Self-adhesive vinyl tile experience?

[docrowan]

Has anyone ever laid self-adhesive vinyl tile? We have carpet in both our bathrooms (yuck!) and we'd like to replace with vinyl at some point. We'd never considered vinyl tile until we visited my sister this weekend and saw they had done both of their upstairs bathrooms in vinyl tile. Looked very nice and seemed to be holding up well.

If you've done it, how is it holding up and are you happy with it? How went the install process?

Thanks in advance.

[JR]

I did it in a rental condo, which we sold within a few years. It held up reasonable well.

The good news is that it is really easy to install. Completely painless and brainless.

JR

[final_t]

I did this 10 years ago in the master bath. It's done pretty good until about 4-5 months ago, when it started to spread and two nail pops came up and blistered it. It's on the list to be replaced this summer with ceramic tile.

[Hoover]

Be sure to clean the old surface with some vinegar and baking soda, to get rid of anything that would prevent the tile from sealing. Go to Lowe's or Home Depot and buy some seam sealer. It is in a tube, like toothpaste. There is gloss or matte sealer, so be sure to look at the new tile surface and opt for the similar surface.
Good luck.

[kevincan]

I have it in my kitchen and bathroom. It has held up really good for 2 1/2 years. You need to make sure the floor is clean and smooth before putting the tiles down. A heat gun also helps to make sure that the tiles really stick to the subfloor.

[drlien]

I've put in down in 2 different bathrooms. The first was in an upstairs bathroom at our last house. We moved within a year, so I didn't get much of a chance to see how it held up. In the current house, I have it in the basement bathroom. It has been there for 3 years and has held up well. The floor is concrete and I haven't had any issue with the tiles coming up. It seems like a good and relatively cheap way to put down flooring so far.

[herb fellows]

+1 for the level floor. If not, you'll be kicking yourself when you have to re-do it.

[atgcpaul]

I did it in my first apartment. Being a poor 23 year old, I bought the cheapest
ones that looked nice.

Anyway, really easy to put down, looked great. However, get ones that have
a good stiff backing. You could see dimples in mine from heavy items dropping
on them or from walking on them with my stiff-soled cycling shoes.

[Richard in Smithville]

Make sure that there are no nails in your subfloor that might shift. They will pop through and ruin the tile. I had one do this but was able to fix it with a dab of silicone.

[Shep]

I put down some in my retal 3+ years ago. Considering my tenants have destroyed the rest of the house, the vinyl tile has held up wonderfully. You want to make sure the surface is clean. I used TSP (tri-sodium phosphate). Since my walls in the kitchen where I installed were not perfectly square, I made sure I drew up two lines that intersected on the floor square. I did all the tiles first that I didn't have to cut, then cut the rest with scissors. When picking out the tile, make sure you don't pick out a pattern that has a really light "grout" edge. If you do you'll be able to see the seam easily. I put down the white/black, diner type tiles. You can't see any of the seams this way.

[jhart]

We've used the tiles in about 10 kitchen and baths over the last 10 or so years, in rentals and one of our baths at home. Have found that the inexpensive ones do not hold up as well as the more expensive, thicker ones, but all in all, have held up pretty well. Can be a problem if floor gets quite wet, and not cleaned up completely (read tenants). They start to come up.

We always buy a at least a carton more than we need so as to have some on hand if we need to replace any.

If used over existing vinyl, make sure completely cleaned and dewaxed. Fill in any old holes, etc. before putting down the new ones. They're pretty simple and easy to do.

[Martin]

laying vinyl tile

measure the floor and mark the center point.
measure the tile and calculate the distance to the walls, plan to have more than two inches on each edge.
shift the center point to give the edge margin.
snap a chalk line on the two axis.
lay the first tile on the corner of the center chalk lines and rub it down.
the first floor we did in remodeling almost 28 years ago, we rented a roller.
new tile now, has improved quality and doesn't require the roller.

My wife is the leader on these projects, she makes sketches and measures several times to be sure of her plans.
Also, others have commented on having the floor surface clean. We have just worked on concrete slab flooring.

[tseavoy]

I used Pergo flooring to replace the carpet in my upstairs bathroom. I came out very well. The biggest effort is removing the sink and toilet so the flooring will be under them.

Tom on Marrowstone

[just started]

I put some down about 35 years ago in my bathroom and it's still there and in good shape.