Peel & Stick Vinyl Tile Issue

15 years ago

Hello,

In the last 6 weeks my life has been miserable trying to do installation of Crntel Vynil Tiles I picked up from Lowes. These are Peel and Stick tiles which I planned to install in my basement which is finished and has wooden subflooring on it. The subfloor is porous (unfinished Plywood). After reading a lot about installation and other instructions; this is what I did:

1. Cleaned up the Floor Dry. Vaccumm it many times.

2. Did use a good quality Primer (Henry) from Lowes.

3. Installed Peel and Stick Tiles in Mid Oct. (Western, MA).

This is my basement and when I am not using it usually the temperature falls to around 52 F.

We had early cold weather here and the Temp did fall into single digits and to my surprise; a lot of tiles popped up.

This was observed around 10th Nov and thats what it seems that I can literally peel off any tile easily. The back surface is tacky but not tacky enough to get stuck to the floor.

So comes part-2 of my exercise.

I peeled off all the tiles, cleaned the surface again and this Time I used Armstrong S-750 Glue as it was evident that now Tiles need glue to stick to this wooden surface.

Its cold so I made sure that Temp. is around 70 F in the basement. But in two days; many of the tiles just popped off again when it was cold.

Any help or pointers as How Should I fix this?

Thanks in advance;

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Comments (5)

beach_rose
15 years ago
You can probably get some good advice on the flooring forum. From what I know (and that's not much), the primer could be the issue, more than the temperature. What was the purpose of the primer?

Here is a link that might be useful: flooring forum
annzgw
15 years ago
Yeah.......check the flooring forum, but I think the temp is the problem since glue doesn't hold up in freezing temps.
Also, your wood base is contracting and expanding with temp fluctuations and the glue doesn't.
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User
15 years ago
If you didn't put down a vapor barrier under the plywood - it may be wicking up moisture and causing the tiles to pop up.

If it's not a moisture problem, you may want to use a flooring adhesive in a can to glue them back down.

Jim
msjay2u
15 years ago
I say sometimes you have to cut your losses. Why not go to a habitat store and get you some cheap ceramic tiles and put them down. The ceramic tiles will withstand the cold and will also be better for a basement floor in case there is any moisture problems. It will be MUCH cheaper to go this route. Home Depot has deals for 20 cents a tile and in habitat you can get the 18x18 for the same price. I would use the big tiles because it is easier to put down and last sooooo much longer.

In any case I think your tiles popping up is based on the wood subfloor. Wood floors constantly expand and contract. For your subfloor I would put down cement backer board. I used the thin one for my vinyl tiles. no shrinkage and moisture problems and my floor is smooth as smooth can be. Quarter-inch backer board is used for tiling over an existing solid sub-floor. There are all sorts of different tile backer board products out there. Some are cement-based, some are gypsum-based and others have a mix of ingredients. The cement-backer-board products can be a little tough to work with during the installation process, but in my opinion, they pay you back for the effort. To make your cuts score the cement backer board with a box cutter. You make numerous passes along the cut line, and then apply pressure to the other side of the cement backer board along the scored line. It usually snaps the backer board in two quite nicely along the line.

Also I left a piece of backer board outside for the last 5 months and it has been rained on, in the sun, and in the snow. There is to date NO visible damage to the board. It looks brand new. That tells me it is very versatile and will withstand moisture and temperature extremes.

If you insist on using the vinyl tiles again I would put down the backer boards for the subfloor. I followed some advice from others on using the glue on the tiles. It worked. It made the installation much easier and the tiles have not come up. My house is 70+ years old and I had a wood floor. I could not use ceramic tiles because of the weight of the tiles. There is no insulation under the floor so it is subject to the outside temps on the bottom and inside temps on top. No problems so far.

Good luck! Hopefully you can turn this frustration around into a smile!!

Here is a link that might be useful: cement board info
walkin_yesindeed
15 years ago
Our local Habitat for Humanity Restore has an amazing selection of tile, good-quality ceramic and porcelain, for unbelievably cheap. Might be a source if you decide to go that route. Good luck!

Peel & Stick Vinyl Tile Issue

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beach_rose

annzgw

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