Peel and stick vinyl tiles

[snowbunny]

I swore I would never have another vinyl floor but my DH is fixing up our old bathrooms himself; we have scrapped plans to have them redone professionally until we feel more secure financially.

Right now there is old worn out vinyl sheet flooring in the bathrooms, it is curling up in places (like next to the tubs) and needs to be removed. DH has not done ceramic tile before so I am thinking peel and stick vinyl tiles, which are supposed to be super easy. Has anyone done this and how does it look?

 

[mom2threecuties]

We did ours as a 'temporary fix' in our master bath about three years ago. They're still holding up great. It was super easy; it probably took about two hours to do. If I recall correctly, we started in the center of the floor and worked out from there. I've been really happy with them.

 

[sah95]

I don't have any experience with putting the sticky tiles down, but have horrible experience on getting them back up. We pounded the tiles with a flat hoe which splintered it little piece by little piece. Then scraped up the pieces with a scrapper. I do believe the tiles were put down with extra glue. If your bathroom is fairly small, you could look for reminants (sp?) of vinyl which could be less expensive. There is a lot of great looking vinyl on the market now. Also, there is vinyl that doesn't have to be glued down to the sub-floor. Good luck with your remodel!

 

[shopn24seven]

I ALMOST had that done, but the price (.99 each) is really the same price of CERAMIC TILE and if you are re-doing for possible selling your home in the future (bathrooms and kitchens really SELL the home) I would not go with vinyl flooring.
If you don;t intend of selling anytime soon, go AHEAD. =)

 

[dakcp2001]

We did them in our kitchen for a temporary fix, but they look so nice we haven't had a reason to change them.They came out WAY nicer than we expected. The prices for the tiles are all over the place,we got ours for like 70 cents a tile on sale at Home Depot. They had been a little more initially before the sale( like 1.00 per tile). My best advice ( I wish someone had told me before we started) is to rent the tilecutter from home depot,it made cutting and measuring SO much easier! There are lots of how to/ step by step things to look at on line that will help you. Make sure you buy a few extra to keep, when we got a new stove we had to replace one. ANd if you buy too many, you can return the unused ones.

 

[eeyorethegreat]

We had vinyl tiles in our bathroom we didn't like them after a while they started to come up. We ended up putting hardwod laminate down when we redid our bathroom and so far so good.

 

[luvmy3]

Personally I would not put a vinyl peel and stick tile in a bathroom. The spaces between can trap moisture, especially if water gets on the floor. You could probably go to Lowes or Home Depot and get their stock sheet vinyl for the same cost.

 

[umaangel00]

We just did it in our bathroom and I love it! Taking up the old peel and stick was not fun but it took no time to put them down! I saw mention how peel and stick and ceramic are the same price. This is actually not true. You may be able to get the tiles for the same price but ceramic tiles need grout and mud (or whatever its called) to hold them down. Now peel n stick is cheaper and I think it looks pretty awesome. I will post pictures tomorrow!

 

[richmond282]

I second the ceramic tile. It's really not that hard to lay. We have laid both peel and stick vinyl and ceramic. I think the peel and stick was just as hard as the ceramic (maybe a bit less messy, though). Once those vinyl tiles are stuck, you can't adjust them! Go to one of those sessions at your local home improvement store. If I can lay ceramic tile, anybody can.

 

[snowbunny]

The thing that worries me about real tile is that when DH starts to lose patience (not a question of if, but when), whatever he ends up doing will be "good enough." I think vinyl will be faster which means he is more likely to get it done looking reasonably good (for vinyl). He's handy but not that handy if you know what I mean.
All pics appreciated!

 

[brenalexacamp]

I did vinyl tiles in my kids rooms and the bathroom.
They came out great- the kids have a parquette design and the bathroom looks like ceramic tiles.
really easy-make sure your floor is clean and free of all nails, smoother-you'll get a better result. No troubles in the bathroom-3 teens, 2 adults, one bathroom-we put a towel down to stand on-I use the steam cleaner to clean it.
take the toilet bowl off
buy a new seal to put it back on
cleaner look

 

[stacy2197]

My dh is the same way exept when he gives up I usualy have to finish. An if he's doing a bad job he tells me if I don't like it then I can do it myself. One thing I learned having a husband that is not handy is to research how hard somthing is to do and see if I'm expecting to much. We have layed the peel and stick tiles they looked fine. Make sure you have extra. We ran out and the patern became obsolete. Thank goodness was just in the laundry room under the washing machine. A year later we found a few at the dollar store to finish. If you need to reposition use a hair dryer to soften up the glue. Then you can either slide them a little or gently use a putty knife to lift it back up.

 

[snowbunny]

One thing I learned having a husband that is not handy is to research how hard somthing is to do and see if I'm expecting to much.

Yes...I would have been okay waiting but he decided he wants to do the remodel himself to save money. Right now he's gung-ho. In a week or so when it gets busy at work

 

[kwhite1022]

Biggest thing is make sure the sub floor is in good shape. We can see some of our nails from where my dad and db put in our peel and stick in our Kitchen back 9 years ago.....other then the fact that they didnt make sure they used the correct nails....the tiles still look great and have held really well.

 

[Kycha]

The thing that worries me about real tile is that when DH starts to lose patience (not a question of if, but when), whatever he ends up doing will be "good enough." I think vinyl will be faster which means he is more likely to get it done looking reasonably good (for vinyl). He's handy but not that handy if you know what I mean.
All pics appreciated!

