The floors in the main part of the mobile have all been repaired. Obviously, we had to remove the floor coverings to gain access to the floors to be able to repair them, which left us with bare floors. We checked into the cost of traditional floor coverings and it was all
way too much money - like it would have cost what we paid for the mobile itself, and it just wouldn't make sense to spend that much on floor coverings.
So, we decided to paint the floors. I haven't said anything before now because I know some of you are just going to think that we're crazy and I didn't want to hear to nay-saying, but now that the first coat of paint is laid it's too late to go back. Besides, I'm really excited about my painted floors. First of all - I hate carpet, like, really, really hate it. I would love carpet if I didn't have ten kids, but with my herd I need a nonporous and cleanable floor surface. Something I can scrub and get
really clean, or when the need of detoxing arises, and it will, even bleach. If you ever had ten little people with poor aim get the flu in your house - you would want a bleachable floor surface too....just saying. Second, I've always wanted a painted floor. I think they look really cool, and there's something that really turns me on about the idea of creating my own floor.
Anyway, once the floor was all repaired My Man filled all of the seams in the floor ( we used a variety of floor filler and levelers, non of which we were very happy with), and then he sanded the floor filler so that it was smooth. Then we swept the floor about a million times to get all of the stuff off of the floor - and then we finally had to accept that there was no way to get absolutely
every.single.crumb of stuff off of the floor. I ran a slightly wet mop over the floor to pickup as much dust as possible, let that dry, and then primed the floor with original Kilz oil based primer.
Once the primer dried we painted the floor with grey oil based floor paint.
This is the first coat of paint. The paint can says that the paint will dry for
light use in 24 hours, and for normal use in 48 hours - which hasn't been the case for us. It's taking much longer for the paint to dry than the can says, so right now I am waiting for the first coat to dry
completely before I put on the second coat. The waiting is killing me, because I really, really, really, really, just want to get in there and get it all done, but when it comes to oil based paint and floors - waiting is for the best. Once the second coat of paint is dry I am going to go back over the floor and sponge on red bricks, so the grey that you see on the floor now will become the mortar (look) for the bricks.
Like I said, the paint didn't actually dry in the amount of time that the can said it would, so when bedtime rolled around we had to set up the ladder for the kids to climb in through the windows to get into bed....lol
There is nothing wrong with painted floors. I live in a mobile home and ripped out the carpet because I have cats and carpet does nothing except hold dirt, germs and smells. I used porch paint which is oil based and I live in humidity on the Gulf Coast so I understand about the drying time. I had to paint in sections as I still had to live here and it worked out ok.
ReplyDeleteYou'll be in there before you know it!
Love the ladder idea, bet the kids did too.
Reminds me of my childhood. Thanks for the laugh with the photo of the kids climbing up the ladder into the window. I just love your family!
ReplyDeleteHow funny...we've been planning on painting the floors of the "Easy Bake Oven" since we moved in..it's a hassle to move stuff around but it's comming together....
ReplyDeleteour nieghbors all think we're nutz! But carpets are such a hassle.. with pets & all the desert dust accumulating underneath... ack!<
i love the brick idea! You are So creative!
Kare,
DeleteI laughed at your remark referring to "The Easy Bake Oven" It seems many of us have names for a portable homes. I have called mine the "tin Can"...until I realized this FEMA was made of PLASTIC. Now it is the Plastic Bottle" However when my AC was out for several weeks in 100F + weather I started calling it the "Solar Oven" With the AC back working i now live in the "Plastic Bot" on "Tin Can Alley"
brick floors, interesting concept. will be looking forward to the pics.
ReplyDeleteI hate carpets myself, I would rather have anything other than carpet. Painted floors sound nice to me. I do have one question though, will your mobile home be warm enough in the winter without carpet? The pictures of the kids climbing through the windows to get to bed made me laugh. Hopefully, they will remember the floor is wet if they get up in the middle of the night to use the restroom. Your home is looking really nice, keep up the fabulous work.
ReplyDeleteMM... I was not able to log into blogger for 5 or so weeks and leave comments but I have been following your story of remodeling and everything is looking so good. I am so proud of what you all have accomplished. I have told you before that we started from very humble beginnings as well. Isn't the human spirit amazing?
ReplyDeleteI hate carpet too. I have 2 more rooms to tear apart and then I will be rid of the mess. I have seen some very nice painted floors, some even looked like rugs, I had a mobile home at one time that had brick looking tile in it and I loved it. I can't wait to see your finished product.
Love the pictures of the kids getting ready for bed!
We ripped all the carpet out of our house too and I am now living with painted floors and loving them! Looks really great and I love the brick look idea!!!
ReplyDeleteLOL @ those last pics
I insisted on pulling our carpet up while my husband kept whining. So, I grabbed and RIPPED. Then he had no choice. The rest was easy, and once he saw the FILTH and STAINS, he understood. ICK!!!!
ReplyDeleteSince you don't take suggestions, I'll just say what I'D do:
I would REJOICE in that lovely gray color and not do one more %$#& thing to it!!! Let it dry. Double coat if you feel it necessary.
