Abstract: Described herein are methods for unidirectional installation of a surface covering comprising: providing a plurality of floor tiles, each tile comprising: a linoleum core; a top major surface; a bottom major surface; a machine direction edge extending between the top major surface and the bottom major surface running parallel to the machine direction of the tile and; an across machine direction edge extending between the top major surface and the bottom major surface running parallel to the across machine direction of the tile; wherein the machine direction of the tile has a first dimensional stability; and the across machine direction of the tile has a second dimensional stability; placing a first tile on a support base; placing a second tile on the support base adjacent the first tile; and abutting the machine direction edge of the second tile with the machine direction edge of the first tile.