I am looking at putting the self stick vinyl tiles in my new addition. It has a concrete floor and I was wondering if the vinyl will have a hard time sticking to the concrete. Do I need some type of sub-floor? I am wondering this mainly because we live in iowa were is can get pretty cold in the winter and I didn‘t know if that would affect the stickyness.
I think your bigger problem would be moisture. If this is in a basement there's a good chance that moisture could seep beneath the tiles and make the glue separate. A subfloor will significantly add to the cost, but it would keep the basement warmer, and lessen the chance of damage to the tiles. Be sure you build the subfloor out of treated wood though, or you could have rot/termites/many more problems.
Self stick tiles commonly loosen from subfloors, concrete or wood. They can be installed successfully over concrete but it is absolutely vital that your concrete be smooth and very, very clean. If you are concerned about adhesion it would be wiser to use glue down vinyl tiles which aren't much more expensive, rather than build a very expensive wooden subfloor which wouldn't guarantee the integrity of peel and stick tiles.
