Paper Bag Flooring Instructions

This is an amazing DIY project is sure to enhance the appearance of your home. It's a crazy cheap flooring project that only cost me $60 in materials to achieve a beautiful, durable floor. I laid it in my high traffic, 10x10 entrance and 12 (four foot wide) stairs! This flooring has been installed for 2.5 years now and is still beautiful and durable... despite my 4 children & their wet snowy boots, all kinds of friend traffic, and daily abuse.

Clean & prep the floors. You can’t expect a nice finished product without prepping the area. It doesn’t take long… but DO IT.

•if you are planning to apply paper bag flooring over plywood, seal the cracks between the sheets of wood(see photo... seems are filled). If not, the seems WILL show through so fill the cracks. •we also applied paper bag flooring over hard vinyl tile with success. In this case scrub the floor with TSP to remove any dirt and grime that will hinder the paper from adhering. •vacuum thoroughly

Decide on your method of application. Do you prefer a plank style, wood floor look? A tile look? A slate look…the sky is the limit… But for this instructable we'll just be looking at traditional slate style paper bag flooring(see photo). To see wood plank style paper bag flooring go to my website http://paperbagflooring.com

Tear the paper...Notice the randomly torn pieces of paper in the picture above ;they are less than 12" x 12". I was diligent not to have a bunch of straight pieces. The torn edge, all the way around blends better. I tore the paper in advance. Once torn, I bunched it all into a ball and flattened it out again. This gives the floor more texture as well as it helps the glue to soak into the paper and adhere better. NOTE: it is good to have some straight edges for against the wall.

Now it's time to mix your Elmer's Glue All and water. 1 part glue/2 parts water. Stir. Submerge a few pieces of the paper in the glue mixture and squeeze the paper to get the most of the glue out...It will still be saturated. Lay it on the surface and smooth it with a brush and even run your gloved hand over it to make sure it's adhered to the floor. Lay the next piece, overlapping over the previous. See photo. Also, notice the variation in color... no need to panic... that's just the difference in drying. It completely evened out when dry!

See http://paperbagflooring.com/slate-style-paper-bag-floor/ for the rest of the instructions, videos, supply lists and more!