I haven't done it before, but I got a few rolls to put in my shed. I already know it'll need to be lined up and patched, so I'll have a few seams (I'm not too worried about it, the furniture will mostly be in that area anyway)

My dad told me vinyl roll out flooring sucks, in that the glue makes it hard and air bubbles get trapped and it cracks under your feet, and suggested I staple it in the corners and call it a day

I think that's ridiculous and a terrible idea, because previously when we had roll out flooring that wasn't glued, it got all torn up and it was terrible (because furniture moving across a floor that's not actually on the floor tore it up in spots)

What am I missing that I need to do roll out flooring. I don't have a big steel barrel thing to press out the air or anything on this flooring. If I lay it down without doing that, will it actually crack and be terrible, or probably be fine?

Is there any application of roll out flooring where it's not glued down and it isn't a disaster?

Thanks to anyone willing to indulge my stupidness 👍

We are having to replace very old floor due to flooding and we are stuck with what the insurance will pay for. They are supposed to replace with something comparable. What we have was there when we bought the house but I can say that it probably was very close to the cheapest available 16 years ago, BUT somehow it still seems to be far more durable than what we are reading about all of the vinyl sheeting out there today. I don't know if this is accurate, but I can take a piece of this stuff and ROLL IT INTO A TUBE without it breaking! had to cut it off with a knife to get the sample. However, even the contractor says all vinyl sheeting today is crappy and the reviews all include consumers who say theirs ripped from every day use, very very quickly (less than a year). I also have a relative who had this happen to her. I do not know where to go from here.

I need my kitchen put back together but it's going to be super hard to convince the insurance company to pay for a different kind of floor unless I can explain/prove that what's out there today just isn't the same.

Meanwhile, if it were available, I'd prefer vinyl sheeting because it's softer and easier on the joints plus no cracks in the floor means I don't have to worry about food getting in the cracks when this old house settles. (it's from the 50s and the floor is not level anymore, and especially now that they are rebuilding a joist and one corner of the kitchen is jacked up!)