1) It’s not difficult to install yourself. It just takes patience and time.
2) There are no special tools required. We used
simple tools like a hammer, pliers, wide drywall compound spatula (or
even better, a wood chisel if you have an old one you won’t mind
throwing out after the project is finished), tape measure,
and a utility knife. A metal straight edge – 12-inches long – would
also be beneficial.
3) After taking up the carpet and perimeter tack
strips, if your place is like ours, you will find the old vinyl asbestos
floor tiles that have a fake wood parquet finish. Start in one area
and work across the room; getting started and finding
a rhythm is the hard part. You will discover there’s a knack for
getting the old flooring up. If you take the chisel and get under one
corner of the tile, hit it just right with a hammer, the tiles will just
pop right up. Once you get the knack of this,
getting the old flooring up will go very quickly. Be sure to wear a
dust mask because it will be a dirty operation.
4) Underneath the tile may be black mastic
adhesive (if not, you're fortunate) . We did not remove this. I guess you could, but I wouldn’t
know what you would use to remove it. The black stuff is sticky, so you
may want to put down some protective paper in the
adjoining rooms so you don’t track it through the rest of the house.
In the black mastic will be the residual grid
outline of where the old tiles were. We used this to lay out the
position of the new floor. It worked perfectly. We selected a vinyl
tile that had the adhesive already on the back of the
tile, protected with a paper backing. You just peel off the paper
backing, lay the tile into position, and apply pressure.
5) **This is
important: Acclimate the new tile to the room temperature by storing
the product in the room where it will be installed a minimum of 24 hours
before starting the installation. This is really
important.**
6) Also, I bought a small tub of flooring adhesive
because some of the tiles didn’t want to stick. I still have no clue as
to why this happened, and not every floor tile was affected – maybe a
half dozen or so. You won’t need
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| 2012: Our kids on the finished tile floor |
7) To cut the vinyl tile, use a sharp utility blade
to score the face of the tile. There is no need to cut all the way
through the tile. Gently bend the floor tile back and forth along the
scored mark, and the tile should snap. You will
master this very quickly. For tricky areas around door jambs, around
the stair, etc. I used one of the paper backings to create a template.
Using a pencil, I traced the outline on the paper backing, then cut it
out with a pair of scissors. Test fit the
template into position. Once the template was correct, I traced the
outline onto the surface of the tile and then cut it out with the
utility blade.
8) For the transitions to rooms with carpet, we
bought pre-finished oak thresholds. They’re kind of expensive, but look
really nice. You will need to drill holes for the anchoring screws; a
masonry bit will be required because the concrete
is so hard. Center the threshold in the opening and cut to fit. Using
a pencil, locate the positions of the screw holds. Drill a pilot hole
that is slightly larger than the screw, and then tap a plastic insert in
place; the kind used for wall anchors to
hang pictures are perfect for this. Gently tap the plastic anchor into
the pilot hole with a hammer until flush with the concrete floor. Set
the threshold into position, lining up the holes, and then gently ease
the screw into the anchor being careful to
not over tighten.
9) Once the flooring is installed, you will need to purchase new quarter round for the baseboards for a finished look.
10) I recall that the entire project took several weekends.
