I notice in the article that among those 60,000 pennies, the couple found an 1873 Indian head penny that they could have sold for enough money to pay for the entire project. But they went right ahead and put that coin in the floor with the others.
Then, to get a usable finish instead of a surface that would tarnish, corrode, and attract every speck of dirt indissolubly to itself for decades to come, they covered the whole thing with an unspecified (by the writer) ‘clear coat’ — probably urethane-based. So they have a urethane floor with 60,000 pennies stuck underneath it.
Meanwhile, homewyse.com tells me that depending on what part of the country you’re in, floor tile should cost roughly between $7 and $11 per square foot to install, including labour — and the labour is more than half the cost. This couple spent $1,000 to do their bedroom floor and did all the work themselves; not only that, they did far more work (because of the nature of the materials) than they would with any kind of actual tiles.
Then, to get a usable finish instead of a surface that would tarnish, corrode, and attract every speck of dirt indissolubly to itself for decades to come, they covered the whole thing with an unspecified (by the writer) ‘clear coat’ — probably urethane-based. So they have a urethane floor with 60,000 pennies stuck underneath it.
Meanwhile, homewyse.com tells me that depending on what part of the country you’re in, floor tile should cost roughly between $7 and $11 per square foot to install, including labour — and the labour is more than half the cost. This couple spent $1,000 to do their bedroom floor and did all the work themselves; not only that, they did far more work (because of the nature of the materials) than they would with any kind of actual tiles.
Not a good use for metal at all, if you ask me.