Floor Treatment for covered Screen Porch

[2manyrocks]

From a historical Tennessee view, many porches used to be made with old growth lumber milled tonque and groove and painted with glossy gray paint. Not my choice today.

 

[not2old]

Vinyl snap together planks are being used in fairly high end new homes. most of the time, the wood looking planks are so good that even when you touch it with your hand, it's hard to believe it's vinyl.

Here is the link to the tile I'm buying at Lowes. The pictures are a lot brighter and lighter color than what they are in person. I'm a huge fan of earth tones and natural colors. I think that I need about 60 cartons to do my porch, and I'm at 35 right now. I'll buy another this week if it's in stock. Normally there is 4 or five boxes of it on the shelf. Never enough to do a room, so I'm guessing that everyone is buying a box at a time until they have enough. It's probably the wackiest thing I've done for home remodeling, but with so many other projects that have to be done, this is my way of working towards that project without causing a lot of pain by buying it all at once.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/American-Olean-Wright-36-Pack-Brown-4-in-x-8-in-Glazed-Porcelain-Brick-Look-Floor-and-Wall-Tile/1002655372

I'd be worried they would discontinue it before I had enough. You also might get a better price buying more at once. I always ask"how much do I need to buy to get a better price".

 

[EddieWalker]

My thinking is that if I see that happen, I'll go into panic mode and get everything I need. So far, the opposite seems to be happening, and they are coming out with more color options and even other companies that are making something similar.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

If as you say it occasionally gets wet, I would want tile, not wood.

Yeah, I have pretty much made peace with the fact that tile is probably going to be the best option. A little more costly and labor intensive but best in the long run. Home depot has some 6"x24" wood look tile that is only $1.49. I would love a slate tile because I think it would accent our 6" white oak floor in the adjacent room. But slate is pricey, need to start looking for a deals. I only need 180 sqft. might be able to get some leftovers.

 

[2manyrocks]

I have cut a lot of tile with a cheap HF tile saw and diamond blade over the years.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

I have cut a lot of tile with a cheap HF tile saw and diamond blade over the years.

Yeah, I am kind of excited to do some tile work. I have only done a little MANY moons ago.

 

[EddieWalker]

I'm a big fan of the wood looking ceramic tile. Especially the ones that really look like wood!!!

A note of caution with long, thin tile. Make sure they are flat. Put two tiles face to face to check if they are flat. Some brands are scary bad, and others will always be perfect. Usually, you pay for how good the finish is, but with long tile, having them flat is a big part of what they cost.

If you haven't done floor tile, especially longer floor tile, be sure to buy good quality floor leveling system. I personally use the Raimondi brand for the jobs that I do. You decide how big you want your grout lines to be and then buy the clips in that size. With modern grout, you can make your grout lines a lot smaller then then what most people are used to. But be sure to read the box that the tile comes in, it will say how to lay out your pattern, and how big to make your grout line.

If you do not use a floor leveling system, even with perfectly flat tile, you will have some that will curl up on you once they are installed because of the moisture in the thinset.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

I'm a big fan of the wood looking ceramic tile. Especially the ones that really look like wood!!!

A note of caution with long, thin tile. Make sure they are flat. Put two tiles face to face to check if they are flat. Some brands are scary bad, and others will always be perfect. Usually, you pay for how good the finish is, but with long tile, having them flat is a big part of what they cost.

If you haven't done floor tile, especially longer floor tile, be sure to buy good quality floor leveling system. I personally use the Raimondi brand for the jobs that I do. You decide how big you want your grout lines to be and then buy the clips in that size. With modern grout, you can make your grout lines a lot smaller then then what most people are used to. But be sure to read the box that the tile comes in, it will say how to lay out your pattern, and how big to make your grout line.

If you do not use a floor leveling system, even with perfectly flat tile, you will have some that will curl up on you once they are installed because of the moisture in the thinset.

Thanks Eddie! Some good food for thought. I am leaning towards slate. 12x24" I have come this far and paid a lot of money to get here, no reason to skimp on what I want over a $300-400 difference.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

Some may find this amusing. Years ago we wanted to tile our back porch, so I hired a local tile expert contractor. Porch is poured concrete with 80 years of who knows how many layers of paint on it. So I moved the washer, dryer, refrigerator, freezer, hot water heater, etc. out the door down steps to the patio. Contractor gave me a list of what to get, tile, cement, grout, spacers, acetone,.....wait....acetone??? Well, anyway, I'm not expert, I did what was asked and bought everything. He said ok to walk on it when we got home.
That evening so exited home from work & floor was beautiful. Then I thought I'd be working into the night putting everything back when "pop!" a tile popped up. Then another, etc. Each had 30 layers paint stuck to bottom.
So I called him. He answered phone drunk! I explained what happened, he said "yea, acetone was supposed to etch paint so tiles would stick but..." I said what are we supposed to do??? No water, fridge, etc. He said "I don't know".
So wife & I pulled up all tile, I scrapped floor with a garden hoe & shovel, then went to Lowes & bought linoleum & the glue. I installed it, put everything back and it's still there today.
I wrote him a letter after not hearing anything saying I was out all that money. He hired a lawyer! Lawyer wrote saying he will pay half which he did...I just wanted to forget about it.
Acetone!

 

[2manyrocks]

Take the time to do it right because you’ll be looking at it for a long time. Costly to rip out and do over.