Peel-and-stick vinyl

[Matt Meiser]

Apparently my soon-to-be-six year old daughter is a little jealous that mom and dad and then grandma and grandpa got new bathrooms in the past year and has decided I need to redo her bathroom. We are talking about a new vanity top, faucet, medicine cabinet and light fixture. Also on the list is a new floor. The room has an existing vinyl floor that is in good shape but is a little early-90's looking. I've been toying with the idea of putting peel and stick vinyl squares over the existing floor, which the manufacturers claim can be done successfully. Since the room is so small, and the squares run $0.88/sqft we are looking at a minimal investment to do this, but I don't want them coming up after 6 months.

[Jim Becker]

As long as the existing floor is completely clean, you should get good results with the peel and stick tiles if they are the better quality products. I used them successfully to redo two bathroom floors in my previous residence.

[Jamie Buxton]

Like Jim says, you need a clean surface to stick them to. I've found that they shrink a little over the course of ten years or so. If you install them with zero gaps between the tiles, you'll start seeing little gaps after a while. They're probably only big enough for a woodworker who's obsessive about gap-free joinery to notice.

[Ben Grunow]

I would do a little research as there are primers made for these types of tiles that make them stick even better.

That said, I have them in my current house and they are moving around a little in high traffic areas but I installed them knowing that they were temporary so they were not tight to start.

[Matt Meiser]

We looked again at Lowes and found some that have a beveled edge that we like and would hide and tiny gaps that open up. They have some kind of seam sealant at Lowes too, but I'm not sure if it was for regular vinyl floors or the tiles. I guess the next step is to check out the manufacturer's web site and see what they say.

[Dave Verstraete]

Matt

I've had good and "not so good" experiences with peel n stick. In the master bath where water always gets wiped up, I've had good luck. In the kids bath, near the shower is getting water under it and in front of the stool (boys?). Next to the shower could be that I didn't do a good job of caulking it.