Must read, its long but worth reading if you’re considering this tile! I purchased this Coastal ...Must read, its long but worth reading if you’re considering this tile! I purchased this Coastal Grey vinyl tile online without seeing it in person, based on reviews and pictures. It is a little lighter than thought, not super dark gray, but still liked it. They are thick tiles and I love the feel of them. Now, as far as installing them. We did it ourselves in our small kitchen. We had to lay new ¼ inch subflooring over the existing floor that had glue residue from the old linoleum we removed. So with that nailed down we made sure to remove debris and laid the tiles leaving 1/8 spacing for grout. The tiles are easy to cut with a utility knife. The glue was excessive and got EVERYWHERE. You could pick up your tools just by touching them after 3 tiles and that was just by touching the corners to lay them down. We had to stop a couple times and clean our hands. The boxes of tile went right from my car to the house so they were not left outside in warm temperatures. But yes, the glue was on the sides of the tiles/paper right out of the box. After they were all down I used Goof Off and cleaned the glue off the tiles. Then I went right on to grouting. I opted for the silver pre-mixed grout. I had never grouted before, and probably should have tried this in a closet or something instead of my kitchen. Live and learn. Once I got the hang of it, it was ok. I only did a little at a time because it dries really fast and you have to get that off the tiles. I tried using a sponge but I couldn’t master that as it kept leaving streaks even after rinsing so I ended up actually using paper towels, lots of them. The grout left some haze in some spots that I cleaned up the next day with some cleaner. I was very please, grout looked great. Fast forward a month…it cracked and it was dirty, like black lines. When I thought it was just dirt and tried to clean it, it was glue. The glue came up between the tile and grout, cracking the grout, yea, and its mostly in the center and by the sink (the most heavily traveled areas). I removed the glue and am keeping an eye on it to see if more glue comes up and will probably end up re-grouting. In hindsight I should have done the darker grout, not liking the dirty look either. THEN: we have a really small 3x5 half bath in the entry way to remodel so we did the same tile (I ordered 6 boxes to do the kitchen and both bathrooms). We left the 1/8 grout spacing. This time I used Q-tips to really clean excess glue around all the edges of the tile and let is sit for 24 hours before I grouted it. I used the dorlean gray pre-mixed grout this time because I’m not fighting that light grout again. Turned out great and no glue has come up even after setting the toilet and sink and I’m hoping it doesn’t at all since this room isn’t used very much. I will not be using this in the big bathroom however because of this issue, I’m going with sheet vinyl. I really love the look and feel of it this tile but the glue is a problem.
by toomuchglue