Vinyl tiles on concrete floor - is it level enough?

[Frank]

Hi all

I'm planning to put self-adhesive vinyl tiles on a concrete floor. Overall the floor is level, but there are small-scale irregularities in a few places, i.e. a places where if you lay a foot-rule along the floor, you can rock it too-and-fro by a millimetre or two. Is this likely to be a problem? Will I need to use a leveling compound before laying the tiles?

Also, given that the house (bungalow) was built in 1956, is it safe to assume that the floor already incorporates a damp-proof membrane?

Thanks in advance,

Frank (DIY virgin)

[meow2222]

gradual changes in level are no problem, but step changes are. Even a

1mm step change can end up slicing a 1mm thick tile in two.

If youre thinking of using wickes stuff, dont bother, they have not proven fit for purpose at all - and they wont even refund the cost of the tiles.

NT

[Stuart Noble]

The adhesive is designed to accommodate this level of irregularity. How were they unfit?

[meow2222]

Vinyl tiles are not especially strong, so if you lay one over a 1mm step, as it gets trodden on over the years it will slowly deform over the step and eventually end up prematurely broken in 2. Yes it works for quite a while... but its easy enough to smooth the floor first and have it last longer.

The wickes ones had incompetent adhesive and dont naturally lie flat. Theyre cheap initially, but you have to redo them after a month or 2, using new adhesive, and solvent to remove the old.

NT

[Stuart Noble]

Yeah, sorry. Not thinking straight. VINYL tiles you fool.