Should I get a Marmoleum kitchen floor?
I DIY’d the Marmoleum in my small kitchen. I’m a very experienced DIY’er, having built my own cabinets, made my own concrete counters, set tile in the bathroom, done all my own plumbing and electrical, etc. The (2-color, glued down sheet) Marmoleum install was probably the trickiest, most unforgiving task I’ve attempted. Everybody but me thinks it looks great, but I see flaws and wish I could have a do-over. I would not recommend it if you’re at all beginnery with this sort of thing. The process is not equivalent to installing vinyl sheet flooring, which is what I think jbenben is referring to. The click-together tiles are probably quite doable. As far as living with it goes, it’s not bulletproof (dropped knives can cut into it, dropped canned goods or heavy pots might dent it) but it’s comfortable to walk on and dropped glassware breaks much less frequently. The product itself is not naturally glossy. You can buy a “protectant” product that puts a sheen on it, much like mop-n-glow, bu
I have red Marmoleum click tiles in my kitchen. I love the Marmoleum in some ways, but dislike it in others. First of all, you have to follow the instructions *very* carefully. Bring the tiles into the house several days in advance of installation so they can warm to the temperature of the room. You can’t let them sit in a cold garage or basement and then bring them up and install them. The tiles tend to expand and contract just a little bit with temperature, so when you go to caulk the edges of your room post install, you have to use a silicone caulk that is flexible when dry. We paid a contractor to do the install and he used a caulk that got hard, brittle and doesn’t let the floor shift. So now we have a couple of raised seams and gaps in places. If there is any chance water or something wet is going to get left on the Marmoleum and not cleaned up immediately, you may have some discoloration. The floor under my dogs’ water dishes has cloudy colored rings under it that I haven’t figu
