vct garage tile question/issue *pics inside*

[bugmenotredux]

im getting ready to install vct in my garage and i went to laying down the tiles just to test it and i ran into some issues

it seems that around the edges of my garage the walls arent smooth and its hard to get all the tiles perfectly aligned on the edges ... if i try they dont line up perfectly

what can i do to fix this or will i have to gap my tiles a bit from the wall which i think will look funny

 

[jrblack30]

Allways use cut pieces against the walls. You must do a mock up first.
Measure the length of the wall and split it in half, repeat on all four walls, with a pencil mark the half way point on the floor. Snap a chalk line from apposing walls on the pencil marks. Repeat on the other walls. This will create a cross in the middle of the floor. At the center of the floor place a tile so that the edges line up with the lines you just created. now lay a line of tile to a wall, Very important **every tile must be turned 90 degrees to the last one laid**, the grain should not line up ever. This keep the tolerance of the tiles in check, once you reach the wall how much is left? If you have something more than half tile great. If you have only 1/2", bad. then you will want to move the starting tile over 1/2 the size of the tile. Now repeat in the opposite directions. The idea is to adjust so that large pieces are against the walls, small pieces are hard to work with and often become loose.

Once you have determined your starting point in the middle of the floor you must create a new X in the floor using the new starting point and the X MUST be perpendicular and square. This is you new layout grid. Apply the glue to the floor starting in a corner of the room and apply glue to only one quadrant of the grid. once glue has dried apply the starter tile, it MUST be perfectly place on the grid lines. Apply the tile to the quadrant glued working from the center out. When you reach the walls, measure and cut the tiles with a tile cutter or a heat-gun and utility knife.

Repeat in the other quadrants until finished.

Allways start from the center of the room doing one quadrant at a time

 

[autoist]

VGT baseboards.

 

[bugmenotredux]

thanks i was told about starting from the middle , but i wasnt sure what todo about the edges were there will be a space from the tiles...

thx

 

[gsport]

i like the color...

 

[joecaver]

I started my VCT about 4 inches from the wall on both sides and then painted that strip black to match the baseboard. I think it looks good.

 

[Mac Attack]

I snapped my chalk line at the garage door so I got a full tile where it gets the most traffic/wear and went from there. I don't know about starting from the middle....

Then, you can just cut the tiles as you get near walls. Like another post above, my baseboards and floor (near the walls) are painted black, and there is about a 1" gap between my black/gray tiles and the walls.

 

[HiHoSilver]

I had the same problem around the edges as well, I simple cut the tile short, about a half inch, I used vinyl base molding to cover the gap. You should start from the middle. measure from the longest wall to square the first run. But take your time to make sure all the tile is aligned.

after the first row, installing the rest will go faster.

BTW, the tiles do have a directional pattern, I placed mine in the same direction, some people turn them so that every other tile is perpendicular to the tile beside of it. Also the tile does have a smooth & glossier side while the other side is just a little rough and dull. make sure the finished side is up. It is only a minor but it does make a difference.

be sure to post pics when complete.

 

[HiHoSilver]

meant to mention that the easest way to cut the tile is to warm them up by laying them out in the sun, this make them very plyable, will not chip while cutting.

Home Depot sells a vinyl tile cutter, looks like a small old style paper cutter, well worth the money.

 

[ssleepingbeauty]

I swear, one of these days I need to make a video of the CORRECT way to install VCT. I will give you a quick and easy example of what to do. First off you do not have to start in the middle of the room. Second you only need 1 CHALK LINE

Example; lets say you have a 20'x20' garage. Now go to the back left or right wall (Pick one) and measure out 4'6", 5'6", 9'6" It doesn't matter the feet, as long as it is any foot +6" Now for simplicity let's say 9'6" or 10'6" since that is the closest to the center of the room. Let's use 9'6" Make a mark on the floor. Now come to the front of the room and measure across off of the same wall 9'6" and make another mark on the floor. Now snap a line from the 2 marks. You will now have a line that is parallel to the 2 side walls. and this will give equal cuts on both sides. Now measure from the back wall, on top of the chalk line to the front of the garage 19'6" and make a mark on the chalk line. This will be your starting point, and give you equal cuts around the garage.

