Amtico flooring

I just finished laying a few more areas of Amtico in my office tonight.

I thought I'd show a few pictures of the finished job and some closeups of the actual product in case any of you were curious about it.

As most boaters know, Amtico is used on interiors of quite a few boats instead of real wood. I know it's an option on the newer NT's.
It's a photo-realistic PVC flooring that you can order with a variety of features (such as beveled edges, ticking, 4.5" wide vs 6" wide, etc)

I've installed hundreds of square feet of it and I find it easy to install.
The most important thing is to make sure the correct subfloor is installed as the Amtico will show any bump or wave.
It's stuck in place with flooring adhesive. You can get 2 types; water based or 2 part epoxy.
I always use the epoxy adhesive as we can have tremendous temperature swings during the day and the epoxy essentially water proofs the install so we can wet mop the floor.
I'm sure for boats it's the same as a house or office and you'd want to use the 2 part epoxy.
You do need a special cutting device in order to cut it to size.

The great thing about Amtico is that it wears fantastic. It's super durable, and is nice looking.
I installed 8 years ago in my dental operatories and it looks as good as the day I installed it.

Looks pre finished , for a boat it might need a no skid varnish on top?

You can't varnish it and it's not particularly slippery even when wet.

Definitely not slippery.
You can get it with "ticking" which is with a textured surface to better simulate the look of wood.
Capt Bill, do you know the difference between what I used and the marine product?
Or is there a difference?

To the best of my knowledge the word "marine" in marine Amtico refers to the wood pattern (teak, teak & holly, eft.) of the flooring and there is no real physical different in the product.

But I'm by no means an expect on Amtico.

Joe, where did you buy the material?

For the first job , I ordered from a guy in the SF area.
He is on the Amtico advisory board ( so he says).
He was reasonable but shipping to the Midwest would be a killer.
Any high end flooring company should carry it. It comes out of Atlanta I believe.
My last few installs I went to a local flooring place and was able to buy overstock at a reduced rate.
Expect to pay about $5/sq ft.

What about the special cutting device? Does the flooring supplier carry that or is it a home store tool and what does it cost? Thanks.

I bought my cutter from DeSoto flooring supplies. It ran about $300
My dentist neighbor bought a cutting device from Amazon for much less and it seems to have worked just fine.

I'll post a picture of mine after work today

Here's the cutter I used.

The other pic is of the baltic birch underlayment.
They make it in 1/4" or 3/8" thickness. I've only been able to get it in either 4'x5' or 4'x4'.
The BB subfloor is shot down using narrow crown staples. For a boat I would expect to use ss staples.
I then use a belt sander to level the joints

David,
If you'd like, you can PM me your address and I'd be glad to mail you some left over small pieces of the different types of Amtico I've installed.
You could see what the material looks and feels like.
I would suggest you research the difference between installation in a marine environment and an office.
You could call Michael at Beau Monde Flooring if you have any questions.
He very knowledgable about the product.
Home Page
You can read more about the product on the above website.

I have no affiliation with Amtico, I'm just very satisfied with the product.

Thanks for the info Joe, this may be just what I've been looking for. Growing tired of the black carpet we have. Looks great until you put the vacuum away.

https://www.amticotech.com/docs/def...ico-marine-installation-22052014.pdf?sfvrsn=6

Above is the Amtico marine installation guidelines

Your welcome CP!

Thanks, Joe. I will check with some local flooring companies for prices and samples. I appreciate the pics and offer.

I finished a flooring upgrade on our Nordic Tug in August using Amtico, but in 2.5 inch strips with 1/4 inch maple strips in between. Installation was not that difficult but ignore the instructions on the two part epoxy adhesive when working on a boat. Mix in small batches right on the floor you are working on. We hand cut the pieces with square and razor knife. This is the same material Nordic uses on the new boats. The most difficult part of the whole process was buying it. You can't find the product on the Mannington web site, much less find anyone who sells it. I found a contact via the Nordic Tug factory at Great Floors in Puget Sound area. I was able to order the product but the shipment took more than a month to get there and even then it wasn't complete. Was it worth the effort? Definitely, but order it well in advance.

Here is a picture of the finished product.

Awesome job!!
Looks great!

tpbrady - that really does look great. I've thought about doing something like this on our NT, but what scares me is how to deal with the floor hatches (engine and shaft log). It seems like the carpet helps with the noise insulation where the hatches meet the frame. How did you deal with that aspect of the install?

looks great!!!

I have to admit, I assisted someone who is very good at wood and flooring. However I saw how he did it and think I could muddle through. To address your questions. Here is how the process went on installation:

a. After removing the carpet, we put in 1/4 in underlayment to make the floor essentially flat since the residue from the carpet coupled with the original flooring did not give that smooth a surface. He used some filler on the surface of the underlayment to smooth out the seams where it was needed. To our surprise, we found Nordic actually squared off the the salon seating and galley cabinetry so everything was pretty symmetrical.
b. We replaced the factory single hinged hatch that weighed about 70 lbs with two new removable hatches out of marine plywood (probably not necessary as interior plywood would work) laminated together to form the correct thickness. We set the hatches in the openings with shims to evenly space all sides allowing for 1/4 by 2 inch teak trim on the sides of the opening and sides of the hatches.
c. In the salon, we started the first run of strips to match up with the edge of the galley cabinet. In the pilot house, we started at one side and worked to the other.
d. We laid the strips in the salon right up to the edge of the hatch opening and cut them off flush with the opening using a router. Once the floor was down, we transferred the edges of the strips onto the plywood of the hatch with a straight edge and marker and then removed the hatches and put the flooring on to match the lines.

