"Jimw" wrote in message
news
On Fri, 9 Jan 2009 11:23:57 -0500, "RonABC" wrote:

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.

I have the same general feeling as you about P&P tiles, and I have no
aversion to putting down mastic and applying plain tiles over that. I'll
have to check again and see what is available these days in terms of plain
tiles with patterns that are not P&P tiles. Mostly, I seem to be looking at
P&P's or solid pattern vinyl tiles, but I haven't noticed regular non-P&P
tiles with a pattern. So far, I have only looked at HD and Lowes.