THEN ENJOY IT!!!! Bricks? BRICKS??? You will get much more use out of your gray floor without cluttering it up with a brick design! You will get SO SICK of it!!!
With the gray beauty, think of the throw rugs you will be able to buy cheap, or let the kids join in and braid your own!!!!!
Painted floor will be much easier to keep clean. Get a large industrial dust mop for quick clean up. I pulled out carpet and linoleum out of little house out back and used Weatherbeater Porch Paint, on the old tongue and groove wood floors, so far so good. Good luck on the brick idea, but I think that would be time consuming.
ReplyDeleteLooks nice!
ReplyDeleteI like the plain grey. It looks so clean and expansive! (If you are impatient with this paint drying think of the agony of waiting for all the brick pattern drying)
ReplyDeleteMaybe you could get you brick fix to delineate the kitchen or laundry room? I love Tombstone Livestock's ideal of handmade rag rugs!
It does look great btw--and those last pix cracked me up Reminds me of myyouth--except I was climbing out, not in hehehe ;)
DeleteI just read of another gal who pulled her carpet and painted the sub floor of her house after filling all the holes and Joins. She did hers with browns and sponges to mimic wood grain and then went along and drew in seams with markers. Looked amazingly like laminate by the time they sealed it! You are brilliant. The brick effect will be great and with ten kids bricks are a great idea!
DeleteLooking good! w/o you asking .... I also agree w/lotta joy. The less design the better. There are some really nice 'large painted rug designs', that would work really well.
ReplyDeleteBut whatever you decide will be great, no matter what.
I think it looks great as is...rugs, I agree, would look great. Nice job.
ReplyDeleteoh MM - you are killing me - those floors already look fantastic - there is absolutely no need for anything else. oh imagine how clean you will be able to keep those beautiful floors?!?!?!? the place is really coming together - what a beautiful home you are creating! and imagine the memories that your kids are going to have and be able to tell as adults - i envy them!!! hey are you into adopting a 41yr old woman - bahahahahahah!
ReplyDeletei love those floors. let 'em be and move onto something else! lots of love to you and your mountain crew always! your friend,
kymber
MM,
ReplyDeleteI found a solution to make both pretty cheap flooring as well as making it more durable and easy to maintain as well. I went through similar steps as you did to get the floor as clean and flat and free of lumps. Then I laid down a coating of Henry's Plastic Roof Cement and laid down mineralized roll roofing and used a roller on it for a good bond. When the whole floor was done with butting joints, not lap joints I then painted it.
The more coats of paint you put on roll roofing the more stable it becomes. Cleans up like a dream. Make too big a mess...paint it again. Don't like the color this week...paint it again.
Easiest floor yet for me. And cheap. And durable. Damage a spot, use a drywall knife to make clean edges and tear it out to replace the damage, then....yes, paint it again.
Winston
Just telling someone the other day about painted floor. When I was little they sold Linoleum designed like a rug with a border around it. The linoleum did not fit the whole floor it covered just the middle like a rug would. We used to paint the remaining area of wood that showed around the linoleum so it looked like a wide border. That was 63 years ago. Painted floor ar kool!
ReplyDeleteWe had the same gray floor in our living room and bedrooms for a few years in between carpet and buying fake laminate flooring. We probably would still have the painted floors except we had put the house on the market and figured it would look better with the fake wood haha. It looks good :)
ReplyDeleteAs many others have said, the painted floor looks great! We had one years ago and it was the easiest to keep clean and with the redecorating bug i always used to get, what seemed like every six months it was the cheapest to change the look of! Great job and Im looking forward to seeing the rest of the progress!
ReplyDeleteThe trailer's turning into a home.
ReplyDeleteGreat work! I too have had painted floors at different stages. Are you planning on using a stencil to do your bricks? It looks great now, but I'm sure you have the whole idea in your head - I'm looking forward to seeing how it all turns out. Meantime it looks like the kids are having way too much fun getting into their bedroom via the ladder LOL
ReplyDeletePainted floors are awesome and MOST practical for a house full of children!:-) You guys are doing a beautiful job!
ReplyDeletepainted bricks will also make this spacious room look smaller.....just sayin'.
ReplyDeleteI think it will look fabulous :) Keep up the good work, you are almost to the finish line!
ReplyDeleteMy first thought was painted floor? Then it dawned on me, my sister had a painted floor! She loved it. She went with a solid color then got irritated because every little thing showed up on it. She added a random stencil because she didn't think she would be able to keep consistent at anything. It looked great. The bricks will be perfect for not showing wear, tear, dust and downright dirt. Just hoping you can get it done easily and don't drive your self nuts painting all the bricks. May the weather fronts align and give you a break on the humidity so everything dries a little quicker :)
ReplyDeleteFinally, an issue that I am passionate about. I have looked for information of this caliber for the last several hours. Your site is greatly appreciated.
ReplyDeleteinstallation