Our insurance is replacing a sheet vinyl kitchen floor due to water damage (from pin hole leak in wall - we just replaced all the plumbing with pex).

Should a "loose lay" installation even be considered for a kitchen with high traffic? I'm guessing that it probably shouldn't, but I really have no idea.

This is sheet vinyl that is much different than the sheet vinyl we installed in that kitchen in 2005. These floors have more cushion, which has concerned us. But the new one has a 25-year warranty so maybe the cushioning is not a problem.

When tenants move in and out of this house, they must either come through the kitchen door on the vinyl floor, or through the living room door on the hardwood oak floor.

The new 25-year sheet vinyl warranty has this installation requirement: " ** Flooring must either be permanently installed using iG rip Permanent Adhesive for Sheet Vinyl or Loose Lay (no more than 25 square yards and no more than 1 seam)."

I think I remember that the old sheet vinyl floor being replaced was a standard glue installation. (2005 was a long time ago.)

Loose lay can be ok.

Wow, small potatoes; thank you. This confirms that we should definitely avoid loose lay vinyl installations and go with adhesives.

Our insurance will not allow a commercial floor, unfortunately. I saw that some Mannington 80 MIL cushioned sheet vinyl floors had 10-year warranties while 130 MIL cushioned ones in the same brand had lifetime warranties. But it seems to me that the ones with thicker cushions would be more vulnerable to damage such as dents or whatnot. The one we found that insurance will cover is 95 MIL.

Thanks, Sisco.

Go with one of those luxury vinyl plank. You can get that in waterproof varieties and it looks better.

I love the easy care of sheet vinyl, but it is very unsuitable for rentals. I would get the rental back with long cuts in the middle of the floor. It's beyond me what the tenants were doing, but it was very common.

We've used luxury vinyl plank in a family room that was not visible from rooms with hardwood floors. But it would not look right in this kitchen with all of the hardwood that is right next to it. (And insurance will only do sheet vinyl anyway.)

I guess it depends on your tenants. We have sheet vinyl in four Class B SFH kitchens which all have hardwood floors right next to them. This one had been in for 17 years and was still in great shape and would have lasted many more years if not for the water damage. We've had four sets of tenants in that house since installing that floor in 2005.

The other homes with sheet vinyl kitchen floors are also holding up fine, with installations back to 2006 & 2007.

Our sheet vinyl has held up for years as well. I'm particular about finding a pleasant pattern,but haven't been impressed with any I've seen lately. All ours have been full glue downs. We did use commercial grade in the hallways. The installer complained because it was so thick and difficult to install on a hot summer's day. But well worth it to take the roughness a hallway endures. What we really like about it is that it is smoother than any of the vinyl floors, therefore, easily cleaned, like the older linoleum floors we have in our bungalow hallways as Allym might be referring to.

Chris, is the 95mil also a Mannington? Do you have the name of the pattern? I'm still looking for a vinyl for a couple of our floors. It needs to be vinyl because the slope in the kitchen won't accommodate planks.

Chris,

No to any form of sheet flooring. Drop a knife, a hot pan lid, waysr gets in between the layers, kitchen chair feet make gouges, slide a refrig and make ripples...I stopped sheet goods YEARS ago.

And what does the ins care what you out down? They give you $XXX for the floor to use as you wish.

We use 15x15” marble look sticky tiles in a brick layout with extra glue. Hard, tough, look great, easy and fast install, easy to swap out a piece if damaged.

Lowes Castaway, start with SELF ADHESIVE PRIMER before a THIN layer of glue.

The warranty is just a recommendation in my opinion.

Once the manufacturer finds out it is a rental they probably won't give you anything anyhow. I stopped using sheet goods because of the repair issues. If you do it use a releasable adhesive. When you get the small rip or cut you can get a heat gun and roller to help hide it.

I stopped using 1x1 glue downs as well. Even with the extra adhesive I always get one or two that migrate a little. Looks bad, catches dirt, looks worse.