My dh is the same way exept when he gives up I usualy have to finish. An if he's doing a bad job he tells me if I don't like it then I can do it myself. One thing I learned having a husband that is not handy is to research how hard somthing is to do and see if I'm expecting to much. We have layed the peel and stick tiles they looked fine. Make sure you have extra. We ran out and the patern became obsolete. Thank goodness was just in the laundry room under the washing machine. A year later we found a few at the dollar store to finish. If you need to reposition use a hair dryer to soften up the glue. Then you can either slide them a little or gently use a putty knife to lift it back up.

Yes...I would have been okay waiting but he decided he wants to do the remodel himself to save money. Right now he's gung-ho. In a week or so when it gets busy at work

Aaahhh. Our husbands share a common trait, extreme inpatience. That's why I do almost all the home remodeling around here. I redid our downstairs bathroom...removed the old vinyl tile(using a hair dryer and scraper) and replaced it with new vinyl tile. It was extremely easy.

Here are a couple tips:

-Measure and find the center of the room. Start laying your tiles from that center point outwards toward the walls. You want the big, full tiles in the center of the room and any cut tiles towards the walls/edges of the room.

-If your subfloor is uneven, you will need to level it out. If you don't, you will be able to see it in the finished floor. You can buy a leveling compound from Home Depot or Lowes. It's basically a thick liquid that you pour on the floor and let dry. Then you can tile right over it.

 

[branv]

I guess I'll be the one dissenting opinion My parents put this in their bathroom and their kitchen, and while it looked fine for a while(not "good" in my opinion, but serviceable), before too long I started to notice that dirt seemed to collect BADLY in the seams and my mom has said she has a hard time getting out anything that gets stuck in there. They're not dirty people, though they do have animals, but the tiles certainly looked totally flush when they put them in. Yet things are still getting in there and looking gnarly.

Having seen this, I would never put them in, and my parents have themselves said they regret not just putting down linoleum or tile.

 

[pjlla]

I haven't read everyone else's responses, so I may be repeating but here is our experience with it.....

We desperately needed new flooring for our kitchen/hall/bathroom down stairs. I wasn't in a position to do ceramic tile (I did my bathroom walls and tub surround myself in ceramic tile a few years ago, so I knew what was involved... but we would need to have cement board installed on the floors before we could install ceramic.... too much $$ and time, so we didn't do it).

After some reading/thinking we decided to go with vinyl tile (at least temporarily). The things I REALLY didn't like about vinyl tile I had seen in the past was.... #1.. The SEAMS. I hate seeing those cracks/seams. #2.. the extreme SHINE. and #3... the peeling corners. So we had to find something that took care of those problems.

We bought a commercial grade 12" vinyl tile at Home Depot. It was a very matte finish that truly looks like ceramic at a glance. It has grey "grout" lines around the edges. The day we installed them we did it on a very cool late winter day. We turned the heat waaaay down and opened a few doors to cool the house down. We installed the tile EXTREMELY tight to each other. And then that way when the house warmed up and the tile expanded (every so slightly) the seams would press together. It worked well and our seams are EXTREMELY tight.

Before we installed I scrubbed down our existing sheet vinyl flooring, super glued down anyplace it was lifting or buckling, and then prepped the floor with a product we bought at HD (it looked like watery white paint and you put it in a section at a time with a roller). In going through the boxes of tiles we discovered 5 different "patterns". We would open several boxes at a time, separate the tiles by pattern and then tried really hard to be sure that no two like patterns touched each other (which was tough sometimes!). We spun the pattern around every time and I think even with carefully looking our floors look like very random. I don't think that the repeating pattern is at all noticeable.

Any place where the tile met woodwork (like around a door frame ) it was really tough to cut (this tile is REALLY thick) and we couldn't always get it to meet up tight, so after it was all installed I custom mixed some waterproof caulking to match the grey "grout" on the tiles and I filled in everywhere where tile met edges and wood (around door frames, along the edges of my kitchen island). We removed what we could before we tiled (all of the baseboards and the toilet) but we didn't remove any door trim. Where the tile met the carpet edge, we used a pry bar to lift the metal carpet edge and made sure that the tile went just slightly under that edge. Then we hammered the edge down again.

This was 4-5 years ago and I am still VERY happy with how the tile has held up. We do have one spot where I think that the tile is slightly discolored from the sun and a few that are a bit rough from kitchen chairs that got dragged back and forth a lot.... but we saved about a box and a half of extra tiles and I may decide to replace just a few of these tiles. We have had NO corners lifting and the original matte finish looks SO much better (IMHO) than shiny tile that has been worn and dulled over the course of years.

I can't quite remember the name brand and I am not at home, but if you are interested I can check when I get home next week. Let me know if you have any other questions.......................P

 

[snowbunny]

Thanks pjilla that is really helpful. I did find a 12" peel and stick vinyl tile today at Home Depot that actually feels like ceramic on top. Quite heavy and no shine. On getting home I discovered via the magic of The Google that it is HD brand (Trafficmaster?) and appears to be available only in the stores. We did not buy it today but I think it would look good. Most of the vinyl planks and tiles on display looked really bad IMO, and I was prepared to like them.

 

[kellia]

Don't waste your money! We did that in our old kitchen since it was very small. They peeled up in front of the stove due to the heat and separated in other spots, especially where we walked all the time. This was in about 6 months. We also used it in our storage room, but those were fine since no one went in there much. We had to replace with linoleum it so we could sell it.

 

[Gillennj]

The first time I had ever used vinyl tiles was in the foyer of the house we were trying to sell. Prior to that I had sworn I would never use them. They came out so well and so easy, I put some in our half bath in our new house. So far, so good.

I figured, the cash and time outlay were minimal, so it they went bad in a year, I would scrap them. It's been 2 years, and they still look good.