# Vinyl tiles...gaps



## lynsky (Jul 18, 2009)

We've been working on our older mobile home to sell. We first put cheap peel 'n sticks in the kitchen and found out the hard way just how much the house seems to 'grow'! Now that there are huge gaps between the 12x12's, we're redoing the kitchen with another cheap floor, but this one floats! 

That said, we thought we'd be safe with 12x12's in a small bathroom, but there are now narrow gaps in there too. It's been some time now and we're pretty confident that it's not getting worse. We are NOT going to start over and completely redo it. The linoleum underneath is a dark color, the vinyl tiles are very light...almost white. They have a beveled edge, which might actually be to our advantage. What do you guys think about filling all the seams? From what I've read so far, I'm thinking vinyl seam sealer? One question...it only seems to come in clear. Can something be added to give it a tint...white, gray, almond-ish? If not, once the seams are free of debris, adhesive, etc. is there anything I can use (caulk?) to tint the darkish gaps before applying seam sealer? Or just use caulk, and no seam sealer? Or am I completely out of my mind here...


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## Bud Cline (Mar 12, 2006)

Vinyl seam sealer is for vinyl sheet-goods only and it must be matched to the chemistry of the vinyl product.

Caulk is just that caulk for closing gaps and cracks in component junctures. It is not intended for flooring and won't hold up.

Did you acclimate the tiles to their new surroundings for a couple of days before you installed them. No you didn't is the answer to that.

You could skim-coat the entire floor with an embossing leveller to fill the voids and install new floor tile but only after it has been acclimated.


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## lynsky (Jul 18, 2009)

Thanks for the reply, Bud. Guess I already knew there was no good answer...maybe not even any medium to poor solution. And yes, I did acclimate the tiles. Old mobiles are just a species unto themselves. One day the door opens and closes, the next day it's skewed and sticks...a week later it's fine again. Could replace all the piers...NOT! I understand the chemistry matching thing and will continue to experiment with stop-gap (pun intended) methods for a while.


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## rusty baker (Feb 13, 2009)

Peel and stick are junk. They can shrink, even when acclimated. The cheaper ones aren't even square.


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## lynsky (Jul 18, 2009)

No argument here, but gonna try to move on with what I got...until, of course, I'm forced to replace the 'em haha.


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## Bud Cline (Mar 12, 2006)

Porch paint?

Lotta nice colors there!


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## mgm (Jul 19, 2009)

lynsky - funny, i'm faced with a similar situation: i have perimeter-bonded floating vinyl sheet flooring. I have 2 issues: (1) i removed a 1 x 1.5 ft damaged area and replaced it with a good piece but there are gaps all around the good piece even though I double cut the good piece on top of the bad piece and held the razor completely vertical (my guess why there are gaps is that the floor is stretching under tension; and (2) my seams are pulling apart between sheets in different locations. in both cases, i need to fill in the gaps so they're less noticeable. white caulk is ok, but hard to make it stay in there when i wipe off the excess caulk; i may have to let it dry, apply more caulk "filler", repeat. i'm thinking about painting the smaller gaps with Kilz. i wouldn't worry about the comment about "caulk not holding up under traffic" since you are putting a seam sealer on top of the caulk "filler".


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