Vinyl Tile Installation 101

Vinyl tile has long been known to be one of the easiest types of flooring to put down.  As long as you have everything that you need, you can knock out a room in about 6 hours total, less if you are using the cheaper peel and stick style flooring.  If you were ever looking for a starter DIY project, vinyl tile installation is it.

The first step is to section off your room.  You will want to do this by putting down a chalk line right down the middle going each way.  Find the center of the room and see if you are happy with the layout.  If not, adjust your chalk line and then get ready for your first tile installation.

Go the center of the room and place a tile in the corner of the first quadrant without applying adhesive or removing the protective paper on the peel and stick tiles.  You will then work down and out to lay all of the tiles in place and make sure the layout will work.  You will be able to put them all down until you get close to the perimeter where you will have to put down partials.

Once you have all four quadrants put down like this, you can go ahead and secure all of the tiles.  Be sure to keep them all snug and make sure that there are no gaps in between.  One mistake and you will be picking up every tile after the first one.  Take your time and you should be fine.

After all of the tiles are down, it is time to fill in the perimeter gapping.  Put full sized tiles down all round the room and then draw the line on the tile where you are going to have to cut it down to size.  You can usually use a utility knife for the cutting.  Just be sure not to cut it directly on your newly laid floor for fear of damaging one of the new tiles.  Put all the partials in place and you are good to go.

While we have only discussed the actual laying of the vinyl tile installation here, there is also prep work involved in getting your floor ready.  It is not very difficult in all your really need to do is make sure the floor is level with no screws or nails poking up.  You will also want to fill in any holes or digs that could affect the tile lying evenly.  Of course, you will also want to make sure that it is clean so the tile adhesive will stick to the surface.