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| Adding tile to a floor surface that already has linoleum or vinyl flooring in place does not need to be complicated. Armen Tavy of Tavy Tools stopped by the workshop to demonstrate how easy it can be. |
The Tavy Thin-Skin system allows tile to be applied to any non-carpeted flooring or countertop surface with almost negligable underlayment, and it comes with a written 15-year warranty. |
There are two key components to this tiling system. The first is TAVY #007 Thin-Skin Adhesive, which will be applied directly to the face of the vinyl flooring in this example. |
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| The second component is a non-woven synthetic fabric called TAVY Thin Skin Underlayment. It's laid on top of the Thin-Skin Adhesive, then pressed firmly into the adhesive, using either a trowel or a wallboard joint knife. The adhesive sticks to the vinyl flooring and the fabric bonds to the glue. |
Next, standard thin-set cement is mixed up to a ketchup-like consistency. |
It's then troweled onto the fabric in a level, even coat. It will dry in about half an hour or so.
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The resulting new underlayment is probably less than 1/32 of an inch thick, without raising the floor or using nails or screws.
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Next, a second, heavier coat of thick-set concrete will be applied on top of the underlayment. Armen uses the smooth edge of the trowel to spread the cement.
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Then, holding the trowel at a steep angle, the notched side creates parallel ridges that are all the same height.
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This will ensure that there's an even coating beneath each tile and no low spots or voids that might cause tiles to break or crack over time.
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Tiles are placed so the edges actually touch each other. Then each tile is wiggled slightly while gently pulling it away from its neighbor.
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The wiggling insures good contact with the cement below. Placing the edges together at first and pulling them apart also keeps the joints clean and free of excess cement.
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Once the tiles are pushed into place and wiggled around, a few taps with a dead blow rubber mallet help to drive out any remaining air.
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After three decades of tiling, Armen has come up with a couple of inventions to save time and improve results, like this easy-to-grip tile spacer. One side is for spacing intersecting joints and the other keeps the edges evenly spaced.
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Invention number two is this handy tiling puck. A level bubble in the middle is perfect for ensuring that the first row of tiles is level in all directions. If slid around across adjacent tiles, it can identify "toe kickers," or tiles that are not even with their neighbors.
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