Peel and stick vinyl tile - good or bad?

[Alenzia]

Hi! We're trying to fix up our old house to sell. Currently, the kitchen has linoleum that's peeling, so we're looking to replace it. Considering regular tile or peel and stick vinyl tile. The peel and stick looks attractive because of what looks to be lower installation effort, but does it look reasonable as a finished product? Will it make a bad impression? The house isn't going to be very fancy, it's more of a starter smaller house. Thank you for the advice!

[Khaetra]

Peel and stick is okay, but if you are going to sell I would pick up some cheap tile and install that.  I had peel and stick, and while it 'looks' easy to install you have to measure and make sure the lines are completely lined up (both the vinyl and the pattern), otherwise it will not only look terrible, but dirt will collect in between the squares (due to the glue) and be almost impossible to clean.

[misshathaway]

I did this on a couple of floors in a rental with landlord's OK. This was many years ago so technology of peel and stick is probably even better. I was lucky in that both floors were perfectly smooth with sheet linoleum. I did do a lot of prep though. Practically sterilized previous floor and did the 2 crossing string guidelines that have you start laying tile from the center out. The only problem I ever had with dirt collecting was in the crevices where tile had to be cut around the doorway molding and I wasn't exact enough.

[TheWifeHalf]

We bought this
https://www.homedepot.com/p/TrafficMASTER-Beige-Slate-12-in-x-12-in-Solid-Vinyl-Tile-30-sq-ft-case-TM806C/206394149

It was very easy to put down, and has a life time residential warranty, 6 yr commercial.
It's the floor we put down before everything was finished and it's held up well in areas of internal construction. There have been a few gashes in a few spots  made by various objects, all related to construction. For this reason we bought a couple of extra boxes and replace the ones that showed damage.

We put them over a subfloor. We have spilled water hear and there, and even the ones we didn't catch right away, did no damage because the seams seem to be watertight.

We always thought we'd put down some other type of flooring, but this still looks great. It's probably not the type of flooring one would expect in a home of this type, but it's a nice looking, well wearing, diy floor, and that's what best describes our life, so it's probably going to be here for awhile.
Plus, there is a lot of natural wood in our house, we wanted to stay true to the Craftsman 1915 original, and the only thing we would upgrade to is a wood floor, and that would just be too much wood.

Forgot to add, the first we put down was in 1996, and it looks great.

[rulesforrebels]

I just recently did peel and stick. It's a nice holdover if our putting off redoing your kitchen for a few years but even the more expensive stuff looks pretty fake and while easier than tile it's still a pain in the but to install. Honestly I think in many cases real tile could be done even cheaper. I have seen some metalic peel and stick backslash pieces that look halfway decent and appear to be fairly easy to install. Another easy but slightly more complicated option is white beadboard.

[dcheesi]

The other thing is that, depending on surface and preparation, peel & stick tile might eventually start to come loose. Maybe not huge concern if you plan to sell, though it might be for the eventual owners.

On some surfaces (e.g. basement concrete), the only way to get the tile to stick long-term is do apply a surface prep material not unlike what you would use for surface prep in a regular tile installation, thus negating much of the benefit of using vinyl tile.

[Jon Bon]

Bad

My experience with them is that they are pretty worthless. However if you put them down and dont use the kitchen or walk on them just to get the house sold it might work.

Spend like an extra buck a sqft and get LVT. The stuff is waterproof and almost as good as tile IMO. You could do your kitchen in a single day maybe less. Doing tile would take at least 3 days.

[ChpBstrd]

IMO sheet vinyl is a superior product compared to these peel and stick tiles. Every tile seam is not only a place for nastiness to accumulate, but also a place for water to infiltrate and release the glue. That's why my "LVT" in a mudroom has the corners peeling up. True fake luxury.

You might be shocked to learn how cheap it is to have sheet vinyl professionally installed. Then you have an actual waterproof membrane that is easy to clean. Stay away from both the cheap and midrange vinyl products though. Any "builder's grade" stuff will desperately need replacement in 8-12 years when the clearcoat layer wears off and allows stains to stick. That stuff contributes nothing to the value of the home.

[BudgetSlasher]

Since the quality of the product has been addressed by others, I want to speak to the question of impression.

Personally, I dislike vinyl in a residential setting and I dislike the appearance of peel and stick even more. Though, if I am honest, a good part of the difference in opinion comes down to the quality of the installation.

As to the impact on potential buyers, I would think a solid surface (like real, if cheap, tile) would get the house sold quicker. (Notice I said quicker, not for more money) But it all comes down to the market and not just how hot it is. Try looking at Zilllow for comparable houses for sale in your area. What do they have for flooring? If most of them have peel and stick, you are good. But, if many of them have solid surface at the same price/features mix, well those are the kind of houses potential buyers will be comparing your house to.

Even better if you have a friend who is a realtor or a relationship with a realtor you plan to use to sell you can ask them about the flooring in your area in your market segment.

[AccidentalMiser]

Bad

My experience with them is that they are pretty worthless. However if you put them down and dont use the kitchen or walk on them just to get the house sold it might work.

Spend like an extra buck a sqft and get LVT. The stuff is waterproof and almost as good as tile IMO. You could do your kitchen in a single day maybe less. Doing tile would take at least 3 days.

I'm with @Jon Bon on this.  I have laid all kinds of flooring over the years and prefer LVT if we don't want the time and expense of tile.  I dislike peel and stick but YMMV.  It just looks so cheap.