Laying Vinyl Floor Over Marble

Don’t get me wrong, marble flooring in a bathroom is beautiful and luxurious. The folks that owned the house before us went to a lot of trouble and expense to re-do the bathroom with marble. And the family who owns this house in the future can choose to keep the new floor or tear it up and expose the marble. Why did I want to cover it up you ask??? Because it’s slippery!!! No matter how well you dry off your feet when popping out of the shower, it’s still slippery!

Here’s the final result and I’m in luuuuuuuv! Haven’t skidded across the floor once! Tom Cruise I do NOT want to be….

Here’s what I started with. First things first, remove all of the shoe molding carefully so you can re-apply to the base molding.

See what I mean? It’s nice and all, but I love the wood look sooooo much more!

The flooring I used I from Home Depot at $1.98 a square ft. It took 4 boxes. They have many options, all requiring no nailing or gluing. I found that this particular floor laid easiest if I went from left to right. Remember to think ahead as to which side of the plank you can cut. They only connect together one, 1, uno way so to avoid waste think which end you need to snap on to a plank already laid. Practice and you will see what I mean.

I got to the door frame, and cue the singing angels, I didn’t need to run the plank through the table saw. Seven inches wide are the planks and seven inches wide is what I needed!! I did however need a template to cut away where the casing met the floor. This little gadget is called a contour guide . You press the gadget against the profile you are trying to mimic. Then lay the gadget on the plank, trace and using a jigsaw, cut away the profile.

OK, so I do have a little bit of mending to do here. I was afraid of cutting out the profile too large and getting a gap. A little caulk and paint — good as new. Plus, part of the scrapes will be covered when I re-apply the shoe molding to the base molding.

Time to work around the toilet seat. Now there was NO way I was going to remove and re-set the toilet. So I needed to make a template to work around the seat. Using the contour guide, or ‘gadget’ as I call it, and a scrap of floor I made a template to mimic the contour of the toilet base. I admit I was a little crazy about cutting out these pieces. If I messed up I would have had to buy another box. I had just enough!

If the scrap template fit then, and ONLY then, did I cut a real piece of flooring.

Ok, on to the other side. Repeat the process. Be sure to measure from the wall to the edge of the piece you just laid. Our seat was not placed exactly in the center of the area.

My sweet man Steve, who is waaaay more a perfectionist then I am, came to the rescue and got rid of the little gap.

On with the rest of the planks for the sides of the toilet. Replace the shoe molding, caulk and fill nail holes. Couldn’t be happier.

Love!!!!! VERY durable. Love the contrast with the marble!

Take care and stay tund for the next project!

Jennifer

Follow me on Instagram at eastofwaco

Author: Jennifer Stambek-Stephens

I am one of those people that has spent their adult life saying "How hard can it be????". If you combine that with a frugalness, that is exceeded only by my younger daughter, you have a combination that is often very successful but not without its 'ooops' moments. ;-) I've never wanted to spend the money to hire a professional so I learned how to do things myself. I wanted crown molding, too expensive, so I learned how to do it. Same thing with building, landscaping, painting, lighting, sewing, yada yada -- you get where I'm going with this I'm sure. :-) I have the tools and the experience for so many projects. Through this site I am sharing my skills and lessons learned to help others develop that "How hard can it be??" spirit in your home. If you want it, have been dreaming about, lusting after your friends version, posted a million posts of it to your Pinterest board --let's make it happen and within your budget. I'm a decorator AND the creator -- no middleman markup. I'm running out of projects in my house, (short of building an addition!) so lets get to work on yours! Whether it's slipcovers, new window treatments, making that dining room table look like it DID come from RH or helping you develop your own style I would be thrilled and honored to assist!

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