Client wants 12″x12″ squares of vinyl tile installed in a basement bathroom.
She wants to know if we can insulate underneath them so the floor is not so cold.
Any suggestions?
I wil be installing the floor on thursday. If the only option is to pack it up more than 1″ I dont think we”ll be able to do it because of limited headroom.
Replies
Sorry, late to the party.
What you finally end up doing?
No insulation.
Prepped the concrete and stuck tiles to the floor.
FWIW next time I put down those vinyl tiles(hopefully never) I will definately use some sort of glue to hold them down, a more permanent bond. The sticky back jsut isnt enough. Live and learn.
The sticky tiles need a warm surface to bond well too.
Did the vinyl adhesive square thing once just to help someone out. Don't know how long they lasted as the building was later torn down.
Lightly torched the back of the squares to help activate the glue. They seemed to stick pretty good for the time but would never guarantee something like that.
Seems moisture from beneath an old slab would come back to haunt you. Never know if there was a vapor barrier or not or how good it is.
I suppose if I ever had one to put the squares down again, I'd consider prepping the old concrete with a sealer first as one way that might help things out.
i got those things in my bathroom - hate 'em. just too far down on the honey-do list to attend to them. They're on a second floor with a wood subfloor - and still peeling up. Might be b/c of a cool/cold air draft we get in that room (poor insulation/sealing somewhere). Don't know how long they've been there as we've only bought the house a year ago. My mother-in-law started putting them in her basement, but stop mid-way through and went to a different product. Save for the commercial grade ones you see in walmart stores, I wouldn't waste my money on them.i think as well - back to the original question - there's a product called Dry-core - they're 24"x24" subfloor panels - be less than an inch built up and designed for use in basements. They would have made the floor feel warmer, although i don't know if they are rated for bathrooms with high humidty/water risk...
Saw an installation of the vinyl tiles recently that had some kind of 1/4" ply under it instead of directly applied to the CC. It felt/sounded like a floating snap down floor.
Not sure I would trust 1/4" ply. Too much movement that could cause the tile to un stick. At least with the concrete its not gonna move so my only real fear is them not sticking permanently to the cc, which I can gaurantee they wont.
Shes happy, I warned her before we installed them that they might shift a little over time. She said since its in a basement its not going to get heavy use so shes not worried.
For $.25 sf what can you really expect.
Like the others here, I didn't see this thread until today. I wonder what happened?
Too late to help you - but for the next guy:
Basement floors in general, and concrete floors in general, have some problems, problems that aren't always obvious.
First, there are invariably small cracks, and shifting, that doom any tile instal. The floor is also almost always pitched and sloped in various directions. Even a "clean" floor often has enough loose material to interfere with long term adhesive performance, and there is the issue of moisture coming up through the slab.
So, I prefer to build a floor atop the slab. Thatis, I lay 2x4's on their flats (16" centers), fill the spaces with foam board, lay down a layer of subfloor material, and tile that. The general method wascovered quite well in FHB's "Workshop Solutions" special issue.
The FHB article went into greater detail as to vapor barriers, pressure treated lumber, and anchoring. Here in the "high desert," I've done well using ordinary lumber, and anchoring it with a bead of adhesive around the perimeter.
Probably the most important detailis to leave a fairly large gap around the perimeter, between the floor and the walls. This gap is concealed with baseboard molding.
In any event, the floor you construct eliminates the issues concrete floors pose. I'ts a pretty rare space that can't afford to lose 3" of height.
Those dam selfstick tiles always seem to show up somewhere. Thing is, they are THE quick fix, homeowner, weekend warrior, DIYer, ICanDo special project manifesto right up there along with painting and attempting drywall special.
Or used by cost cutting landlords to sweeten up a bath or kitchen to help sway a prospective renter to sign.
But anymore the non-adhesive rolled vinyl is taking that market away because of ease in installation and future removal for replacement is the sweetness landlords dream about.
Oh, what can it mean. To a daydream believer...
The cc didnt look like it had been sealed so we put a nice thick coat of primer over it. Let it sit overnight and that had a nice tacky feel to it the next day. So with that and the sticky on the tile I felt comfortable.
Discounting the use of any underlayment Id say lessons learned are prep the floor well(as in anything the prep is key) and use some sort of extra adhesive that would bond the tile a little better to cc. Maybe a dab of gorilla glue on all four corners.It probably still wouldnt be perfect but I would feel a little better knowing I gave a little more than was called for.
I think the system you describe is nice, but also an added cost. If they dont mind cold feet its a tough sell. In my world(6'5") 3" of headroom is alot.
If you don't mind a bit of over kill and the tile color is of a tan shade
I've been know to rub some liquid nail adhesive over the little imperfections from the tile width variances as if a grout at the corners of the tiles.
Makes it harder for water penetration, doesn't take long and wipes clean with thinner.
You could have used a cork underlayment, in the tile section of the HW store.
Tu stultus es
Rebuilding my home in Cypress, CA
Also a CRX fanatic!
Look, just send me to my drawer. This whole talking-to-you thing is like double punishment.