Your not suppose to go straight over the vinyl. Plasticizer migration of the existing plastic top layer of sheet vinyl, with mess with the adhesive. Your suppose to emboss the surface of the vinyl, with a product made just for that, Like Ardex SD-F Feather finish. All self stick tiles require a primer, that is part of the system. As soon as you start listening and believeing the help at the big box stores like Lowe's and Home Depot, your on your way to failure.

You should use a flexible acrylic or vinyl based grout, around here its often sold in tubes but you may be other options. If you use regular grout - it will not flex and might end up cracking and popping out, especially in a older house where your foundation does a little shifting and settling. Which is the same reason people are telling you ceramic is a bad idea. As for the subfloor- you can leave whats there and go right over - as long as its level and straight with no gaps or damage, but with 3 layers already being there its not recommended and would void any warranty on the tile. Ripping it up is a option - but depending on the layers of subfloor - it might not be logical , maybe you should investigate at a edge of the room - probley at the doorway into the room - you might be able to see what type of subfloor is under the tile. If the tile is on plywood and the plywood is laying over your original subfloor - then it should be easy enough to get up the plywood and all vinyl layers. If you take it up plywood and all - you should put down another player of plywood underlayment. On the other hand if the tile is laid down right on top of the original sub floor- then its probley not something you want to get into removing - its very sticky and time consuming to strip off- a nightmare in my opinion. The other option is just go over the entire existing floor with plywood underlayment, if your leaving the first layer intact - you can go with a thinner luan type plywood thats slightly cheaper - last i checked it was around $10 per 8'x4' sheet, but then again i live on the east coast and prices can vary greatly.

I devoured this thread for months and finally went to Lowe's to look at these planks. When I first looked at them in the store I thought they looked so fake and cheesy that I almost gave up, but I brought a few home and set them on the floor. They looked good! It seems that most people have good results as long as they follow the directions really carefully and don't use professionals to install the floor. It also seems that the trouble comes when the climate is really hot or humid. But, just to make sure that we weren't the unlucky ones, I installed it in my entryway first to see how it would hold up on our concrete slab. I pulled up sheet vinyl and scraped off the remaining mastic, used the Henry's and it went down and stayed. I am a dog walker/pet sitter and we board dogs, all different kind of dogs, at our house and we needed something durable and easy to clean and this has fit the bill. I installed it in our entire downstairs myself. Everyone loves it and thinks it's either wood or laminate and several neighbors want to put it in themselves. I've noticed vinyl flooring everywhere now, including high end stores. Thanks to everyone for recommending this flooring and for the terrific tips. Here are a few of my own: 1) Definitely prep, prep, prep the floor. I scraped up mastic and glue from the carpet pad. I didn't use adhesive remover because one site I saw said it may soak into the concrete and interfere with adherence. The key is clean, dry and smooth. 2) The instructions on the box and the Novalis website recommend the self-stick tile primer. It is a must - it goes on really thin and dries clear in about half an hour. 3) Take your time when laying the tiles and get them as tight and straight as you can. 4) I found some walnut wood filler that I used in some of the tricky spots and it worked great. 5) Definitely let the planks sit in your house for 48 hours before installation. 6) I ordered OOPS! Painters wipes which Novalis recommends to remove excess adhesive. They also recommend them to remove the white "scratches" which Novalis calls scuff marks. I found that the wipes didn't work on the scuff marks, but time does. They eventually wear away. 7) I didn't use a rolling pin, but did baby steps on the tiles once they were down. There are a few that I missed and they sound funny. I have not had any scratches from dog's nails, but we did have some from broken dishes. It's not as noisy as laminate, but it is hard - almost like walking on concrete. I love this flooring and am so glad to have put it in. I am a middle aged woman and did it by myself. I took my time and did one section at a time and it came out great! Here is a link that might be useful:

Thanks for your answers! glennsfc, Sorry I don't know the technical word for that. But with the word "peeling" ceramic, I meant the top coat of the ceramic tile is peeling off in a few spots on the tiles. There're not a lot of those but I just know they're there... I read on this blog that a lady installed vinyl tile on top of the existing ceramic tiles. I wonder if anyone has that experience? The ceramic tiles I have right now is not in extremely bad condition, just a few "peeling" spots, very light color and stained yucky stained grout. http://www.sasinteriors.net/2012/10/installing-groutable-vinyl-tile-lowes/ So I wonder if there's anyway to work this out... with a baby in the house, I don't really want to make a big mess. Plus I don't have a lot of time to do that... :( .