NEVER clean linoleum using:
- Products containing abrasive substances (for example, cleaning powder);
- Solvents (acetone, ethyl acetate and other household solvents, nail polish remover);
- Universal cleaning and washing-up liquids, dishwashing detergents.
Such agents cause early wear of the flooring and impair its appearance.
You should put cardboard or felt pads under the furniture legs to protect linoleum from damage (including staining after contact with the furniture dyeing elements). Durable and soft cushion materials should be used to avoid linoleum deformation when moving heavy objects. Special plastic or other rigid protective mats must be placed under castor chairs and tables.
To lay vinyl flooring is easier than any other flooring. However, this requires certain skills to prepare the floor surface for linoleum laying, positioning, trimming and glueing. You are better to invite experienced professionals to lay your linoleum, however, if you want to do it on your own, please observe the following rules and recommendations.
For laying, you will need the following tools:
Metal ruler or tape measure,
Flooring cutting knife, scissors, PVC flooring glue, seam welding glue (if two or more pieces of material are to be connected), special paper adhesive tape (in case of using hot welding).
1. Preparing the Floor Base
The floor base must be flat, dry, clean and firm. The ideal base is the cast-in-place floor or leveled concrete screed. In residential premises, linoleum can be laid down on a flat floor (without significant differences in height), on which fiberboard sheets or high-quality 6 mm plywood were previously laid, nailed in 15 cm increments. The plywood sheets should not be varnished or painted.
In public premises, ONLY a cast-in-place floor or a leveled concrete screed may serve as the PVC linoleum base.
Linoleum should be spread in a room over the floor at a room temperature (+ 15 ° C and above) for two days before laying.
Do not put new flooring on the old one. Do not lay it directly on asphalt or bitumen floors. Do not use cushion coverings and heat insulation!
2. Measurement
Measure the maximum width and length of the floor surface in the room, including the niches and doorways. To avoid seams, select the appropriate maximum roll width. Mind the pattern when you use a few sheets. To make the pattern shades match as much as possible, choose the linoleum sheets from one roll or one batch.
3. Unpacking
Unpack linoleum in a dry room at a temperature not less than + 15 ° C. For transportation of linoleum at temperatures of 0 ° C to + 10 ° C, the rolls should be unpacked at least 24 hours later, and at temperatures below 0 ° C - at least 48 hours after moving it to the room.
4. Fitting
Lay down the linoleum with the pattern up. If the wall is straight through its entire length, lay the linoleum, so that it actually adjoins the wall. If the wall is uneven, the flooring should be overlaped onto the wall.
5. Precise edge trimming
Notice! Prior to the flooring cutting, fix the sheet to the floor base with pieces of double-sided adhesive tape to prevent displacement.
Trimming corners and protrusions
To trim the external corners, press the flooring up to the wall and floor junction point, then make a small (0.3-0.5 cm) cross shaped cut down along the corner of the wall exactly to the floor (to prevent rupture) and spread the cover to the sides.
To trim the inner corners, gradually cut the corner of the linoleum sheet diagonally (parallel to the floor) until the material lies exactly in the corner.
The final cut
To cut the edge accurately, press the linoleum with hand against the wall, then draw a line at the point of the linoleum bending with the scissors ring and gradually cut off the excessive linoleum with a knife, pressing the flooring to the wall with an iron ruler or spatula. After cutting, the material should not come tightly against the wall. In order to prevent the linoleum sheets from bending, leave a 5-10 mm compensatory gap for each wall.
Notice! Do the final cutting gradually. Excessive material can always be cut off, but the lack cannot be restored!
6. Matching the pattern and joining the seams
In order to make the seams invisible, overlap the joining edges one onto another to achieve the pattern matching, then press the junction of the flooring sheets with a heavy object and cut the both layers of the joint along the metal ruler. Then you will just have to remove the trimming. To make the shades of the linoleum joining cuts match each other as much as possible, join the end of each cut at the beginning of the other, i.e. lay the cuts down in the order they are arranged in the roll.
7. Glueing
To make your linoleum live as long as possible, you should glue it to the floor base completely regardless of the area of the room as required by SNiP 2.03.13-88, SNiP 3.04.01-87.
Flooring laying with a seam
To make the seams invisible, the joining parts of the flooring should be laid with a 3-5 cm overlap on top of each other, with the pattern matching. Please follow these instructions:
- Fix the flooring sheets on the floor using a double-sided adhesive tape;
- Bend one sheet from the edge to the middle of the room, apply a PVC flooring glue to the floor base and spread it evenly over the surface with a spatula, following the glue manufacturer's instructions;
- Put the previously bent PVC linoleum sheet down and treat it all over the floor surface with a roller, from the middle of the sheet to the edge, except for the joint, carefully expelling the air bubbles from under it and ensuring a complete and uniform adherence of the linoleum sheet to the floor base;
- Repeat the above steps for the second part of the flooring sheet, once again checking the pattern matching;
- Leave the linoleum for glueing for the time required (see glue instruction). The material should dry for at least 24 hours at an air temperature of not less than + 15 ° С and air humidity of no more than 70% in a room with tightly closed windows;
- After the glue dries, place a metal ruler in the area of the two linoleum sheets overlapping with a matching pattern, press the ruler firmly against the sheets and cut them both through the ruler simultaneously, avoiding pattern displacement. Remove the trimmings, glue the joint with the same glue;
- The linoleum joints can be cold welded using a special PVC-flooring welding compound or hot welded using a special PVC-flooring welding cord.
When PVC linoleum laying is completed, cover the junction between the flooring and the wall with baseboards, which should be attached to the floor base or better to the walls. In the doorways, the edges of the flooring should be covered with the door sills attached to the floor base.
Seamless laying is similar to that with a seam, except for pattern combining and seam welding. Allow the floor to stand at least for 72 hours after all the work is completed.
8. Laying over a heated floor
The floor heating system must be switched off for 72 hours before the flooring laying plus 72 hours after PVC flooring laying. Installation is possible only on a heated floor, recessed in the screed.
On the completion of flooring laying, the temperature should be gradually increased by several degrees a day, until reaching he required temperature, which should not exceed + 27 ° C at the junction of the floor covering and the floor base.
9. Seams sealing
When the flooring sheets are "cold welded", the edges of the two welded sheets are fused together, so that the joints are invisible. Use glue in a special tube for this type of "welding". The needle-shaped tube nozzle is inserted into the joint and slowly advanced along the seam so that the composition penetrates to the full depth. A detailed instruction on "cold welding" is printed on the glue package.
PVC floorings should be stored in a room protected from unfavorable weather conditions.
The warehouse should be dry and protected from direct sunlight. PVC floorings can turn yellow under the impact of flue gases resulting from gas or oil burning, that is why please make sure that the storage room is not exposed to such gases.
PVC linoleum should be stored in one row with the cut edge up, at a temperature not less than + 15 ° C, in a horizontal position, at a distance of at least 1 meter from the heating appliances. Do not store your linoleum together with acids, organic solvents and substances containing them.