Grouting

After finishing laying all of the tile and cutting the edge pieces, the next step was to grout in between the tile. Although spacing and grouting isn't necessary for this type of tile, I wanted to keep the look of traditional tile.

Preparing to Grout

Start off by picking up everything off the floor, and doing a good sweep.

Make sure that you remove ALL of the tiles spacers, this is important if you don't want to end up with something that looks like this:

Remove all tile spacers!!

Once all spacers have been removed, vacuum floor thoroughly to get any dust that may have fallen in the space between the tiles, and make sure you give the floor a quick pass to make sure that no spacers have been missed.

Equipment

One approach to this job is the "icing bag" approach, which can be a bit less messy, and probably should have been the way to go.... but hindsight is 20/20, I went with the more conventional float method

The basics for the grouting job include: Premixed vinyl tile grout, soft grout float, grout sponge (sponge on one side, scouring pad on the other), and a bucket of warm water.

Apply the grout mixture with the float at a 45 degree angle to pack it into the crack, then use the float edge at 90 degrees to level the grout. This process allows you to put a considerable amount of grout on the float and "move" it along as you apply it. After leveling the grout, use a damp sponge to remove grout residue from the tile.

If any grout hardens or hazes on the tile, use the scouring pad section on the sponge to clean up before the grout has a chance to harden.

Once the entire floor has been grouted, avoid stepping on it until the grout has had a few hours to set.





Sealing the Grout

Seal grout to avoid stains and prolong life

After the grout has had 48 hours to set, you can now seal the grout. Grout sealer prevents moisture from penetrating the grout and keeps it looking new and clean.

There are two kinds of grout sealers, the spray kind and the roll/brush on kind. The spray on kind is great for smaller tiles and small areas. This kind can also be bought in a version in which the over-spray evaporates, yielding the least amount of clean up possible.

If you have larger tiles, the roll/brush on kind can also be convenient and a quick way to apply grout; while minimizing waste or over-application.

Laminate to Tile Installation Part 2

Finishing the Surface

After all of the surface prep work was completed, you have to prep the surface in accordance with the type of tile you are using. For vinyl tile, it is recommended to use lay a latex primer for better adhesion to the sub-floor. I went with this one from my local hardware store:

The latex primer can be applied full strength, or mixed depending on the condition (amount of cleaning done to floor) of the sub-floor. I used a 5 gal. container, a "roller tray" (that can be mounted to the edge of he paint bucket), and a 6 inch high density foam roller attached to a broom handle for comfort.

Putting down the latex primer

The set time for the primer is approximately 2 hours, before tile can be laid down.

Putting Down the Tile

Once your surface is ready, hopefully you have your tile and pattern chosen. I chose to go with a "Crushed Shell" tile color, and an offset pattern using 18" and 12" tiles. 

I wanted to give the floor the look of "real" tile by grouting between the tiles, so i go a bag of "X" tile spacers to set between the tiles to ensure consistent spacing. 

I quickly realized that my spacers were not well suited to my pattern, and I found myself turning the little X's into little T's in order to properly space the tiles.

What I should have gotten

                                                     
Once I laid a couple of tiles (with the backing still on) to verify the pattern and spacer fit, I went against standard convention of drawing lines and figuring out the center of the room, etc.... and just went and picked and edge and lay a tile down. My reasoning for this was my offset pattern would change and there really wasn't any advantage that I could see.

To lay the tile, just peel the backing back and place the tile down, and make sure that you use consistent even pressure to seal the tile. Vinyl tiles have a specially formulated adhesive that further activates when pressure is applied to it. You could use a rolling pin and bear your body weight, rent a tile roller, or use a roller that requires your body weight. I went with the latter option for about $20.

After about 30 minutes of sitting on the floor tiling and rolling, I torqued it over a bit, and found out it had an unadvertised extensible handle. This extension made it much comfortable to apply pressure using my heel, while standing up; instead of awkwardly trying to push down and roll it back and forth.


I tiled the centers of the room and left any tiles that would need to be cut for the end, but at this point, it was finally starting to look like a real floor:

After all of the middle tiles were down, It was time to start cutting the edges. After trying several methods of sizing/measuring tiles, ended up just using a square to measure the size the tile would need to be, making a pattern from cardboard and then tracing it on the tile using a china marker. Once the pattern was on the tile, a quick check to make sure it looks right and using a utility knife score the hard vinyl side against a straight edge. If scored correctly, the tile should break clean along the score line, and you just need to cut through the paper backing.

Once all of the edge tiles have been cut and placed, it is now time to prepare the floor for grouting.

Laminate to Tile Installation Part 1

One of the first things I did upon closing on the purchase of the house was walk in, find a joint seam for the existing (and hideous) blue and white linoleum, and started ripping away.

Existing Floor Removal

One thing I would recommend to anyone about to embark on a flooring project, is to invest in a good pair of cushioned knee pads.... trust me

You can see the first rip (above left) by hand into the linoleum. The first night, I decided the extents of the new floor and using a sharp utility knife, scored lines at the doorways where the linoleum would remain. I then removed the shoe molding, but left the baseboards to allow easier access to the edges of the vinyl.Without much prep, I started the process of cutting slits into the linoleum, and rubbing it with warm water to loosen the adhesive, then pulling it by hand. At about 6 AM, I called it quits and realized that I was probably doing it wrong.

The next morning and after some research, I went to my the hardware store and after asking the "knowledgeable" staff, they pointed me towards a scraper very similar to this:

After several hours of sitting on the floor scraping, it still didn't make sense that it would take as long as it was, so after a few calls to some friends and relatives, and  another trip to the hardware store, I then purchased a stand up floor model scraper 

This model finally yielded the results i was looking for, and allowed me to bear my body weight into it. The hand model became useful for removing anything left behind by the big one; however, it is not the option to start with.

Very warm water, a brush, and a clean cloth were essential in cleaning the adhesive residue, left behind by the scraper, off the sub-floor.

It is important to fill/sand any gouges that may have been cause during the removal of the old flooring so the new vinyl tile does not sink or protrude at those points.

The sub-floor should look like this once the vinyl and all adhesive has been removed