Ideas from Ed: Sticky Squares (Vol. 8, Issue 11)

I am fortunate to live near a building in which the famous Warner Brothers opened their first theater.  The gentlemen who run a museum there have on occasion asked me for assistance in making various types of improvements.  If you are ever visiting New Castle, PA, be sure to visit the Historic Warner Cascade Theatre Museum.

The plan was very simple – the museum guys had purchased some peel-and-stick vinyl floor tiles, and asked me to install them in the entryway and as borders around some of the displays.  I’m not crazy about doing peel-and-stick, but the tiles were already purchased, so I obliged.  (I am not a fan of them because they usually look “cheap” and don’t adhere as well as you might think to the floor…)

In this situation, the floor was concrete and overall in decent and smooth condition.  I did need to patch a few small areas to help level things out.  This month’s article showcases the installation in the odd-shaped “box office” where visitors stop to pay admission prior to entering.

Here is a general picture of the area after patching.

A key element in getting the tiles to stick properly to the floor involves treating the raw concrete with a sealer.  I always tell you what material I use, but remember that I don’t endorse any particular brand or product.  Here is what I applied to the concrete:

You might be able to tell in the picture below that the concrete is a slightly different color than the picture above as a result of the sealer application.  The object that looks like a dark band is a metal plate that I use as a heavy straightedge.

With the tiles having the best chance possible of adhering well to the floor, the next step was to figure out the optimal placement for appearance and for efficiency of cutting.  For example, it would not be good to have a tile of 5” width on one side and one of 7” width on the opposite side.  In this picture, I have begun making pencil marks on the floor where I deemed the best place to start the installation.  I wanted to bisect the wall that’s straight ahead and meet it at a right angle.

Not all tiles are like this set, but the manufacturer of these definitely indicates that there is a directionality to them.  Note the arrow on the reverse side.  All tiles are to be installed with the arrow pointing in the same direction. 

With that critical starting point located, I began the peeling and sticking, being sure to keep all edges tightly butted.  There isn’t any “give” since once they hit the concrete, they can’t be wiggled or repositioned.  I made any needed tile cuts using a razor knife and straightedge on a backing board of plywood.

After setting a few tiles into position, I used a home-made roller fabricated from a shovel handle to firmly press them down as hard as possible against the concrete.

When there are wooden door surrounds, I like to “undercut” the bottom edge of the door frames just enough that flooring can slip under it.  That makes a nice, neat appearance without the need to get too precise on the flooring cutting.  That wasn’t possible in this situation, because the door frame was metal.  I needed to make a paper template that fit nicely, then transfer the lines to the floor tiles and cut them exactly to fit.

Here’s a more-or-less final picture of that box office area.  I have since installed baseboards around the perimeter, which made any cuts along walls less critical since they’d be covered.

I hope all your projects go well.  Thanks for reading, and happy restoring!

Ed

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