The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California
First Aid For The Ailing Houses
Installing a resilient tile floor is fairly simple now that there is available a mastic cement that can be brushed onto the floor. Older methods required scraping the cement on with a special, toothed trowel, which requires considerable physical effort.
The best way to start laying a resilient tile floor is to lay a large cross of tiles out on the bare floor. One arm of the cross should extend from the dead center of one wall to the one opposite. Snapping on a chalk line will be an invaluable guide. The other arm should cross it at right angles, using the same center tile, and reach from the center of one remaining waD to the other.
The molding between the baseboard and the floor should then be removed. This will be renailed to hide the edges of the tiles, so take it up carefully. A straight chalk line is snapped on the floor parallel to each of the arms of the cross. This divides the floor into almost equal squares. Starting from the chalk lines (which should be perfectly perpendicular to the face of the walls), each quarter of the floor is cemented and laid at a time, starting from the chalk line and laying toward the wall. The remaining space between the last full row of tiles and the baseboard can be filled with cut tile.
When the entire floor is laid, the baseboard molding should be replaced. Asphalt and vinyl tiles can be laid flat by keeping them in a room heated to 80 degrees for 12 hours before laying. They will warm better if they are taken out of the boxes while standing in the warmed room.
Cutting a harder tilelike asphalt or vinyl asbestos is done by scoring the top surface with a knife, then laying the tile, scoring up, over a pencil on the floor. The pencil should be parallel with the scored mark. Bear down evenly on both sides of the tile with your hands, and it will crack along the scored mark. Softer tiles, such as vinyl, cork, and rubber, may be cut with heavy-duty scissors, tin snips, or a sharp knife.
Asphalt, rubber, and cork tile require special care if their life is to be prolonged. Such floors should be cleaned with a mild soap and rinsed thoroughly with clean water to remove all traces of soap.
Oil and grease are destructive to asphalt and rubber floor coverings. If either of these should be spilled on them, immediate washing with soap and water is necessary to prevent damage. To keep floors of either type in good condition, they should be polished with a nonrubbing (water-emulsion) wax, and each time a new coat of wax is to be applied the preceding coat should be removed by thorough scrubbing and rinsing.
