Can I install vinyl tiles in a bathroom. Will it shift over time and look bad. How does moisture affect vinyl tiles?
It depends on the surface you put them on and the quality of the tiles. In most cases, with cheap peel and stick tiles that adhere to the surface below, they will tend to shrink, curl up at the endges and peel back after a while. It's not so much moisture as temperature changes and poor durability of the thin vinyl and poor adhesive. I'd recommend you use the Home Depot Allure line of peel and stick floating vinyl floor tile that is made by Trafficmaster. I just did a friend's bathroom with that product last weekend and was very impressed. The tiles stick to each other instead of the floor surface beneath so you can put them down over any solid surface and moisture will not effect them. They have a 25 year warranty also. At about $1.79 per square foot it is a pretty good deal and installation is a snap. We covered her entire 6' by 8' bathroom floor in less than 2 hours, including all the cuts around the toilet base and doorway. All you need to install it is a metal framing square or tee square, a sturdy pair of scissors, a measuring tape and a utility knife. Cool product. They make versions that look like tile and others that look and feel like real wood. We used the wood and it looks great. I've also used the Trafficmaster direct adhering commercial grade peel-and-stick tiles in areas that had moisture (an entryway and a powder room) with no problem but I made sure I had good birch plywood underlayment and I sealed it before laying the tile and also ran a bead of silicone caulk around the edges.
