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self stick tiles in my bathroom

sammy zone 7 Tulsa

14 years ago

I am preparing to put Armstrong self stick tiles in my bathroom. I have removed carpeting, and will paint some stuff on the cement to make it stick better.

The directions in About.com say to start from the center. I intend to start at the side and at the wall so that I will end up with the edges that I cut against the cabinets that that come over the floor. That way mistakes won't be that visible.

I would appreciate any cautions or advice you might have.

Sammy (female and first time to do this)

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Comments (5)

anntn6b
14 years ago
Well, I did use blue roses on stick on tiles back when we needed to clean up a bathroom in the Quarter. We couldn't use conventional linoleum (my preference) because the terazzo floor was really horribly un-flat.
They suggest starting at the center because floors are imperfect (even those not done 60 years ago badly) and the eye goes to the center first, and it reduces the wiggle-room cuts you may have to make to keep the pattern.

About patterns...perfect squares with a perfect pattern are not your friend. A random (appearing) pattern will be more forgiving.
Change the utility knife blade often, and get a good steel edge to cut against.
Cut patterns and then cut the tiles to be fit elsewhere.

The old adage "Measure twice, cut once" applies here and for patterns, double time.
Expect 10% waste and buy more tiles than your think you need and make sure you can return excess.
If you buy more than one box of tiles, make sure both boxes were made the same time...there should be a number that id's each batch...the box batches should match.

Make sure you like the tiles with the lighting you have in your bathroom. Some fluorescent lights make some colors difficult to appreciate.

Blue roses made a good looking floor (and I expect nobody knew that blue roses are a fantasy.)
sammy zone 7 Tulsa
Original Author
14 years ago
Ann, you are wonderful. I went to the Flooring Forum, then to About.com. After reading in About.com, I thought I had returned to the Flooring Forum.

Garden Web is welcome to move this post since I made such a mistake, and always try to honor the rules. Roses Roses Roses. When I cannot get to my roses, I can paint and put in floors.

You really gave me a lot of help, and quite a save.

Sammy
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sammy zone 7 Tulsa
Original Author
14 years ago
This was a mistake. Ann gave me a good answer, and now I have posted on the Flooring Forum.

Would you please let this post go away by not posting?

Thank you so much,
Sammy
greybird
14 years ago
So sorry Sammy, I can't resist posting on this!

When I put down tiles in my shop, a professional suggested I start at the door way, centering the tiles here so the eye will sense everything is as it should be upon entering. This worked very well, even in this not so square room. There is no such thing as a perfectly square room; if you start at one wall, the imperfection will obviously sing out when you reach the other wall.

Good luck, tiling is really pretty fun!
greendays
13 years ago
I did the same thing as greybird - start at the door and back away from it.

A friend of mine tried to center it based on the room dimensions - it looked horrible because when you walked in the pattern was screwed up by the doorway.

Center at the doorway. The tiles will end up "centered" to the entrance, which will give the perception of a balanced room.

Here is a link that might be useful: clean floor tile

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