Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with linoleum

Should I get a Marmoleum kitchen floor?

Bardolph — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:13:59 -0800

Flooring-filter: Talk to me about linoleum in general, and Marmoleum brand linoleum in particular. Is it nice? Is it DIY-able? What should I know before choosing it for our kitchen? So we're looking to replace our current, ugly, vinyl kitchen floor with something non-vinyl. Our original idea was ceramic tile ($2/sqft), but our contractor is claiming we'll have to replace our Luan subfloor with concrete backing board in order to stabilize the tile, bringing the final total to ~$13/sqft installed (!). At those prices, we've been considering alternatives, and Marmoleum in particular has looked interesting. We love the environmental friendliness, its warmth and softness underfoot. The material itself is pretty expensive, though ($6/sqft), so in order to make it competitive with tile we'd have to be able to keep our existing subfloor and DIY the installation.

I'm worried, though, because while I really really want to love Marmoleum, both the installation and the material itself get perplexingly mixed reviews on sites like this one. There seems to be some concern, for instance, that it bubbles up when installed by anyone but a super-gifted and experienced professional, and that regardless of installation the material is hard to clean and not very durable.

If you've got a lino floor yourself, or know of anyone who does, I'd love to hear some more reliable perspectives on this. In particular, is linoleum or Marmoleum attractive/comfortable/durable? Does it work with DIY installation? And is there anything else (alternative brands, caveats, tips and tricks) I should know before I make this choice?

If it helps, our decisionmaking criteria are (1) durability/livability, (2) cost, and (3) aesthetics, in that order. Thanks!

Best tips for installing linoleum

msalt — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 21:05:25 -0800

Please give me advice and tips for a DIY linoleum installation. First my bathroom (5' x 10'), then if all goes well the kitchen (8' x 10', so a seam). I've already removed the 1" tile in the bathroom, though some adhesive remains on the plywood. Specific ?s: what's the best way to smooth the floor (sand down? fill up?), and how precisely smooth need it be? How does one handle seams? What about thresholds to adjoining rooms? Thx.

Tile over linoleum?

and hosted from Uranus — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:23:43 -0800

Can I lay tile over (real) linoleum? Maybe I should prime the existing floor first? I am remodeling a small bathroom and recently bought some reclaimed tiles for the floor. Around 2001, I had Marmoleum brand (aka the "real" linseed oil stuff) linoleum installed. (The existing floor seriously needed replacing and, since I was having the Marmoleum put into the kitchen I was doing at the time, I had them do the bathroom too, knowing I couldn't live with the color for very long.)

Can I put the tiles down on top of the linoleum? The plywood sub floor under the linoleum was new in 2001 and is in the pretty good shape, as is the linoleum itself. I don't think I can rip up the linoleum without ruining the sub floor. They're stuck together pretty good.

My thinking is that since the existing floor is basically water proof ... why not just tile over it? As long as the tile mastic adheres ok to the current floor, I should be good to go, right? Maybe giving the floor a coat of primer will help with the adhesion? Is there something basic I'm missing here?

I'd really like to avoid the expense, effort and environmental implications of buying new tile backer board unless it's really necessary.

How do I deep clean my floor?

bodgy — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 15:36:53 -0800

How can I deep clean my linoleum floor? I hate my linoleum floor but I still have to clean it. Since getting dogs, i noticed that there is a lot more ground in dirt. I was going to use ammonia to give it a really good deep cleaning. But that's a harsh chemical and smells so yucky. I will use it if I need to but I was wondering what is suggested to give linoleum a good deep cleaning.

Will this floor photo collage work?

tristeza — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 16:08:08 -0800

Would this art/home improvement project work, or can you share tips on how to make it work? Involves linoleum and vintage photos... The linoleum floor in my bathroom is ugly as hell, so I decided to paint it (which the Web says is possible, and has a bunch of advice on).

Then I had the idea to kind of decoupage the floor using vintage photos, and I outlined it thusly:

1) Clean lino thoroughly
2) Lightly wet sand, clean again
3) Oil based primer
4) Place photos on floor, cover with a layer of Mod Podge
5) 3 coats of urethane

Does that sound doable? Is there something I'm missing that you think I need to do? Can I skip the Mod Podge and just brush urethane straight on a photo? (I have never used urethane so don't know its potential toxicity to materials.)

And, just out of curiosity - what do you think a floor collage of B&W photos from the early 1900s-1960s would look? Bathroom is miniscule, walls light pink, trim white.

Is my kitchen floor real linoleum?

peep — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 13:06:08 -0800

Is there a way to tell if my kitchen floor is real linoleum, or vinyl? It's one big sheet, not squares. The house was built in 1964 and the floor is original. There is one place where it's pulling up, and I can see that it has a paper-like backing. I can't pull it back far enough to see any stamp or writing without ruining the floor.

I am thinking it's vinyl, but it's so hard to clean and keep clean that we've started to wonder if it's linoleum and needs to be waxed.

Is there a definitive way to tell? Is 1964 late enough to know for sure that it's vinyl?