Frank Lloyd Wright Quote

"Form follows function-that has been misunderstood. Form and function should be one, joined in a spiritual union"

Frank Lloyd Wright

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Marmoleum Installation: Part 3


I finally finished putting the shoe moulding around all the cabinets and the reducing moulding between the kitchen and the hardwood in the dining room.



This is the base moulding behind the refrigerator, primed, filled, and ready for paint.



Here's a nice shot of the cast iron toe-kick vent I got from Signature Hardware. Pity nobody will ever notice it.


These are all of the tools I used to install the Marmoleum, plus my power miter saw that's not in the picture. I used my 12" miter saw to make all of the full-length cuts, which required me to cut most of the way through, then rotate the piece 180-degrees and finish the cut. A table saw would have been preferable, but I don't have one.

The hack saw was very handy for cutting small notches when needed.

The big black bar is absolutely necessary. Don't even thing about installing this kind of flooring without one. You can use a piece of wood as a tapping block when laying the tiles in the middle of the floor, but when you get to the cut pieces around the perimeter of the room there is no way to tap the pieces into place without the bar. Go to your local big box and spend the $10 if you don't already have one.

Read more in Part 1 and Part 2 of this series.

10 comments:

  1. I would totally notice the iron toe-kick vent and appreciate it. It's the details that count.

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  2. Looks great. Did you use an underlayment? I've heard that people use a foam underlayment with the click floor. I'm thinking of putting marnoleum over a very beat up fir floor, but not sure if I need an underlayment.

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  3. I did not use any underlayment. The instructions only call for a structurally sound floor. The only prep I did was to scrape as much of the old linoleum off the floor (which is T&G fir)as I could so there were no high spots, and then screw through the fir into the subfloor or joists anywhere the floor was squeaky. So far I'm very happy with the results.

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  4. You made my day! I am installing a bathroom in my basement and had a yellow/white checkered floor in mind. What color names do your marmoleum click tiles have? I like marmoleum but am finding the design options to be overwhelming!

    Thanks!
    Janelle

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  5. Janelle,

    We have the Barbados (the lighter color) and Van Gogh (the darker color).

    The one thing I noticed about Marmoleum is that you need the actual samples. The colors on their website aren't close enough to be very useful. Good luck!

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  6. How is the marmoleum holding up? I love the idea, but want to know how it is in real life. How do you clean it? Your room looks fantastic, btw.

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  7. So far so good. The seams are still nice ant tight and the surface isn't showing any scratches. The only thing you need to clean it is a broom and a damp cloth (or mop with just water).

    One thing I will do differently if I ever install it again is to mind the gaps along the walls and cabinets a little better. There are one or two spots where it is just peeking out from under the shoe moulding because I left a little too much space between the flooring and the wall/cabinet.

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  8. Thanks for the advice. I'm thinking of installing marmoleum. I'm just not sure why your are encouraging big boxes... I'd rather support my local hardware store!

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  9. Hi, I have a 1915 "Portland bungalow" smaller than yours, in the Woodstock area, we put marmoleum in our bathroom and love it; scratches don't show as the colour goes all the way through the marmoleum, had actually considered the click type for the kitchen, so good to read about your install. I think one of the coolest things about Marmoleum is that because of the unique colours available, we were able to tie together a turquois sink from 1958, and a med. yellow tub from mid sixties using the cool turq. and yellow marmoleum, really opens up options for salvaged fixtures to be used and enjoyed, take care.

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  10. You should DEFINITELY ALWAYS use an underlayment with Marmoleum. We use 1/4" Popfly. If there are any nails or staples sticking up it will eventually ruin the tile. The subfloor needs to be in immaculate condition if you don't use underlayment

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