I recently mentioned our tile flooring project in the blog on keeping your sanity during a renovation. We had two different types of tile that covered 400 square feet. This included: the front entrance, powder room, hallway, entrance from the garage and also the mudroom which has it’s own exterior door. We wanted a unified tile flooring and something that was easy to clean, as there are three exterior doors that enter this tiled area.
We went to @Alexanian, and John helped up pick out a 12 by 24 rectangular floor tile. The ceramic tileis by Sarana Tiles ONICE Collection – Ash Obac Perla. We were careful to pick a tile that would camouflage the hair of our beautiful shedding white golden doodle Lola.
I can’t say enough about how good our tile installer Iain was from @Alexanian. Over the five-day install, we spent a lot of time together. He was pleasant and very accommodating when a certain puppy kept disrupting his work.
The Tile Flooring Installation Process
The first step, was to rip up an extra layer of sub-floor. There was also a solid one-piece vinyl flooring from the 1970s, that had to be removed. Then, Iain used an auto-feed extended screw gun that was fascinating to watch. It put in screws right across the large area of floor rapidly.
Next was the installation of Protegga, a flexible red membrane used as an underlay for tile flooring and stone. The Protegga acts as an uncoupling membrane in that the tile attaches to the membrane and not the sub-floor. This allows for expansion and reduces the risk of cracking.
The actual installation of the tiles took days but it was worth the wait. The installation is impeccable. Iain used T-Lock wedge levelling system. A levelling system is necessary for all large format tiles as they are manufactured with a natural bow to them. The wedge levelling system helps to correct that. One night Lola escaped from her enclosure, removed a bunch of the wedges and pilled them in another room. As I said, the project worked out well despite her interruptions.
The Baseboard Installation
Once the tiles were completed, it was on to new baseboards. For this project it was Ian number two, this one from Exquisite Flooring. This team took great care in replacing all the trim and baseboards in the areas where there is new flooring. They also installed baseboards in the kitchen and family room, which strangely did not have baseboards before.
We struggled with our choice in baseboard style. We prefer a modern style, but there is a traditional baseboard in the rest of the house, so we decided to stick with that.
The trim and baseboard installation was another five-day project. Again, we could not be more happy with the work of the team.
The Puppy Damage
On a side note, Lola decided to have a good chew on one of the door jams, on flthe same day the job was completed. Lola was in the dog house, so to speak. But @Geraintthewelsh was able to fix it easily and we have since had no further incidents.
We could not be happier with the finished product and especially its easy of care.
Always
Leslie
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