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Tired Old Linoleum Gives Way to New Floor Tile

CraigBrown | May 25, 2010 |

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If you have a linoleum floor that you are replacing with tile, it may or may not be a good idea to lay your tile directly over it. The deciding factor rests in knowing what kind of surface is under the linoleum. If your linoleum is installed directly on a concrete slab, then you can lay your new floor directly on top of your old one. However, if you have a wooden sub floor under your old linoleum, then you will have to remove all of the old linoleum, because your tile will buckle and crack as a result of too much flexibility in the sub structure or the tile.

While wall art metal, from traditional wrought iron to a contemporary metal tree wall hanging, can do a lot for your decor, upgrading your home with ceramic tile is a great way to gain both style and value. One of the great things about tile is that if you are interested in installing it yourself, tile is a viable do-it-yourself project. You will have to be meticulous in your preparation, but actually laying your tile is more of a time consuming task than a difficult one.

Preparing your Surface

To prepare your area for the installation of your new tile, remove the baseboard and trim around the edges of the floor. If you are tiling a bathroom, make sure to remove any fixtures that are seated in the floor like toilets or bidets. If you are leaving the linoleum in place, make sure that you thoroughly clean the floor, so that the adhesive can make a strong bond with the linoleum. Frequently you will rough up a surface when you are trying to bond to it, but in this case you will not want to disturb the finish on your linoleum floor, because some older varieties of linoleum contain asbestos, and breathing particles or asbestos can cause lung damage. So, leave the floor finish undisturbed, cover it with a good quality water sealant, and then decide on your tile design. Lay out your tiles to make sure that you have all of your materials ready to go.

Stay Safe

When you are working with tile you want to be particularly aware of the strong fumes that the adhesive emits. Make sure that you work in a well-ventilated area for a couple of reasons. First of all you want to be able to breathe fresh air, and secondly, the fumes are flammable. So make sure that the area is well ventilated to keep the flammable gasses out of your room, and make sure that you do not have any open flames in the area, including cigarettes.

Installing the Tile

When you laying tiles, you will have to fit tile around fixture openings, pipes and so forth, so you will need to cut some of your tiles in the process of tiling your room. For the straight cuts, you will use a wet saw, and for the smaller cuts to fit around pipes and irregular edges, you will use tile nippers. Since wet saws are an expensive piece of equipment, you will want to rent one.

Once you have all of your tiles cut and laid out, you can begin affixing them to the floor. Add the adhesive to the back of your tile with the notched side of your trowel, and begin in the center of your floor. The tile will have stripes of adhesive on its back. Then press the tile firmly to the floor. Use spacers to keep your grout lines even, and if you splatter any bonding material, clean it up immediately, because it is almost impossible to remove later on. After the floor has been installed and had a chance to set overnight, you can apply your grout. After mixing your grout, work it into the spaces in between each tile using a grout float. Seal around any pipes and fixtures with a bead of silicone caulk to completely seal your tile floor. After your grout has been installed, wiped down and cured overnight, you can reinstall your bathroom fixtures, and you can put your baseboards and trim back on the wall to complete your tile flooring project.