Now glue the entire garage and put a fan on it and let the glue COMPLETELY DRY. Then when you start to lay, go to your starting point and start what we call laying the line. Start with a single row and lay about 4 tiles with edges along the chalk line. This is to make sure you are square on your line. Now that you know that you are lined up square with your line, make this row about 4 rows wide (2 tile on each side of chalk line) and lay a 4' wide row all of the way to the back wall. You should now have a 19'x4' row of tile laying down the center of the garage.

Now go to either side of this row out in the middle and start a pyramid off of that side, you know lay like 4 tiles off of the side then 3 tiles then 2 tiles. And continue too make this pyramid larger and larger until you reach the side wall with the tip of the pyramid. Then proceed to stair step in the rest of the 2 corners until that side of the room field is complete. Now repeat the same process on the other half of the garage.

You should now have all of the field laid with 6" cut left around all of the walls. Now in your case, to cut in the uneven walls take a tile and set it exactly on top of the last full tile in front of the wall you are about to cut. Now take a full tile and you will use it for a scribe. Take the full tile and but it against the wall, you will now notice the back edge of the tile is about 6" over top of the tile you have laying exactly on top of the field tile. Now take a pencil and trace the back edge of the tile that is butted against the wall onto the tile that is laying on the floor. Now pick up the tile with the pencil line on it (You will notice the pencil line will be right about mid tile.) Now cut the tile right on the line and it will fit like a glove right in that spot where you just measured the wall with that other tile. Now continue to do this with every tile and you will have a nice tight fitting scribed wall all of the way around.

Don't worry about the glue if it takes you 2 days. It will still be fine as long as it doesn't get dusty or dirty. A room of this size would take me about 5 to 6 hours total with floor prep, gluing and install. So I imagined it would probably take a novice 1+ days. Good luck and I hope this helps you and others as well. In 26 years I would conserve ably say that I have installed over a million square feet of VCT

 

[bugmenotredux]

how long can i wait until i spray it down with some water and simple green ?

not complete yet took me from 11-4 todo half the garage thats prep and everything ... **** this is a workout

 

[ssleepingbeauty]

48 to 72 hours depending on temperature. 68* is ideal

 

[bugmenotredux]

well garage is complete ... just need todo the cove molding and something for the front

what do most people use for the front part of the garage if my garage is raised like an inch from the driveway but i stopped the tile before the step up

 

[RichardNorman]

I swear, one of these days I need to make a video of the CORRECT way to install VCT. I will give you a quick and easy example of what to do. First off you do not have to start in the middle of the room. Second you only need 1 CHALK LINE

Example; lets say you have a 20'x20' garage. Now go to the back left or right wall (Pick one) and measure out 4'6", 5'6", 9'6" It doesn't matter the feet, as long as it is any foot +6" Now for simplicity let's say 9'6" or 10'6" since that is the closest to the center of the room. Let's use 9'6" Make a mark on the floor. Now come to the front of the room and measure across off of the same wall 9'6" and make another mark on the floor. Now snap a line from the 2 marks. You will now have a line that is parallel to the 2 side walls. and this will give equal cuts on both sides. Now measure from the back wall, on top of the chalk line to the front of the garage 19'6" and make a mark on the chalk line. This will be your starting point, and give you equal cuts around the garage.

Now glue the entire garage and put a fan on it and let the glue COMPLETELY DRY. Then when you start to lay, go to your starting point and start what we call laying the line. Start with a single row and lay about 4 tiles with edges along the chalk line. This is to make sure you are square on your line. Now that you know that you are lined up square with your line, make this row about 4 rows wide (2 tile on each side of chalk line) and lay a 4' wide row all of the way to the back wall. You should now have a 19'x4' row of tile laying down the center of the garage.

Now go to either side of this row out in the middle and start a pyramid off of that side, you know lay like 4 tiles off of the side then 3 tiles then 2 tiles. And continue too make this pyramid larger and larger until you reach the side wall with the tip of the pyramid. Then proceed to stair step in the rest of the 2 corners until that side of the room field is complete. Now repeat the same process on the other half of the garage.

