing that is self stick vinyl tiles many years ago. I am pretty sure it does down just like ceramic tile - a troweled setting mastic, put the tile in place, and press. The only difference is that these get set flush and tight and ceramic tile has grout lines.

[handmade34]

4. key word... level

I have put ceramic tile in a bathroom and found it easy...

BUT... "Linoleum is made from natural materials like linseed oil, recycled wood flour, cork dust and limestone. Linoleum is naturally anti-bacterial and biodegradable. If you are looking for a "green" floor for your home, linoleum is one of the best choices!"

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

5. Those blue and white flooring tiles look like Armstrong's'

products. That stuff is great over concrete.You can buy a tile saw for about a hundred bucks. You will need one if you put down ceramic tile.It Will cost you more than $100.00 to rent a tile saw for the duration of the project. For another $15.00 bucks you can buy a how to book. There you go.

Those floating floors are cool too, Pergo is one name but there are many different name brands in floating floors.
If you go ceramic tile and you live in a cold climate,there are tile floor heating units that are electric,those go down over the mastic.The tile setting method isn't much different but there are some points to pay attention to when you install a heated tile floor.

Those Armstrong glue down tiles have been around forever and last forever ,those are industrial grade seen alot in commercial buildings.Armstrong has upgraded quite a bit in their color line in those flooring tiles.

Good luck.

[Warpy]

8. You can also rent tile cutters at stores that sell the tile

They usually take a hundred buck deposit but the rental is about thirty bucks a day, as I recall, cheaper than buying it and having to find a place to store it afterward.

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

11. Actually the $88.00 tile saw at home depot

isn't a bad deal itl comes with a 7" blade, same size as the blade on yer skill saw. I cut bricks ,metal ,lots of materials with it. I do have a professional grade tile saw ,that one cost me -a lot of money ,but let me tell you, I did a lot of tile jobs with that cheap-o so they say home depot $88.00 saw. Actually I told a client I do not do tile,the client is a grand pianist and is very particular about the who's he allows into to his home. He went to home depot himself ,came back with that saw and said -you do it, I will not have any other contractor in this house, I know you can -maybe you don't like doing tile. I did his kitchen-dinning room floor ,the front entrance way floor and his kitchen counter tops and a practice room the size of his living den in the basement-concrete floor with that cheap-o saw and I must say it did surprise me what I could do with that saw. In fact I now own a very very expensive pro. grade tile saw because of all the cool things I found out I could use that el cheap- o saw for. Actually, I was impressed with it. And that is why I took on tile as a pro.

By the way take Warpy's advice on those knees pads ! She knows what shes saying there ,!!!


Again you can pay $ 100.00 bucks a day at a rental to rent a tile saw like the pro grade I got now,but,I still use that old el cheap-o if that is what it is. I do like the slider on the newer one though-much more easy on the hands !


However for a home project ,I would say get a $100.00 saw ,you can't go wrong with it. I've had my $100.00 saw for about 8 years now and it still works after all that ! Cuts through brick like butter ! Most likely I never would have bothred to venture into tile myself if it had not been fer that $88.00 saw !
Befor that I sub contracted tile out !

And on the thin set-that is true- it's all mastic to me-the pre-mix takes forever to dry.

I use the mixer attachment on my drill to mix the thin set,or floor leveler -or you mix fast set dry wall mud. ,paint and such. Dump in the water and give it quick twirl !
You can buy those mixer attachments for about 5-0r 10 bucks there abouts !Bigger ones for bigger drills cost more of course !

Good luck.

[Warpy]

12. It would be a good deal for a homeowner if he was tiling his whole house

and intended to replace it frequently as decorating fads changed. However, most homeowners don't have a place to store every specialized tool for small jobs like tiling two rooms with no plans to change them out no matter what the styles dictate.

Renting makes more sense for homeowners. Buying makes a great deal of sense for construction people who do tile work on the side.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

9. Those cheapo tile saws can be a real pain in the ass.

I have a nice full size one and a 100 dollar cheapo made by Skill. The motor and the blade provided with the cheapo cut fine but the fence sucks - you have to measure and calibrate BOTH sides of the fence for each cut. Which is a pain because you can't see the numbers due to water and debris from cutting.

I will say the cheapo is convenient and easy to move. We just did the in-laws back splash and tub surround down state Illinois. The cheapo was good for traveling by car.

I suppose with ceramic the OP could use a snap cutter for most cuts????

[trud]

6. not a fan of "hard" floors

ever since I landed on a concrete sidewalk.

Also, to me, tile does not look that great in bedrooms. I am very happy with the Mannington "resilient flooring" I have in the kitchen and mudroom. p.s. I love linoleum too.

I would go with wood in the bedrooms, living room, etc. Pergo and its friends always bother me because of the short board lengths. I would see if you can get discounted real hardwood and install a wood floor yourself.

[Warpy]

7. I've done only one tile job

and it went up the wall around the woodstove. I didn't know what the hell I was doing but it wasn't a difficult job and it's stood up perfectly for 15 years now. In fact, it outclasses everything else in this dump.

Tiling isn't difficult. For a floor, you want to lay that first tile in the center and make sure you don't have any really thin strips around the edge. Use the spacers the tile shop suggests along with the grout they suggest. You might also want to invest in some knee pads because crawling over tile edges with spacers in them is very hard on the knees.

Lots of instructions for getting started and carrying it through are on the net. I didn't have that advantage and still managed to do a creditable job so you will probably do a great job with the instructions available.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

10. I'm a big fan of The John Bridge Tile Forum.

Probably the friendliest pro-advice site on the internets:

http://www.johnbridge.com/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1

You said the concrete was in good shape. Is there any glue or residue from previous floor?

I would recommend starting a thread over there with a couple pictures of your floor and what your desires and plans are.

Those guys hate "mastic" and prefer a good quality hand mixed thin-set. I agree. It's cheaper than the 50 dollar buckets of pre-mixed and you can mix small portions at a time. Those premixed buckets get kinda gnarly after opening and sealing multiple times. This doesn't apply to your situations but a hand mixed cementitious thin-set is preferable in wet areas. Pre-mixed can re-emulsify with constant exposure to water.

Going over concrete, one would assume you will have no support issues. Are there any cracks to deal with?

[Lucinda]

13. I have stained concrete floors and I love them. The only flaw for me

was the stain color choice. Ours are black, and with three indoor/outdoor cats and a carpenter in the house, there is just too much stuff tracked in to keep them looking great all the time. The guest room stain was left on a shorter time and it's beautiful. More of a mottled tortise than solid black.

I lived with a naturally aged grey concrete floor in a rental a few years back and it was much easier to keep looking good.

Concrete, depending on how well it was finished off when poured, is soft and silky underfoot. I also like how cool it is underfoot in the hotter months.