Wallpaper Floor (from the past)

[Daddymem]

Ok, I have searched and searched for installation information of wallpaper for flooring.  See: http://www.countryplans.com/bbs/messages/5895.html  Anyone have information?  Does it go right on the plywood?  Does it go over underlayment?  Does it get glued with wall paper glue then coated?  I'm thinking of trying it on a child's bedroom floor.  One of our ideas is to put a light colored wallpaper down, give the kids some paint an let them have at it, then coat their artwork floor.  Another idea is to create a roadway system for our boy's room using roadway borders and green and grey wallpaper for the buildings and grass and maybe some painted embellishments.  A final idea is to take a picture or pictures of the kids in silly poses or costumes and blow them up, and place them on the floor over a neutral background, what kid wouldn't love a floor with a lifesize print of themselves?  Or go right over the edge and do some rasterbation (trust me, this is not dirty  ): http://homokaasu.org/rasterbator/

stupid fat fingers  

[Amanda_931]

Back Home or Countryside magazine had an article this issue I think about a "Forever Floor" which involved gluing--all mineral coated--roll roofing onto your floor, covering it with a few coats of the cheapest latex paint you can find (mistake mixes welcome here) and then finishing with a decorative design.

All this and non-slip too!

Seems like in my incarnation as a crafts instructor, we would remove the image film from paper--magazine illustrations were usually perfect--by painting a few coats of decoupage or white glue on the top, then washing the paper--gently-off the back.  Could be stuck onto a moderately durable floor, I'd guess.  Starting with white paint sounds like a good idea.

[Shelley]

I was intrigued so I went searching.

Creating the Not SoBig House.  Page 56.  Pic is small and not easy to see.  Woman who did it is a decorator and "likes to change the look of her houses often"  Does say it lasted 3 years.  By the gleam it has several coats of polyurethane.

It'd probably last longer with epoxy or yearly recoating with urethane.  Other things that come to mind.  Painting/urethane over an inexpensive piece of sheet vinyl layed unattached as a rug, an old-fashioned canvas/urethaned floor cloth, or painting directly on the subfloor.

[Daddymem]

The book is where I saw the idea, the link in my post also refers to that page, but it isn't spelled out exactly how it was done, and google isn't very good at this one coz I keep getting places that want to sell me wallpaper and flooring not wallpaper as a floor  .

[Shelley]

Ok, guess I haven't had enuff coffee.

Have you tried her web site?  www.nosobighouse.com

They have a message board.  Not much activity but one of her employees seems to monitor it and step in with answers.

I haven't wallpapered in forever, but I'd suggest vinyl with special vinyl paste.  Used for baths and kitchens.  Tougher.  Directly to the plywood.  Prime it first unless you never want to remove it.  Might want to fill the knot holes with Durham's or somesuch to prevent stress on the paper and give it a professional look.

As I'm thinking here, I'd imagine that stress on the paper would be the biggest enemy.  So, guess I'd countersink the nailers and fill.  Guess I'd make sure that the surface was just as flat as I could possibly make it.  Then, If I wanted it to live as long as possible, I'd urethane it once a year after the initial (probably 3) coats.

Just thinking out loud.  Never done it, never seen it done.

[John Raabe]

Laminate flooring is nothing more than printed paper (wall paper) fused with high pressure plastic coatings and backings.

When I did the sunroom floor on the Solar Saltbox house the slab came out so nice that I didn't want to cover it up. I tried an experiment that is still in place after 23 years.

I painted the floor with latex basement paint (in my case a tile red) and then laid out a grid pattern using 1/4" wide plastic adhesive backed tape (an auto detail product). This grid matches a pattern of 2'x2' cement patio pavers outside the sunroom.

The whole thing was then coated with two layers of clear polyurathane.

It got scratches right away. These have now blended into a softer duller but richer surface than it was when new. Because the concrete is below the paint film, there are places where chips expose the gray.

This same thing could be done on a good plywood subfloor or a subfloor covered in 2x2 or 4x4 hardboard (masonite) squares. I have seen such a floor as this done where the folks beveled the edges of the hardboard to give the tiles more definition.

[Daddymem]

The hardboard sounds neat.  Maybe I should explain the why.  Although I would love to build my own house, my work and commute hours do not allow enough time since we must have a house on our lot by the end of the year or we lose our variance to build on the lot.  We kicked around the idea of building a tiny house just to get out of our current cottage and onto the lot, but it just isn't realistic; we have two small children and have just had it with being cramped in our 600 sf home.  We love John's solar saltbox and his farmhouse plans but could never get either constructed in time so it looks like modular is the way.  Until the other day we hadn't found a modular place that doesn't build boring homes (and huge-mongous)...then we found Keiser.  We found two identical modular colonial farmhouses nearby that use 15' widths  on their boxes (to fit on the trucks).  The house looks nothing like typical a modular, it looks like an old farmhouse like John's (it is 1,390 sf in two stories, ask Mommymem to post the exterior pics if you wish).  

We are exploring ways to cut costs on this house and one area was flooring (and finish work is another).  We are trying to determine if we should get it with no flooring and do it ourselves, or get cheap vinyl flooring by the company to be replaced at a later date.  We eventually would like something along the lines of wide plank pine flooring.  When we ran across the wallpaper idea we thought this might be a good substitute to cheap vinyl (and much more interesting) as a temporary situation that may turn permanent if it looks as cool as we think it might, but we should still install it as if it will be removed eventually.  

I think priming the floor first is a great idea, the paper should pull up easier, but if it has to be installed over a finish board such as masonite or thin finish plywood, there may not be enough cost savings to justify doing this instead of just plain old paint or polyurethane on the bare plywood (or cheap vinyl for that matter).  I'll have to go check prices on masonite now....visions of "tile" now dance in my head, thanks John

[Shelley]

I did see this once.  Not up close and personal, on TV.

Guy took a skill saw and scored lines in it a la hardwood flooring.  Don't know how you get up close to the walls.  Maybe just a wood chisel.  Maybe rotozip has an attachment.  Maybe you just don't worry about it.

Stained it.  Polyurethane.

Didn't look bad at all.  Leastways on TV.

[Mommymem]

Here's the house! Isn't it cute?

[glenn kangiser]

First modular I've seen that looks like a real house.

[Daddymem]

First modular I've seen that looks like a real house.

Thanks, wait til we get our hands on it!  What's funny is that this is called a cottage...it is more like a mansion compared to what we are in now.

[glenn kangiser]

How soon will it be here

Keep us posted -you got me excited now and I gotta tell you , it's not a pretty sight :-/

Looks like that is what you dream about at night  (the house) and soon you are going to find it.    Was that translation acceptable

[Daddymem]

We haven't ordered it yet, we are beginning work meeting with the contractor.  We then will have to go through all our changes for a floorplan and order it up.  It should only take 6-12 weeks from order....try that with conventional construction  

[glenn kangiser]

Sounds great.

[Sherry]

Daddymem or Mommymem-Do you have any contact info on the maker of that farmhouse style modular?  What area are you in?

[Mommymem]

Daddymem or Mommymem-Do you have any contact info on the maker of that farmhouse style modular?  What area are you in?

It is made by Keiser, who are located in Oxford, Maine. Their web address is //www.keiserme.com This floorplan is not listed on their website.  I do have some interior photos. If you are interested in those let me know. We're in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.    ~mommymem