Laying Vinyl Peel-and-Stick Flooring

Hello! Welcome to another craft closet (and wine cellar/cat poop cave/general storage closet) update. Make sure to check out the last two updates: I shared before pics and inspiration first, and then I shared some awesome under-the-stairs shelving build plans. Today I’m talking about how to lay vinyl peel-and-stick flooring! Did that warrant an exclamation point? I don’t know, maybe I’m just to a point in my life where vinyl peel-and-stick flooring gets me that excited.

Vinyl peel-and-stick flooring is the perfect solution for this space. It’s just a closet, but the unfinished, constantly dirty concrete floor was driving me nuts. And I didn’t want to paint it. 🙂

So I went to Lowe’s one Friday night (party animal, I am) and wandered around the flooring area to see if there were any good options. I originally didn’t want to do a peel-and-stick option because I thought it wouldn’t adhere very well to the bare concrete flooring, and I was worried about it popping up on the future. But when I saw the price (.99 cents/sq ft), I decided to give it a try.

I went with this simple gray color, which is supposed to be a faux concrete. So I’m covering real concrete with faux vinyl concrete, I know, I know…

Here’s what I used:

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• 18-in x 18-in Aspen Gray Faux Concrete Peel-and-Stick Vinyl Tile (here from Lowe’s)
• Ruler or yard stick
• A utility knife of something with a sharp single blade (like this)

And here’s how to lay vinyl peel-and-stick flooring.

(Do not use any tools without proper training, precautions, and supervision. Read my full terms of use here.)

Step 1: Our floor was unfinished concrete that just never seemed to get un-dusty, but I swept it up as much as I could.

Step 2: I picked the 18in x 18in tile because two of them together fit the majority the closet’s floor without any cutting. I started by peeling the backs off of each tile and laying them carefully onto the floor. Yes, that’s it, I peeled and stuck. A novel idea for peel-and-stick tile.

Step 3: Once I had covered almost all of the floor, I had to figure out how to cut the smaller pieces to fit the sides.

First I tried to use heavy duty scissors, but that was a huge failure. If you look in the smaller piece below, you can see the ragged edge. (And Blanche being nosey.)

And a closer shot…

I ended up using a utility knife with a brand new single blade on it. (Thanks for the tip, Alyssa!) First I used a yard stick to draw a line on the tile along where I needed to cut. Then I kept the yard stick in place as I ran the utility knife along the line…over…and over…and over. I probably did it 20-25 times before I had cut about halfway through. At this point I was able to just snap the tile along the line and get a super clean edge. It worked perfectly!

Now for my honest opinion…

• The pieces didn’t seem that sticky when I first peeled off the backing. Also, for about 48 hours after laying them, they made a bit of a “crunchy” sound when you walked on them. I figured that was just due to the uneven floor and that the sound went away as the tiles settled. It did go away…no crunching noises now.
• They’ve been down for about two months and we haven’t had any issues.
• I love the vinyl peel-and-stick option and think it’s the PERFECT solution for the craft closet/cat poop cave. It’s actually probably way too much for the poop cave, but I just couldn’t stand that unfinished concrete floor. This is very easy to sweep or wipe up and looks a million times better than what we had before.

Blanche wants to make sure you check back next week to see the completely finished space..and don’t forget, I’m participating in a BIG DecoArt giveaway that you don’t want to miss if you love paint 🙂

Like this? PIN IT!