How to Install Linoleum Flooring Squares
Vinyl tiles are popular for baths, laundry rooms and mudrooms due to the ease of cleaning and crack resistant qualities of these tiles. These 12-inch by 12-inch tiles are available in many colors and designs. The tiles may be purchased with self-adhesive peel off backings. A do-it-yourself type person can easily lay self-adhesive vinyl tiles following these steps.
Items Needed:
- Baker’s rolling pin
- Chalk
- Chalk string
- Hammer
- Heat gun or hairdryer
- Measuring tape
- One-fourth inch plywood
- 1 1/4 inch nails
- 1 1/2 inch finishing nails
- Pencil
- Razor utility knife
- Sandpaper and holder or machine sander
- Self-adhesive tiles
- Trowel
- Vinyl tile cutter
- Clear the room of all furniture and accessories. Sweep clean.
- Skip to step eight if a plywood underlayment floor already exists.
- Remove the existing toe boards and floor molding from the room.
- Lay one-fourth inch plywood throughout the entire room staggering the plywood seams.
- Secure the plywood with 1 1/4-inch nails and a hammer.
- Apply leveling compound to the seams of the plywood with a trowel, and allow the compound to dry.
- Utilizing sandpaper or a machine sander, smooth the compound at the plywood seams.
- Measure the floor’s width to locate the center of the room, and mark with chalk and string.
- Measure the floor’s length to locate the center of the room and mark with chalk and string. This should form a gridline with four quadrants extending across the total width and length of the floor. The intersection will be the center of the room.
- Lay the tile beginning at the center point of the room, by peeling off the paper and placing in the corner formed by the chalk lines.
- Place the tile on the floor with firm pressure, and lay the remaining tiles in the first quadrant by following the chalk lines then filling in towards the center of the quadrant.
- Follow the same sequence for the remaining three quadrants.
- Cut tiles to fit along the wall by placing a new tile on top of the tile nearest the wall.
- Place a second tile on top of the stack, but position it touching the wall.
- Utilize a pencil to mark a line along the inner edge of the top tile to designate the section of the tile that needs cutting.
- Cut the tile with a vinyl tile cutter cleanly along the pencil mark.
- Soften the tile with a heat gun or hairdryer, and then cut notches for doorways, heat registers, etc., with a razor utility knife.
- Roll the floor using a baker’s rolling pin to firmly bond the tile to the plywood.
- Replace the old molding or install new molding, and secure with one and one-half inch finishing nails.