You should now have all of the field laid with 6" cut left around all of the walls. Now in your case, to cut in the uneven walls take a tile and set it exactly on top of the last full tile in front of the wall you are about to cut. Now take a full tile and you will use it for a scribe. Take the full tile and but it against the wall, you will now notice the back edge of the tile is about 6" over top of the tile you have laying exactly on top of the field tile. Now take a pencil and trace the back edge of the tile that is butted against the wall onto the tile that is laying on the floor. Now pick up the tile with the pencil line on it (You will notice the pencil line will be right about mid tile.) Now cut the tile right on the line and it will fit like a glove right in that spot where you just measured the wall with that other tile. Now continue to do this with every tile and you will have a nice tight fitting scribed wall all of the way around.

Don't worry about the glue if it takes you 2 days. It will still be fine as long as it doesn't get dusty or dirty. A room of this size would take me about 5 to 6 hours total with floor prep, gluing and install. So I imagined it would probably take a novice 1+ days. Good luck and I hope this helps you and others as well. In 26 years I would conserve ably say that I have installed over a million square feet of VCT

I'm about to put down VCT tile in a basement play room for my daughter......this write up is brilliant!

Thank you.

 

[ssleepingbeauty]

I'm about to put down VCT tile in a basement play room for my daughter......this write up is brilliant!

Thank you.

Thank you, I'm glad that this info helped. Sometimes it is hard to describe something in writing, but I tried to make it sound as simple as I could without any pics or video.

I'm about to do a 4 story building starting this week. Maybe I can takes pics and document it and do a right up so it will help others in the future.

 

[ssleepingbeauty]

well garage is complete ... just need todo the cove molding and something for the front

what do most people use for the front part of the garage if my garage is raised like an inch from the driveway but i stopped the tile before the step up

A lot of times what we do in a situation like that is, take some 2"-3" wide masking tape and tape along the edge of the VCT (Mask off the edge) Now lay some tape about 3" away from the edge of the VCT on the floor. You should now have a 3" space between the tape. Now take some 2 part epoxy, or body filler works great for a fast dry. Now with a 6" putty knife, feather off the edge of the tile then pull up the tape as soon as your done (before the epoxy or filler drys). And you will now have a nice ramped edge.

I do this on all of the edges of VCT in grocery stores where it goes into the back storage. And it holds up to pallet jacks with hard wheels on a daily basis for years.

 

[bugmenotredux]

i decided to get the metal carpet trim for the front part of the garage havent put that down

well i thought the cove molding was going to go out more than the 1/8th of an inch and the bottom and I cut my tiles way short. Is there a cove molding thats like 4" tall and maybe 1-2" long on the ground side ?

I thought about flipping it but i think that would look funny

 

[bugmenotredux]

here are the rubber cove moldings flipped to cover the gap but not as high up the wall

here they are normal

and here is a possibly issue if i run them normal since the concrete isnt the same height all around

im thinking #1 since it doesnt have the issue from pic #3 and it covers the gaps that i left

 

[ssleepingbeauty]

They do come in a 2 1/2" high. Or just take a straight edge and cut off a inch or whatever height that is from the top of the base.

 

[HiHoSilver]

I swear, one of these days I need to make a video of the CORRECT way to install VCT. I will give you a quick and easy example of what to do. First off you do not have to start in the middle of the room. Second you only need 1 CHALK LINE

Example; lets say you have a 20'x20' garage. Now go to the back left or right wall (Pick one) and measure out 4'6", 5'6", 9'6" It doesn't matter the feet, as long as it is any foot +6" Now for simplicity let's say 9'6" or 10'6" since that is the closest to the center of the room. Let's use 9'6" Make a mark on the floor. Now come to the front of the room and measure across off of the same wall 9'6" and make another mark on the floor. Now snap a line from the 2 marks. You will now have a line that is parallel to the 2 side walls. and this will give equal cuts on both sides. Now measure from the back wall, on top of the chalk line to the front of the garage 19'6" and make a mark on the chalk line. This will be your starting point, and give you equal cuts around the garage.

