How to Install a Pebble Vinyl Tile Floor
Pebble vinyl floor tile is vinyl tile that looks like it is made from some type of rock. It can be very beautiful in kitchens, bathrooms or entryways. It's also a cinch to install, since most times it has a sticky backing that easily adheres to the subflooring. This allows you to install the entire floor of a decent sized room in less than one hour's time. The most important thing is knowing how to start your floor so that all of the tiles lay straight. Does this Spark an idea?
Things You'll Need
- Hammer
- Yardstick
- Chalk
- Pebble vinyl tile
- X-acto knife
- 8.5" by 11" paper
- Rolling pin (optional)
- Trowel, sandpaper and leveling compound (if needed)
Instructions
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1
Take the baseboard or molding off of the bottom of the wall and fill any divots in the floor with a leveling compound to make it even. Sand any parts of the floor that jut out.
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2
Remove all of the tiles from the box and lay them out in the room as you want them to appear, but leave the backing paper on them. Check to make sure that there will not be any areas against the wall where less than one half of a tile will fit. (You don't want there to be a ring of semi-tiles around the perimeter of the room.) If this is the case, reconfigure the tiles to fix the problem.
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3
Use chalk to trace the tiles exactly where they are sitting on the floor. Then, pick them up and stack them to the side. Take your yard stick and put it at a 90-degree angle to the wall, making sure the lines you just drew match up its edge exactly. If not, adjust them so that they do, so that your lines will be straight.
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4
Go to the center of the room (a guess as to where that is is fine). Remove the backing from your first tile and place it inside one of the chalk outlines. Press hard on the tile to make the adhesive stick. (If needed, go over it with a rolling pin.) Repeat this action for the remaining full tiles (those that you don't need to cut).
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5
Make paper templates to fit the areas where you need to cut the tiles. Then tape the templates to the tiles and cut them with the X-acto knife. Lay these final tiles in place to finish your floor. Then replace the molding or baseboards.
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Tips & Warnings
If your tiles are not preglued, apply adhesive to each with a trowel immediately before you lay it down. You only need the adhesive to be about a millimeter in thickness. Since the tile is pebbled, you don't have to worry about its orientation. There is no set pattern to match up.
