What can I do with a horrible tiled floor as a temporary measure?

[PareyMortas]

Our newish house has a horrible kitchen which we won't have the money to replace for a couple of years so were doing a temporary fix. It has tiles not cow walls that have already been painted over with green paint and an orange tiled floor. We plan to paint over the wall tiles but what about the floor? Would it be crazy to paint them too, or could vinyl work?

Can you just cover it up with lino?

I think it would be crazy to paint floor tiles. I'd start with the wall tiles and see whether you can live with the orange floor in an otherwise toned-down kitchen. If it's still unbearable then cheapo vinyl I suppose. I just have a general problem with vinyl flooring, which I believe to be pretty poisonous (literally), and I'd consider a couple of years of weird floor the lesser evil.

Stick laminate over it. That's what the previous occupants did in our kitchen as we discovered when we finally ripped it up! They'd run the laminate partly under the kick boards but we'd never had problems with it.

We've had a quote for vinyl today of £500 - £700 it is a big room, but it seems a lots for a temporary fix.

Just don't look down? :o

Get a big rug?

How big is the room?

It's 7.5 x 5 meters.

buy vinyl and put it down yourself. You wil need a stanleyknife and a very clean floor.

Take up the plinths and run it as far as you can under stuff. Leave it turned up at the edges for at least a week while it settles.

If you don't put hardboard or screed down first, it will wear but will do for a year or so.

You might find an end-of-roll at a DIY shed or independent.

Don't go to a big chain.

what are cow walls?

Dunno what cow walls are, autocorrect. Mind you the walls are the colour of dung so not entirely inappropriate!

PigletJohn, how easy/hard is it to fit yourself? I think we'd have a join.

'mmmm
I think the biggest I've had was 4m wide (and I think the rolls are up to 20m long)

It's easy if you can just roll it out in an empty room and tug it round to fit. Then you leave it to settle for a week before taping down.

I would be anxious about a join if people are going to be trampling over it (though cutting through overlaps is easy). You use a tape on the underside. I've had joins in alcoves and behind furniture where the room was a bit over 4m. Maybe you could have a 0.5m strip at each side unless there is a better way.

mostly it's in the region of £10 per sq m, but you can get cheap stuff or stock clearance for £4.