Now glue the entire garage and put a fan on it and let the glue COMPLETELY DRY. Then when you start to lay, go to your starting point and start what we call laying the line. Start with a single row and lay about 4 tiles with edges along the chalk line. This is to make sure you are square on your line. Now that you know that you are lined up square with your line, make this row about 4 rows wide (2 tile on each side of chalk line) and lay a 4' wide row all of the way to the back wall. You should now have a 19'x4' row of tile laying down the center of the garage.

Now go to either side of this row out in the middle and start a pyramid off of that side, you know lay like 4 tiles off of the side then 3 tiles then 2 tiles. And continue too make this pyramid larger and larger until you reach the side wall with the tip of the pyramid. Then proceed to stair step in the rest of the 2 corners until that side of the room field is complete. Now repeat the same process on the other half of the garage.

You should now have all of the field laid with 6" cut left around all of the walls. Now in your case, to cut in the uneven walls take a tile and set it exactly on top of the last full tile in front of the wall you are about to cut. Now take a full tile and you will use it for a scribe. Take the full tile and but it against the wall, you will now notice the back edge of the tile is about 6" over top of the tile you have laying exactly on top of the field tile. Now take a pencil and trace the back edge of the tile that is butted against the wall onto the tile that is laying on the floor. Now pick up the tile with the pencil line on it (You will notice the pencil line will be right about mid tile.) Now cut the tile right on the line and it will fit like a glove right in that spot where you just measured the wall with that other tile. Now continue to do this with every tile and you will have a nice tight fitting scribed wall all of the way around.

Don't worry about the glue if it takes you 2 days. It will still be fine as long as it doesn't get dusty or dirty. A room of this size would take me about 5 to 6 hours total with floor prep, gluing and install. So I imagined it would probably take a novice 1+ days. Good luck and I hope this helps you and others as well. In 26 years I would conserve ably say that I have installed over a million square feet of VCT

good instructions. but I have to ask, what advantage is there by laying them in a pyramid, why not lay in full rows

not questioning your skills, just trying to figure out if there is a pro tip here that I am not figuring out.

 

[35mastr]

Thank you, I'm glad that this info helped. Sometimes it is hard to describe something in writing, but I tried to make it sound as simple as I could without any pics or video.

I'm about to do a 4 story building starting this week. Maybe I can takes pics and document it and do a right up so it will help others in the future.

Please do.I would be interested in this with a tile floor.

 

[dipper]

that is some great info ssleepingbeauty.

 

[srmc john]

What can I do about the expansion joints that run from the front to the back and from side to side in my garage?

 

[nmk_61802]

good instructions. but I have to ask, what advantage is there by laying them in a pyramid, why not lay in full rows

not questioning your skills, just trying to figure out if there is a pro tip here that I am not figuring out.

Pyramids keeps two sides of a pre-laid tile available to square up the next one. If you laid full rows out, you would need to realign the first tile set in each row with the adjacent row. Pyramids avoids this.

If that makes sense.

 

[ssleepingbeauty]

Pyramids keeps two sides of a pre-laid tile available to square up the next one. If you laid full rows out, you would need to realign the first tile set in each row with the adjacent row. Pyramids avoids this.

If that makes sense.

Yes it is to control the squareness of the tiles. If you where to lay a row at a time you could get runs or what we call box cars. Which is square gaps where 4 tiles intersect. Because no floor is perfectly flat, so you have more control of keeping your tile square with the pyramid method.

P.S. Well once I did do a PERFECT flat slap. It was a experiment piece of concrete slab at the Everett Boeing plant. A 20x20 section that cost like 10k and that was over 20 years ago They wanted VCT over it and to see if they could get automated robots to work on it. They had some kind of wire under the concrete that the robot would follow.

 

[river1]

They wanted VCT over it and to see if they could get automated robots to work on it. They had some kind of wire under the concrete that the robot would follow.

we have some of those at work for moving paper rolls around

they sometimes hit things too