by Bob Pritchard

Created on: October 04, 2010

Replacing your bathroom floor may sound like a difficult project but by using peel and stick tiles most homeowners can do this job themselves. This can be a substantial savings by not having to hire a contractor or flooring company. By following a few simple steps nearly anyone can lay a bathroom sized floor in less than a day.

Preparation

The first thing you need to do is remove the baseboard around the perimeter of the room. If there is a small shoe molding in front of the baseboard you only need to remove that. You can also add a shoe molding later which eliminates removing the baseboard. In some cases you can lay a new floor over an existing floor. You need to be sure the floor your covering has no loose materials. If covering a wood floor be sure that any loose pieces are properly nailed or screwed down. With a tile floor any loose tiles must be glued down. You need a clean flat surface to begin with. If there are too many bad spots stripping the old material will be necessary. If after you've stripped off all the old flooring and the sub floor in uneven it may be necessary to install a new layer of ¼ inch lauan plywood. Be sure to nail or screw the plywood down correctly and fill any gaps with a wood filler. Nails or screws should hit the floor joists below and be no more than 6 inches on center.

Estimating materials

Peel and stick flooring is sold by the square foot which makes figuring easy being each tile is normally 12 inches by 12 inches or 1 square foot each. To figure the square footage of the room simply multiply length times width.

Layout Lines

Before you start laying down tiles you need to chalk a couple lines on the floor to guide you with the installation. Measure the width of the room. If you measure an even amount like 6 feet you can simply divide the room in half and chalk a line down the center of the room. If you measure 6 feet 10 inches you need to divide the 10 inches in half to give you a 5 inch strip on each side. If you measured 6 foot 2 inches we need to take the 2 inch balance and add it to one full tile. We do this because we don't want a 1 inch strip on each side. So, 12 inches (one full tile) plus 2 inches equals 14 inches. We divide this number in half to get the size of the tile on each side which would be 14 divided by 2 or 7 inches. To chalk a line in this situation chalk a parallel line 7 inches off the wall. Measure from this line in multiples of 12 to get a line near the center of the room. Next you need to repeat

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>