Installed some vinyl tiles in my bathroom.

[jeff]

I wanted to replace the flooring in the bathrooms upstairs, the house originally had sheet vinyl that was installed back in 1991, at first I wanted to do real tiles, but after looking at the market price for the houses in this neighborhood I felt that after adding hardwood floors, high end SS appliances, soon to install granite, as with some other goodies, spending the time on tiles would not net much of a return other then being able to say I have tiles in the bathrooms.

With that being said, I am not a pro, I've never done this before, but as always, I feel that if someone else can do it, why can't I? So don't hold me to it if I didn't do something correct! if you do a vinyl install, make sure you read the instructions from the manufacture of the tiles you bought.



This is what the bathroom looked like when I bought the house, Yes it had brown walls... the toilet was about as clean as the rest of the house........ yes..... that bad...... so many WHYS and HOWS!!!!!!

anywho.












I started out by removing the shoe molding, when removing it make sure you pull up, and not out. If you pull outward you'll end up marking the wood up and maybe even breaking it.



Empty the toilet, notice its a different toilet... yeah, I trashed both old toilets.





Clean off all of the way ring from the bottom of the toilet and also the base of the toilet. I placed a piece of cardboard in the tub and stored the toilet there while working on the floor.



Linh was my little helper =) Wait til she sees that I posted this picture, I'm sure she'll be very happy to say the least. btw I don't think she liked my little joke about sars. The mask was for removing the old vinyl since we were cutting and scrapping it, I've seen nothing but WARNINGS all over vinyl product about NOT sanding/cutting/scraping/doing anything with it, the primer was also a bit strong.



We cut the old flooring into smaller pieces to make it easier to work with, if you pull up one end and rip the whole thing up, you'll leave behind a lot more glue/paper, at least that's what happened in the first bathroom we did. As you pull the paper up try to take a scraper and try to get as much glue/paper off the floor as you can WITH the main sheet.



Yes, there was a lot of water spots, the old toilet clearly flooded a handful of times, as I could see layer of layer of fixes.........

With the vinyl flooring removed, notice the paper/glue that was left behind. Using scrapers and razor blades, we removed all of the extra paper/glue, After cutting out all the door frames we vacuumed then wiped everything down with a damp cloth, at that point I used a few staples on one troubled spot where the plywood making noise, then used some screws in another troubled spot where the sub floor and joist were having issues, after doing that I finished everything off with some wood filler to smooth everything out to make sure the tiles would have maximum grip.



I wanted the new flooring to go under the door frame and not around, the old flooring just didn't look right.



before



after




I laid the tiles out to get an idea of where my start/end would be, you don't want one side to be super thin while the other side is a full tile, I also did this the other way. I marked a + where I wanted first tile to be placed. I then made a long line to gave a guide for my first row just to make sure I had everything square.






Once I had the marks laid down, I went ahead and used some vinyl tile primer, I'm not sure if it was really needed but it did make the floor slightly tacky so I guess it couldn't have hurt.



floor is ready to go!



First 3 tiles down.









Nice job on the cutting might I add :cool:





At this point I just need to get linh to use the rolling pin on the floor to smooth everything out and to get all the seams to fit correctly.

After running the #s for 2 bathrooms, I ended up running short by 4 tiles, so I will have to finish the job tomorrow IF lowes is still open. After reinstalling the toilet, shoe molding/repainting shoe molding, it will be all done.

Total cost for 2 bathrooms, about $100.00, cost of tiles 88c each.

Some pictures from the first bathroom we did last weekend.











Over all the install was very easy, it just took a bit of time, most of it was spent cleaning the floor preping it for the new tiles. The 2nd bathroom did have A LOT of tiles that had to be cut due to the layout, so it took awhile but the first bathroom took very little time to install all the tiles.

Tiles come with a 25 year warrenty. I've heard horror stories of vinyl tiles coming right back up, then I've heard many good stories of people with 10+ years with them with ZERO issues, my guess is it's not about the vinyl tile, it's all in who preps the floor before installing the tile.

This is a fun DIY job, I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to see a big change in their bathroom.

[George777]

Are you going to look for a sealant for it? I've seen some tile floors, similar to yours, that have become effected by water seeping through the tiles over time.

If I get a chance to talk to my brother-in-law, I'll ask him for the name of some professional grade products.

[jeff]

I thought about it but both a flooring guy told me it wasn't needed and then I read the instructions on the flooring instructions (armstrong) didnt say it either.

Just don't mop it, don,t let water stand, and it should be fine.

My guess is the tiles you saw coming up due to water were never installed correctly.

Here's a quote from another forum I linked this to.

you did the right thing by prepping the surface.. al those stories you hear about those coming up are either the installer didn't prep/clean/prime the surface and the glue wont adhere properly.. or the subfloor has a moisture problem.. or those really cheap thin peel n sticks were used.. but if you paid .88 ea you probably got a decent mid range grade product. When I got out of college I did about a 3 yr stint working for color tile and had to go on quite a few warranty investigations about these peel n stick type floors... and the above reasons for them coming up were the most common.. it's amazing some people would lay that stuff down ontop of sawdust and then complain because it wouldnt stay down.

He also pointed this out.

were you able to get the same lot# for when you ran short? those lots can be a pita because the shades differ so much... if you can still find the same lot, I'd by a couple extras just in case you need to do a repair job in the future, you'll have the same lot to work with.. if you don't the lots run out and most of the time they discontinue those styles so often, you can't even find the same style a year later, unless it's just real common.

good to know.

[Old School]

nice jeff. Although I'm a bit surprised you did all that without taking off the base.

[jeff]

Originally Posted by Old School

nice jeff. Although I'm a bit surprised you did all that without taking off the base.

Base? baseboards? old flooring wasn't under them, the shoemolding is what covers the edges.

[RepoMan]

Gives me some inspiration. Hope to hook up my bathroom soon with tiles/tub/sink...etc.