We fell in love with the idea of making a floor out of pennies while planning our renovation. This week, I have been laying the pennies on the floor.
Like many things we planned, it feels good to finally be following through.
There are many videos and blogs about doing this and I’d like to share how we did it in detail, but today I’m going to give you a quick overview.
Preparation
The floor in question is the floor of the new bathroom on the top floor. Just like the master bath downstairs, I embedded water heating pipes in a concrete and sand mixture, coated that with a thin layer of “thin-set” mortar and painted on the Red Guard water-proofing membrane. The result of these steps will be a heated and waterproof copper floor which will be warm to the feet.
I was not near done.
Our neighbour Ron lent me his tile-saw while he was away and I laid tile up the shower wall, behind the toilet, under the sink cabinet and in a border around the perimeter of the floor. I bought this tile at the Habitat for Humanity Restore. It has subtle veins of copper that will compliment the pennies. I’ll share more details about installing the shower and fixtures another time.
Ron looked at my tiling job and said, “Nice job!” and I nearly fell over.
Then Ron pointed out the challenge of laying pennies inside the perimeter I had created. Pennies are not nearly as thick as the tile, so I would have to raise the level of the floor to a penny-thickness below the level of the tile. Then I would have to make a perfectly level surface to lay the pennies on.
Suffice to say, with his suggestions and using thin-set concrete, I more-or-less accomplished that. I can feel a slight wave or two, but the clear surface I will lay on top of the pennies should level that out.
I started laying pennies about a week ago, but haven’t been able to work on it every day. So far I have worked about 8 hours just laying pennies.
Our approach
There are different approaches to this task and we decided on the following:
-washing, but not polishing or attempting to brighten the pennies. I haven’t seen a method of “restoring” pennies that didn’t seem to change the colour or shine of the penny to something not entirely natural. Part of the appeal of a penny floor to me is the story that each coin brings. Each one tells of its journey, but together they make something beautiful.
-we radiated the pattern out from the center of the space. Leanne chose special pennies with significant dates to lay in the center.
-Leanne settled on a diamond pattern. On the floor, I have laid the diamond points to indicate the points of the compass and remind us we are standing on a globe and orient us in the world. I drew a wide cross on the floor in pencil to guide me.
-I used a small drop of silicone sealant on each penny to stick it down. It will only have to hold the pennies in position until the floor is sealed.
-It is just as time-consuming as everyone said.
Working Fast
As I did with certain other moments in the construction, I set up my iPhone with a time-lapse app called iMotion taking a photo every 5 seconds. (By that measure, I spent 4 hours laying pennies on Sunday!)
Here is the mercifully-short two-minute version of the time-lapse showing where I am as of tonight. I had some fun speeding it up and slowing it down when the cat came in the room, etc. Enjoy!
What’s next?
After I finish laying the pennies, it will be time to grout. I will push the same colour grout that I used between the tiles into the spaces between the pennies. After that, I must choose a clear surface coating. I’m considering an epoxy or a “Marine-grade gel coat“. Any suggestions?