On Fri, 9 Jan 2009 11:23:57 -0500, "RonABC" wrote:

I want to put down a new kitchen floor in a property that I recently bought
and that I will be renting out.

For now, I just want to do something that will make it look good without
having to re-do the whole kitchen. I may re-do the kitchen at a later date.
What is there now is a very solid piece of linoleum that is probably glued
down over 1/4-inch plywood or Luan. I haven't tried peeling up the linoleum
yet, and I am avoiding doing that for now in case one option will be to just
tile over the existing linoleum.

I'm thinking my first option would be to clean the linoleum well and just
put peel-and-stick tiles over the linoleum for now. If peel-and-stick is
not a good idea, my second option would be putting some other type of vinyl
tiles over the linoleum using a mastic adhesive. Or, if for mastic it would
be better to try taking up the linoleum and use the mastic for the new tiles
over what is left underneath, that would be my third option. A fourth
option would be to put a sheet of linoleum/congoleum down on top of the
existing linoleum.

Any thoughts or suggestions regarding any of these options would be
appreciated.

Thanks.

P.S. I like ceramic tile, and I would do that if I it didn't involve having
to take up the existing plywood or Luan underlayment. But, from everything
I've read here and elsewhere, I don't think ceramic tile over anything that
is there now would work even though the existing linoleum is very solid.



I worked for a flooring company years ago.

Dont waste your money on peel and press (P&P) tiles. They never hold
up well. You can get a similar tile without the self adhesive for
less money. Then buy some mastic adhesive (made for the tile), and
use that. The job actually goes faster without having to fight with
all that backing paper. Start your tile in the center of the room
using a chalk line. Then spread the mastic in part of the room, and
lay those tiles. There are instructions for laying tile on most tile
boxes or look on the web.

I once put down a floor using mastic on P&P tiles and it held up well,
but that was only because the tiles were already purchased. It took 3
times longer because of all that backing paper, and in the end was a
waste of money to buy the P&P tile.

I've done several floors using just the P&P tile and all of them ended
up being a poor quality floor which needed replacement in a year or
two because the tiles kept coming off. And for a rental it will be
worse because when tenants have tiles come off, they dont fix them
like you would do in your own home. I know all about this having been
a landlord for a while (a job I'd never do again).

Get a decent vinyl tile and some mastic and you will get a floor that
lasts. However, if the linoleum was waxed with floor wax, you MUST
remove that wax for ANY tile to adhere. They sell a wax remover, or
you can run a floor sander over the surface to remove the wax and
glaze. If you do sand, beware of going too deep because you could hit
the backing which might be asbestos (gray). You dont want that in the
air from sanding. It's harmless to remove without a sander though.

If you want wax remover, I would suggest a flooring store, not a big
box home repair place. I doubt they carry it.