Will prefinished plywood stand up to moderate foot traffic

[Mark Katz]

Please read these notes about my situation before replying.
1. My vision is failing quickly due to macular degeneration and I don't know how much longer I will be able to live in this home.
2. The kitchen floor is deteriorating - several tiles are missing a some others are breaking up.
3. I can't deal with a kitchen renovation or even a flooring person to come in and redo the floor.
4. If I sell the house in the next year or two, I want to leave the kitchen renovation choices to the new buyer.

The photo shows the current state of the kitchen floor. The missing tiles are in an area that once suffered from water leakage but that problem has long since (years ago) been corrected.

So here is my plan:
1. Replace the missing tiles and the badly damaged ones with 1/8" (3mm) Baltic Birch plywood. I already have several 30"x30" sheets of that. The old tiles are exactly 1/8" thick. I would first clean up the surface where the missing tiles were and screw down the BB plywood to the subfloor with small screws. Before you groan, keep reading.
2. I would place a full 4'x8' sheet of 1/4" prefinished plywood over the area outlined in red on the photo.I would screw this down through the existing tiles to the subfloor, mostly along the edges but possibly some places in the field.
3. Not sure what I would do along the two exposed plywood wedges ti ease the transition between the plywood and the floor to eliminate the slight trip hazard. I'm sure I can come up with something.

Sp, for a temporary fix to keep from catching and breaking even more tiles, will this work? My major concern is whether the prefinished plywood would wear well enough for moderated foot traffic for maybe a year or two. I live alone and mostly wear house slippers while in the house and there are minimal numbers of outside people coming and going.

I'm inclined to go with this, even just to try it out.

Keeping in mind that this is a short-term fix and I don't want to invest the time and effort into a long-term fix, what do you think?

 

[peter halle]

So sorry to hear about your health issues. What is the composition of the existing tiles?

Peter

 

[luvmytoolz]

They look like lino tiles to me, might be far easier to just buy a cheap pack of self adhesive lino tiles which will fit in perfectly, than spend effort and time cutting plywood and getting it to fit?

 

[Crazyraceguy]

The edges are going to be the biggest issue, next being the low places where the tiles are missing.
The actual finish itself can take it. For this to have the best chance, use some kind of filler in the missing areas and at bare minimum do some kind of round over on the edges/ then some kind of finish there too.

 

[Mark Katz]

So sorry to hear about your health issues. What is the composition of the existing tiles?

Peter

Not sure but I assume they are linoleum. They are very brittle, and I assume vinyl would not be. They were here when we bought the house 25 ears ago but I don't know how long they were there before that, It looks like it is a solid color throughout, if that helps.

 

[Mark Katz]

They look like lino tiles to me, might be far easier to just buy a cheap pack of self adhesive lino tiles which will fit in perfectly, than spend effort and time cutting plywood and getting it to fit?

I'll look into some cheap tiles. They appear to be exactly 12"x12" I don't see it too much trouble to rip some 12" strips out of my 1/8" baltic birch. just needs to fit well enough to support the 1/4" prefinished plywood covering the whole area.

 

[Mark Katz]

The edges are going to be the biggest issue, next being the low places where the tiles are missing.
The actual finish itself can take it. For this to have the best chance, use some kind of filler in the missing areas and at bare minimum do some kind of round over on the edges/ then some kind of finish there too.

The low places will be filled in by the 1/8" baltic birch or cheap tiles as @luvmytoolz suggested. As for the exposed edges of the 4x8 sheet, I think I can create some shallow hardwoood wedges to ease the transition onto the plywood.

 

[luvmytoolz]

Mark, I personally think a full sheet of plywood on the floor will detract from the look and the house value far more than any damaged/replaced tiles will, even if they don't match perfectly.

But I'd be more concerned about a potential tripping hazard at the join even if rounding the edge and easing with wedges.

 

[Mark Katz]

Well,part of my problem is solved. I found a full box of leftover tiles in the basement. I think they are all black but that doesn't matter to me.

So I can use those in place of my baltic birch layer. If I was not in such bad shape physically (am 77, just went through two surgeries after a heart attack, in addition to my vision issues) I would attempt to do a proper repair job on the floor. But that's not going to happen and I don't know anyone who could do that work for me (without also trying to sell me new flooring).

