How to Install Bathroom Vinyl Flooring

Tiling a bathroom floor requires more difficult cuts to the tile than in most rooms because you have to go around the tub and the toilet drain. This makes vinyl tiles much easier to use for a bathroom than ceramic tiles because vinyl is much easier to cut: All you need is a razor knife. Plan on being without the use of the bathroom for at least two days.

Things You'll Need

• Adjustable wrench
• Chalk snap line
• Carpenter's square
• Tile glue
• Tiling trowel (notched)
• Vinyl floor tiles
• Tape measure
• Pencil
• Razor knife

Instructions

1. Turn off the water to the toilet and disconnect the water line, using your adjustable wrench to turn the connector counter-clockwise. Remove the two floor bolts in the base of the toilet. Lift the toilet straight up, and remove it from the room.

2. Clean and dry the existing floor. Use your chalk snap line to mark two lines across the floor, from mid-wall to mid-wall, intersecting in the middle of the room. Put a carpenter's square at the intersection as you set the second line, adjusting the string as needed to be completely square against the first line.

3. Use your tiling trowel to spread tile glue on the center of the floor, over the intersection of the two lines, covering as much area as you can reach from one position. You should still be able see the lines through the adhesive.

4. Press four vinyl tiles down at the intersection, using the lines as guides. Set the edges of the tiles against one another first as you lay them, then drop and press the other side.

5. Spread more glue and press more tiles into place, building out from the center along the lines in a grid pattern. Use your razor knife to cut around the toilet drain and alongside the walls and tub as needed, measuring and marking the tiles with pencil to make the cuts.

6. Let the tiles set for a day. Reinstall the toilet.

References

• This Old House: How to Lay a Vinyl Floor