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How to Marble a Wooden Floor?

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Creating a faux marble look on a wooden floor can be an interesting way to cheer up a fading floor. It’s also a lot easier to care for than a real marble floor! This article explains how to marble a floor in your home, using a black and white square checkerboard design. This will take up to a week to do and is fairly intensive work but the end result is worth the effort.


Sand the wooden floor completely. Remove all furniture from the room or area and any rugs. Be sure to sand every part of the floor that is to be marbled. Apply three coats of a light-coloured, flat, oil-based paint. Apply across the entire floorspace. Lay a grid of squares to create the black and white checkerboard square appearance. Measure exact squares across the entire floor space using a measuring tape and pencil.


Draw over the lines using a felt tip pen so that you can see the borders of each square easily when painting. Leave a general border space of 20 centimeter (7.9 in); this will “frame” the entire floor feature. Work in small areas at a time. Start by painting the light or white coloured squares using off-white white paint.


Start to create the mottled marble effect. While each off-white square is still wet, create small brush streaks using a combination of black, tan and grey. Use a dry brush to blur in the streaks. Leave these squares to dry thoroughly for 48 hours. Once dry, use masking tape and paper to protect them from the next step, painting the the dark colour.


Cover each light square completely in paper and be sure to make the masking tape meet the edges exactly. It takes a bit of work but it is worth doing well. Use a sponge to dab on black and dark green paint on the uncovered squares. This paint should not be brushed on, as you want it to appear streaked.

How Removing the Old Tiles Instead?

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Pry up the existing tiles. Place a chisel at the edge of the element tile at an angle. Hit the back of the chisel with a hammer slowly and continue until the tile begins to break apart. Continue as you move across the entire floor. Throw the broken tile pieces into a wastebasket.

Another option is to simply hit each tile in the center with a sledgehammer. This will create more pieces, but can be a quick way to pull up a floor. Wearing a mask can protect you from any small dust particles kicked into the air as you pull up the subway tiles. It’s also a good idea to wear long pants and sleeves to protect your arms and legs from scrapes or cuts. Protect your knees when removing or laying only tile by wearing pads or padded pants.

Scrub the floor with a stripper. Use a floor stripping solution purchased from your local hardware or home improvement store. Apply the stripper to the floor as directed. Wait until it takes full effect and then use an abrasive scouring pad to scrub loose any stuck on debris or glue. Keep going until the floor is fairly smooth to the touch

Inspect and repair the subfloor. Once you’ve removed the spots tiles and any associated grime, take a close look at your floor with a work light. If the floor is wood, see if there are any areas that are rotten or warped. You’ll need to replace these spots with fresh wood. If the concrete subfloor is slightly cracked, sand it down with an abrasive pad.

Replacing any damaged wood sections is a great way to prevent a future mold problem, especially in bathrooms or kitchens. Just make sure that you address the cause of any leaks as well.