Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Your commonhouse kitchen floor

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

> On Apr 13, 2016, at 8:34 AM, Ruth Hirsch <partner-in-healing [at] 
> earthlink.net> wrote:
> 
> Marmoleum has been recommended on this List (I don't recall anything else 
> being suggested.)  
> We are inviting input, specifically about the form of Marmoleum (and open for 
> other information.)

Marmoleum is a wonderful flooring — wonderful designs, sound absorbing, 
cushioning. Natural product. Since the design goes through to the back, it will 
literally last until it wears through. If you keep it polished (meaning liquid 
polish) you wear off the polish not the surface. It’s as close as you can get 
to a permanent floor aside from rock.
> 
> The vendor is highly recommending click tiles.  Have you used these?  Happy 
> with them?  I had thought the recommendation was to opt for few seams as 
> possible, i.e., rolls of this product.  He suggests not using the rolled 
> product which I thought I had seen highly recommended,  and the tiles not 
> rec'd,  but am fine if that is not so.   BTW,  one concern here is if a leak 
> occurs and no one discovers it quickly.   The vendor says that w Marmoleum 
> tiles,  one would pick them up,  let them dry out and re install.

Frankly, I would use another vendor. The click tiles are worse than the tiles 
because they are not sealed as well. Ours were originally click tiles and they 
were totally dead in 3 years. The water in the kitchen kills them. The clickers 
absorb faster than the Marmoleum.

The vendor is giving you the options that are easier for them to install. Click 
tiles are easiest but not recommended where there is water exposure. Tiles 
second but again, water gets into all the seams and they can’t be sealed — too 
many of them.

Rolls have the fewest seams possible. Seal the seams. Someone told us we didn’t 
need to seal the seams in the kids room, hallways, laundry, etc. and we had to 
replace much of it in patches because cleaning water, overflow from watering 
plants, etc., had melted the glue. 

Marmoleum is a natural wood product. It breaths. Thus a water base glue is 
used. As few seams in the kitchen as possible.

Call a natural products store in the area and ask who they would use to put 
down Marmoleum.

This info is both from research and from the person who installed our 
replacements. He was an authorized Marmoleum installer and had been installing 
it since before linoleum when out of style. Only Marmoleum continued to be 
developed during that period so it has a better formulation and more reliable 
technology.

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org