Perel I just went through this with our basement remodel - Did all the possible water abatement possible - starting w/gutters/pitch, grade of landscaping, removing large bushes around foundation, putting in a new patio, dry lock painted on walls (after a good cleaning) - Floor clean then application of floor paint. When I researched about possible flooring on our refinish side - I decided I did not want any flooring where I had to wonder what was lurking or growing under there.. So an inexpensive wall to wall carpet ($250 including pad) seemed to be the answer - I purchased it knowing it may get wet & if so, I'll just throw it out - I have the tack strips on all perimeters - so it would be fairly easy to take this out & put a new one down. On the utility side I purchased a nice vinyl rolled flooring and had the floor cleaned,painted as well as dash patched for pitted areas - this would be an easy application for you - found in hardware stores just apply to pitted, unlevel areas like a cement let dry I just think adhesives will make the application much more difficult + the VOC factor - as well as difficulty removing in the event of water - and need to remove old adhesive for applying a new tile etc... Good luck

So has anyone seen pictures of alternatives besides a entire row of an accent tile? We have a 15 foot run that is very horizontal in nature, and I'm not that fond of having yet another horizontal line. But I REALLY would like an accent of some sort besides what is going over the stovetop in the middle. I was at the tile store today, and 1 of the employees suggested randomly dropping a skinny row of mosiac between the subway tiles. We were looking at a noce 3x6, plus a polished scabos (matches granite well, and I don't like glass) mosiac. Interjecting the mosiac seems to really go against the spirit of doing a subway, but it could give an accent. So is this mission impossible, and I should look at a more conventional tile pattern? Any other ideas?

Construction adhesive may hold, but it also may release over time due to moisture exposure at floor level. You might want to consider a high grade silicone adhesive, instead. Regardless of what you use, you'll still end up staining the grout (a consideration only if you ever intend to take the island away). I believe that granite counter installers routinely depend on silicone and the weight of the granite to keep countertops in place. If you try adhesive and it fails at some future point, then I would mount a hidden frame of 2X4's to the floor and attach the cabinets to that. I would do this by drilling through the tiles. A hammer drill and the right bit will make short work of it. Then you can fasten the frame down with the something like tapcon screws. You could even add some silicone adhesive: this glue and screw combo should be plenty strong. As for powder actuated nail drivers, they take some skill to use correctly and get the depth correct, and are very dangerous to use without safety training: they're basically guns that fire nails instead of bullets. I'd discourage this approach.

We had them. I threw them all out and would not get them again. The sticky things are basically clear stickers that you apply to the underside of the tiles. They hold reasonably well and do not stick to the floors. You can buy extras in case you need to replace some of the tiles. I did not like them because the tiny gaps between tiles were big enough for dust, dirt and sand to filter though. My floor under where the tiles were is scratched up--I do have kids and they definitely tracked in sand despite my efforts to prevent that. Also, they are not very cleanable. Ours were mostly and oatmeal color and they showed grime and dirt quite easily and I could not get them to come really clean, not even when I took them outside and scrubbed them with dish soap and a scrub brush and then tried folex.