Peel and stick tile

[Tom7227]

Project 213 at my daughters house involves possibly using peel and stick tile to upgrade the kitchen for not too much money. She wants to put it over existing linoleum and I am not sure that's the best idea. Pulling up what is in the 60 year old house seems like a lot of work and the possibility of nasty stuff in the old glue is another factor.

Has anyone done this and what do you recommend for prep?

She wants something that looks like ceramic with grout lines but the places that she has looked so far don't sell a product like that. Someone suggested spacing the tile and using some sort of grout. I can't figure how that would work. Grout adhering to linoleum and the narrow peel and stick seems about impossible. Using some sort of product that won't just smear all over the new tile also seems a bit unreasonable. Anyone have any experience doing something like that, and if so info on how well it held up?

Thanks for your time.

Tom

[PurpleFloyd]

There is a product that looks like tile but lays down over vinyl out there that is a lot more durable and attractive than those peel ans stick tiles.I think it is called duraceramic from Congoleum. Not sure about grouting it.

We used the peel and stick tiles in our bath in our first house about 20 years ago and to be honest, I would never do it again but there is a market obviously.

Personally I prefer to lay down a layer of 1/4" luan over the existing vinyl if you don't want to tear the old out because it gives you a stable, clean base for the new floor that will eliminate the penny wise pound foolish problems that come up when you try to cut corners in construction.

[Big Dave2]

eliminate the penny wise pound foolish problems that come up when you try to cut corners in construction.

This is good advise. personally I wouldn't use peel and stick vinyl but if I did I certainly wouldn't try to put it over the old vinyl. It might not be as hard as you think to pull up the old vinyl. If it won't come up, I'd do what PF advised.

[RebelSS]

Peel and stick can be OK, but you must have a nice, level, clean surface for it to work well. I really wouldn't go with this in a kitchen where liquids and such are spilled. I just remodeled my kitchen last year, with the help of my buddy who does tile/flooring for a living. I've done remodeling for years, and here's what worked for me...we believe that you don't need underlayment unless your floors are really bad, lots of low spots, linoleum torn up, etc.This is normal for an older house in a traffic area. With that, I'd advise using new underlayment on top of it. We checked the floor with a 6' level, and we used "self-leveling" floor compound that looks like gray grout spread all over the floor. After drying, and using double stick tape in large "X"s on the floor, I laid down Tarkett FiberFloor vinyl, that looks like stone. This is like most of the new vinyls that are "floating", you don't glue it down. Properly cut to within about 1/8" of your walls for expansion, you reinstall your moldings or quarter round back on top of it like any floor. This keeps it in place. Has been a year now, and I couldn't be happier. Was not that expensive to do, either. Wait until it's on sale.....The FibreFloor is also a bit "cushy", making it nice to walk on barefoot. That's just my esperience, lots of options for you out there.

[Tom7227]

I should have pointed out that this is a 2-3 year solution because a major overhaul is needed but the money is lacking.

[leechlake]

Tom,

I put peel and stick on top of our old linoleum at cabin and it worked fine, except a few places that I cut smaller pieces of tile and I believe some dirt or debris got under it. Wasn't a big deal in those few small spots, frankly I was the only one that noticed since I put the floor in. The place gets really cold in the Winter when we aren't there and it still stuck great. It was lasting great going on 7 years and we replaced the whole upper level with hardwood floors. For your situation I'd just do it on top of the existing floor.

[Archtek]

I used peel & stick in a kitchen of a rental property I used to own because I needed something that would last a couple years until I sold it. It already had a peel & stick on the floor that had performed well and I decided the safest route was to tear out the old stuff because I didn't trust the new stuff to stick. With not a lot of work, the old peel & stick came out, but there was linoleum under that. With a LOT of work, I took the old linoleum out. The old adhesive was impossible to remove, so I covered everything with 1/4" luan and installed the new peel & stick. When I sold the duplex almost 4 years later, it still looked and performed well.

As far as something that looks like ceramic tile, I think you just have to look. But I would bet both my life and yours that grout between p&s tiles wouldn't last a month.

[Nhamm]

As long as the floor is holding strong just thrown an embossing levelor over the existing, then prime and stick away. Seems job #alot for you, just get er done right and will hold up way past 2-3yrs. All materials needed at the local box stores, they have a decent selection that should suffice, beggars can't be choosers I say! Good luck.

[traveler]

As long as the floor is holding strong just thrown an embossing levelor over the existing, then prime and stick away. Seems job #alot for you, just get er done right and will hold up way past 2-3yrs. All materials needed at the local box stores, they have a decent selection that should suffice, beggars can't be choosers I say! Good luck.

for a project that you only need a couple years out of, this is exactly what I'd do. Forget the grout.