Home Repairs: Peel and Stick Tile

You want that beautiful bathroom or kitchen, but you don't want to spend an arm and a leg on it. Almost everyone loves the look of well done tile, and almost no one is ready to shell out what it costs to have a professional tile installer spend multiple days in their house. Isn't there a way to get professional results without all the cost or hassle? Yes, if you are willing to invest your own time into the project, you can have an amazing bathroom / kitchen floor. ​ Steps to success: 1.) Rip out the existing flooring. Whether it's linoleum, existing tile that is dated or cracking, or carpet. If you have existing hardwood floors that are original to your house, and not lain over your subfloor, you can leave it down. You'll be going over your subfloor or original hardwood with a thin wood product called Luan. Luan (Loo-on) is a thin wooden board that you lay down over your existing subfloor to provide a clean and even surface for your peel and stick tile to adhere to. If you remove old tile, use a floor scraper and remove all of the old grout and tile mastic as well. Any nails, staples, carpet tack strips, etc. must go. ​ 2.) Calculate the square footage of your floor. Measure the length and the width of the area you want to cover and multiply the numbers together to get your square footage. For intricate areas make a best-guess; you will be buying extra peel and stick tile for cuts that all beginners mess up, and to have extra for later repairs that may need to be made. Sometimes a tile company discontinues a certain color or pattern, and you'll want to have some on hand. 3.) Calculating the materials you'll need. Once you have your square footage you can figure out how much Luan and tile you'll need. Whichever brand of peel and stick you decide to go with, each box should have a listed square footage on each box. Luan comes 1/4" or 1/8" thick, usually in 4'x8' sized boards. If you can find the 1/8" thick boards it may be the better bet, as it will not raise your floors up too much if you are replacing linoleum. If you are replacing existing tile 1/4" sheets should be fine. Buy enough sheets to cover the entire floor; it may be helpful to use graph paper and draw the floor out using the dimensions you got from the previous step. Each board of Luan should be staggered, i.e. do not lay down boards to make a rectangular square. You want the end of each board to fall halfway down the board beside it, like the tiles in the picture below. This is done so you don't have joints that can be stressed and pop the grout out from between your new tiles.

4.) Gather the tools and equipment you will need. Feel free to use any of my Amazon links in this paragraph to help you find these items faster. You will need a pneumatic stapler and a small air compressor. Shooting down the Luan can be done with a drill and screws, but you will be there forever, and it leaves small places for air to get trapped where the bit drives the screw, meaning there are places all over the floor where your new peel and stick tile isn't bonded. Cheap models can be bought from places like Harbor Freight, though your neighbor or family member may own one they might let you borrow. Never hurts to ask. You will also need a pencil, tape measure, chalk line, circular saw, tile grout spacers, a tile float, tile sponges (at least 3), a 5 gallon bucket, aviation shears (tin snips) or a specialized vinyl tile cutter (looks kind of like a paper cutter), and a box knife. You will also need a bottle of vinyl tile floor preparer, which should be available at your local home center, and a small roller to apply it with.

5.) Buy your tile. Vinyl tile is flexible to a point, and as such it is very susceptible to temperature changes. Purchase the tile you need and then leave in near the area where you will be working for 24 hours. This will allow the tile to acclimate to the temperature of the room so that it can lay down better and give your tile a good bond to the Luan. Make sure to get tiles with beveled edges- these give it a nice real tile look and keeps from having sharp edges exposed after grouting. Now is when you buy the color grout you want as well. I always go with premixed sanded grout, whatever color you prefer with your tile, and tile sealer to keep dirt and stains from building up in your new grout.

6.) Shoot down the Luan. Make sure you don't leave any gaps between the pieces, and any time you have to make a cut you should use a straight edge. The only cuts you should have to make are those that go up against the walls, which can be covered later with the tile, and if necessary quarter round or shoemold. Use a staple about every six inches in every direction until the board is totally shot down. 7.) VACUUM. Do not skimp out on this step, and don't wear your shoes. Vacuum in your socks, and really make sure to get every little piece of dirt and hair up.

8.) Chalk line time! This can be done with 1 person if you drive a screw in the wood to hold the line on one end of the room, but it's usually best to use another person. First, measure both sides of the room and find your center line on each. Stretch the chalk line between the 2 points, lift up the string, and let it fall. That is center one direction. Now do it for the other 2 sides so you have a cross that shows you your center point. . 9.) Prep the subfloor. Once it is clean, and you have popped your center lines, pour out some of the vinyl tile floor preparer onto the floor. Using a roller, spread it out evenly so that it totally covers every square inch of the floor. Keep pouring and spreading until the entire floor is done, even the chalk line. Make sure not to paint yourself into the corner, as this stuff has to totally dry before you can begin laying tile.

10.) Start laying that tile. The first few pieces are the most important. Get some of your grout spacers out and have them on the floor beside you. Peel the paper off the back of your first piece of tile (if your tile is directional it will say so on the back of each piece, and show you which direction they should run. As long as directional tile are all running the same way you'll be fine.) Place the very corner of your piece into the corner made by the cross on the floor. Butt both edges up against the lines in the V of the section of the cross you're working in, and use the old mark 1 eyeball to make sure it is, in fact, square against those lines. Pick a side, and put the tile grout spacer down along that edge. Peel the paper of the next piece, checking for direction if needed, and lay it snug up against the spacers. Continue doing this until the center of the floor is filled up, and don't press the tiles all the way down until you are satisfied with how square they are. Stand up, step back, and look at your work constantly. 11.) Making the cut. If you made sure everything was square you should have a beautifully tiled center of a room. Now you will need to cut out the pieces to go against the wall. There are tricks to doing this, but you'll need to look them up on Youtube since typing them out would be a whole big ball of confusion. It is possible to use your tape measure, mark a tile, and cut it with perfect results. If you mess it up, that's ok - you bought extra for this reason. Do your best, and double check your measurements and orientation before cutting. Use a sharp knife CAREFULLY, always cutting away from you, to make any minor adjustments so that the piece fits tightly or as near as you can get it to the wall.

12.) Grout, grout, baby. Fill your bucket up with warm water, soak your sponged inside and squeeze out all the water, and get your grout and float ready. Using the float, scoop some grout out of the tub and smear it across the gap between the tiles. Try and keep the size of your swipe to a minimum; no need for excess wiping if you are careful. Work an area about 2' x 2' at a time until you get comfortable with the drying time of the grout. Once you smeared the grout down into the crack, and used the float on it's edge to scoop up excess, wipe it with a damp sponge from side to side, never in the same direction that the gap runs as you'll wipe out all of your grout- change sides when the sponge becomes dirty and then clean it out in the bucket. Having multiple sponges lets you do more wiping before you have to stop and clean your sponges out. Double check that the gaps are filled with grout after wiping. 13.) Let it dry. Depending on your grout and the temperature of your room, it could take as little as 12 hours and as much as 24 hours before the grout is dry. Your grout sealant may even require a longer curing time before application, so check the instructions. Once it's dry, and you've sealed your grout, your floor is technically done. You may want to go back with shoemold or quarter round along the walls to hide any mistakes that were made in your cuts. Congratulations, you've tiled a floor with peel and stick tile. I love the sense of accomplishment after a project like this. If you've read this and realize that you don't have the money to take on a project like this, fear not! You can check out the other articles here in The Blog! for ways to make money online/from home, hobbies, passive income streams, and much more.