PEEL AND STICK kitchen floor re-do PART 1: the preperation

THE PROCESS UP UNTIL ACTUALLY LAYING THE TILE!!

redoing flooring is no walk in the park but it can be done quick and efficiently with an organized plan of attack. we knew that we wanted to change our kitchen flooring out of a want and necessity. it was literally peeling up at one spot in front of our stove and causing this clumsy housewife to trip. yikes. and yuck. who wants their floor peeling up in front of the stove where you cook. little crumbs could collect in their. so we researched options on the world wide web and our local Lowes and Home Depot stores. we settled on a peel and stick tile with a grout finish. 

step 1: select tile

this was quite a process. we first had to assess and purchase options. you can buy individual tiles ranging in price between 88 cents and $1.22 - we bought 8 total (we started with 4 and actually went out and purchased more - yes we are officially crazy). we then laid said tiles out in the room and took pictures.

option 1:

  

option 2:

  

option 3:

 

option 4:

 

 the winner was OPTION 1!! we both agreed that it went best with the counter tops and had a great pattern

step 2: purchase supplies

we are slowly accumulating tools but often when we start a new project we have to budget in purchasing a few tools in addition to the supplies. this project was awesome! we have been saving some money from our wedding and change. so total this project was under $300 EASILY - and we only had to pay about $125 out of our pockets. we earned back a little over $25 when we returned items we didn't use. 

here is our lowe's haul:

  

 [gloves, adhesive remover, floor primer, crowbar]
 [2 tile sponges, paint rollers, tile spacers, premixed grout]
new exacto knife, chalkline] 

**we returned the adhesive remover and floor primer, didn't open the paint rollers or latex gloves but kept them for future projects

 [and of course TILES]

step 3: take before pictures

THE KITCHEN:

  

 

THE BACK ENTRYWAY

 

THE FRONT ENTRYWAY

  

step 4: remove appliances

we don't have any pictures. that would be crazy. we can't be moving large objects and snapping pictures. but just as an idea of what your life will become this is our lovely living room. non functional stove - fully functioning fridge. 

ps. here is ian unhooking our gas stove. we looked this up on google and youtube and found some very helpful videos. it is very simple you just need a large adjustable crescent wrench and to know how to turn the gas valve off and back on. simple as that. 

step 5: remove trim

we don't have ANY good pictures of this portion of the process but it is simple enough. use a crow bar wedged between the wall and trim pound with hammer to loosen from the wall and remove. trim nails can sometimes be tricky especially with old trim and nails. take your time and lots of deep breaths if things aren't working for you. 

[you never know what you will find under there - possibly some beautiful old wall paper]

step 6: decide tile layout

not a huge decision. this doesn't have to be done in this order. as you can see we haven't taken the trim off yet. but you do need to have an overall plan before you tackle laying them down. there are 3 basic ways to lay tile: diagonal, brick, straight

option 1: diagnoal

 

option 2: straight

option 3: brick

at this point we narrowed it down to brick and diagonal. this is totally a personal preference. we honestly couldn't decide between the two so we placed it in the entryway to see what it would look like with a small space. i left ian to be the final judge.

 

AND THE WINNER IS BRICK! we decided that it was our favorite and it was also slightly easier to lay. few cuts and no diagonal cuts. 

step 7: remove old flooring

this was a very rewarding but tiring process. you CAN place tile over old laminate flooring but it cannot be damaged AT ALL! if it smooth without damage it can create a smooth surface for the tile to stick too. we found that it actually did stick better we opted to tile over the laminate in the entryways. 

 

 [the BEST feeling being done with that]

step 8: remove any debris/adhesive/paper for a smooth surface

as you can see from our lovely pictures the back of our laminate was paper and much of the paper remained. we spent a few hours (i'm not sure if this is a realistic time estimate but it felt like it) trying to hand pick off the paper that wasn't fully glued down. it was tedious. i actually sort of enjoyed it. ian hated it. we researched and researched and researched. and came up completely empty handed!! after a good nights sleep i came up with the idea to try to use an iron to steam the paper and peel it off. it worked!! and saved us a ton of time although it still took the better about 2 hours to finish. 

THE BEFORE

THE SOLUTION

  

[one time having doubles is USEFUL]

[the paper - two out of four full bags of it]

 THE AFTER

step 9: mark chalk lines for the center of the room

depending on the pattern you choose this may vary from our approach. it is important to begin laying tile from the center of the room. some blogs will say you should square off the doors and start there. NOT TRUE! you must start from the center so that the room looks symmetrical and there is and equal amount of partial tiles on all sides of the room. we used a chalk line to mark the center of the room both vertically and horizontally which gave us a large X that we used as a starting point for laying. additionally, it divided the room up into four quadrants which was the method we used to lay the tiles. which i will get into more detail with in the next post. STAY TUNED!!!