That's kind of the short version. As far as noise was concerned, the boat was too quiet when the carpet was combined with the sound deadening installed in the engine room. (The first owner wanted to the boat as quiet as possible and even went so far as putting in an underwater exhaust.) Literally it was hard to hear the engine at the helm at less than 1000 rpm and even then it was very subdued. We left the new engine hatches with no sound insulation on them. The noise in the salon is not that great and while at the helm, the engine noise fades into the background but still allows you to hear changes in the engine associated with changes in throttle setting or in the event of something unwanted happening in the engine room. With the old hatch and carpeting, you wouldn't hear something happening in the engine room unless it made a lot of noise.

Tom

Wow, That looks great! Friends of ours have a waterfront home and 2 large dogs. My wife asked her how they maintain the wood floors and was told it was Amtico. 10 plus years and looking great.

Quick question:
Can you elaborate on the 2 part epoxy?
You said you mix right on the floor?
How do you get the right proportions?

All the cans I've received from Amtico, have a weird proprietary can design. The catalyst sits inside a container which is built into the lid of the epoxy.
You have to puncture it thru the lid, which allows the catalyst to drain into the epoxy.

Just curious about any easier ways to mix up this stuff.

TunaJoe,

The two part epoxy we got was in two different plastic containers. The instructions said to mix container B into container A. Combined they filled up one container. The containers had different amounts in each, so we worked out the proportions needed for smaller batches. It came out to one third of one to 2/3 of the other. We used two disposable measuring cups, one for each of the parts. We poured the two measured amounts on the floor together, mixed them in place and then troweled them out. Each batch did about 20 sq ft. If you followed the instructions on the container, you had better dump the whole thing on the floor immediately because 20 minutes later you will end up with a very hot solid container of epoxy. The instructions were geared toward putting flooring in a warehouse and not a boat.

I looked at my material invoice and the adhesive is listed as "Mannington Adhesive 2 part epoxy V95". The floor material was listed as Amtico teak (beveled edge) R-W699WEU 2.25in x 36 in. and came 45 sq ft per carton. The separating strips were Amtico Maple feature strip AROW6840 1/4 x 36 in. 200 pcs per carton.

Tom

tpbrady said:

Here is a picture of the finished product.

Click to expand...

Very nice work...
I didn't realize 1/4" strip was available to do the true nautical Teak / Maple look.

I looked at Amtico product literature and can't tell what the edge looks like -
Are the planks & strips tongue & groove - grove & spline or square butt joints?

Nice job . Looks great .

tpbrady said:

TunaJoe,

The two part epoxy we got was in two different plastic containers. The instructions said to mix container B into container A. Combined they filled up one container. The containers had different amounts in each, so we worked out the proportions needed for smaller batches. It came out to one third of one to 2/3 of the other. We used two disposable measuring cups, one for each of the parts. We poured the two measured amounts on the floor together, mixed them in place and then troweled them out. Each batch did about 20 sq ft. If you followed the instructions on the container, you had better dump the whole thing on the floor immediately because 20 minutes later you will end up with a very hot solid container of epoxy. The instructions were geared toward putting flooring in a warehouse and not a boat.

I looked at my material invoice and the adhesive is listed as "Mannington Adhesive 2 part epoxy V95". The floor material was listed as Amtico teak (beveled edge) R-W699WEU 2.25in x 36 in. and came 45 sq ft per carton. The separating strips were Amtico Maple feature strip AROW6840 1/4 x 36 in. 200 pcs per carton.

Tom

Click to expand...

Gotcha. Thank you Tom.

My 2 part epoxy has always been one can with the catalyst but into the lid.
Good to know the actual Amtico product numbers.
I'm going to encourage my kids to start drinking grape juice in the salon and hopefully they'll spill a bunch so I can do an install in my boat.

Bacchus said:

Very nice work...
I didn't realize 1/4" strip was available to do the true nautical Teak / Maple look.

I looked at Amtico product literature and can't tell what the edge looks like -
Are the planks & strips tongue & groove - grove & spline or square butt joints?

Click to expand...

It comes with a butt edge.
It's available with a beveled edge or non beveled.

"I didn't realize 1/4" strip was available to do the true nautical Teak / Maple look".

Interior boat decks were teak and HOLLY.

The Holly stood proud about 1/8 of an inch to make the deck no skid when wet..

Amtico Tigerwood

I pulled my carpet and lots of staples and put down the flooring on the plywood after a good sanding. The hatches were trimmed with hickory and the stairs were cut from solid tiger wood! Nordic Tug 37-008

Post up some pictures!