So, after I clean up the subfloor in the exposed sections, I think I will try to place one of the tiles down with double-sided tape, looking to match the height of the adjacent existing tile. If that's successful, I'll replace all of the other missing or damaged tiles the same way. Depending on how that ends up, I'll decide whether or not to add the layer of prefinished plywood. That box of tiles has at least 50 tiles in it, so I have plenty to experiment with.

As to @luvmytoolz's concern about resale value, I don't care. For many reasons, mostly not visible in that photo, the kitchen will need to be demo'ed and rebuilt. The floor is the least of the issues. At that point I will probably be moving int an apartment or assisted living and there are no children to leave my "fortune" to. In the meantime, I just need the floor to work for me.

This photo shows the label on the box of tiles. I can't find a reference to a :Concert" style on the Tarkett website or elsewhere on the web, so it must be a long obsolete product. Maybe someone will recognize it. The top side is smooth and the bottom rough, if that helps. It looks uniform throughout its thickness.

 

[luvmytoolz]

That was a good score finding the box of tiles, hopefully it makes it a much easier job!

 

[Vtshopdog]

What about just getting some sort of rubber mat to cover the damaged area.
Lots of options, jigsaw type 2 foot square gym mats come to mind.

Sorry for your health issues.

 

[Cheese]

If this were my project, I'd use the newly found Tarkett tile to fill in the missing pieces and remove the damaged gray tile and replace that also. Then I'd place a large foam cooking/kitchen mat over the newly tiled area. That will certainly make cooking on the stove a more enjoyable experience. I have several Wellness mats in the kitchen that are placed in front of the range and the prep area. They are wonderful to stand on, easy to clean, have smooth rounded corners and have nice beveled edges so tripping is never a problem. I'd highly recommend them, they're a joy to use.

Sorry about your health Mark, I can feel your pain as I will turn 77 in another month. It sucks getting old...I hate it.

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[Cheese]

Just decided to look up when the 2 kitchen mats we have were purchased...2015. I cook every night so these mats have sustained foot traffic and 75# dog traffic for the last 10 years, now that's durability.

 

[Packard]

If you are looking at your resale value, I would fill the empty spaces with any self-adhesive tile of the same thickness as the existing tile. And then Install vinyl plank flowing tile over the existing tile. Vinyl plank installs quickly, with the minimum of trimming and will enhance the sell-ability of your home.

Poorly patched floors say “Under-maintained property” in my mind and works against ease of selling at a later date.

 

[Mark Katz]

That was a good score finding the box of tiles, hopefully it makes it a much easier job!

Yup - I knew there was a box of tiles down there in the basement but with all the clutter down there I didn't know if I could locate them. Luckily they were on top if a shelving unit.

 

[Mark Katz]

What about just getting some sort of rubber mat to cover the damaged area.
Lots of options, jigsaw type 2 foot square gym mats come to mind.

Sorry for your health issues.

Thanks. The rubber mats, rather than plywood, is a good idea though I'm not so sure about the interlocking kind. I'll look at those further but I'm also researching the mats that @Cheese referenced below.

 

[Mark Katz]

If this were my project, I'd use the newly found Tarkett tile to fill in the missing pieces and remove the damaged gray tile and replace that also. Then I'd place a large foam cooking/kitchen mat over the newly tiled area. That will certainly make cooking on the stove a more enjoyable experience. I have several Wellness mats in the kitchen that are placed in front of the range and the prep area. They are wonderful to stand on, easy to clean, have smooth rounded corners and have nice beveled edges so tripping is never a problem. I'd highly recommend them, they're a joy to use.

Sorry about your health Mark, I can feel your pain as I will turn 77 in another month. It sucks getting old...I hate it.

Kitchen Mats for Your Home From WellnessMats

Discover high-quality kitchen mats designed for comfort and style in your kitchen. Shop our premium selection of kitchen anti Fatigue mats today!

www.wellnessmats.com

Thanks for the suggestion and the specific product recommendation. I sent a quote request to SmartStep/Wellnessmats describing my situation and asking for suggestions.

 

[Cheese]

Thanks for the suggestion and the specific product recommendation. I sent a quote request to SmartStep/Wellnessmats describing my situation and asking for suggestions.

I'm very interested in what Wellnessmats has to say. They've expanded their product offerings considerably since I first tried their product.

 

[Michael Kellough]

I looked at the WellnessMats site yesterday and somewhere saw a picture or video of interlocking mats making a 90 degree bend. But I couldn’t find any matching product.

 

[Cheese]

Try this Michael...they're called puzzle mats.

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