How to lay linoleum

Recommendation points

• Linoleum selection
• Foundation preparation
• Wooden floor
• Concrete floor
• Cut linoleum
• Laying and gluing
• Pruning
• Welding seams
• Care and protection

Linoleum-based floor coverings have been successfully used for over a hundred years all over the world. The main advantage of linoleum in comparison with other coatings is: ease of installation, low cost of material, unpretentiousness during operation.

A large range of patterns and colors will allow you to easily imitate any type of coating and organically blend into any modern interior. Even a novice specialist can lay linoleum, but, as in any business, there are some nuances without knowledge that it is impossible to perform even such a simple work with high quality.

Linoleum selection

The first stage can be directly attributed to the choice of linoleum, this material can be divided into the following main types according to the type of raw materials of manufacture: natural and PVC, according to the field of application: household and commercial, according to physical properties: anti-slip, conductive, antistatic.

In addition, safety measures should not be neglected, since linoleum is a combustible material, it is not recommended to lay it in close proximity to heating devices and sources of open flame. Accordingly, knowing the operating conditions of the coating, it will not be difficult to make the right choice without overpaying extra money.

Foundation preparation

Since linoleum is a fairly elastic material, even small irregularities in the base can negatively affect the appearance of the coating and increase the risk of damage during operation..

Therefore, the base on which linoleum is planned to be laid must be flat and strong enough. Depending on the type of substrate (wood or concrete), prepare it as follows:

Wooden floor

The surface of wood floors is leveled with a planer or grinders, cracks and chips are leveled with a putty. In some cases, when there are significant irregularities, the plank floor is covered with chipboard or fiberboard. The boards are fixed to the floor with nails, self-tapping screws or special glue. The heads of nails or self-tapping screws must be drowned, and the resulting grooves must be putty, the seams between the plates are also treated with putty.

Concrete floor

If the original base is concrete, then irregularities in this case are eliminated by using a self-leveling concrete screed or plywood or wood-based panels flooring. When the putty and the base are dry, they overstep the laying of linoleum.

It is very important that the base, be it wood or concrete, dry well before laying the linoleum sheet, since linoleum is a moisture-proof coating, the moisture particles remaining in the base cannot evaporate for a long time, which can lead to the formation of mold and mildew. You can check if the base is dry as follows – put a piece of toilet paper or a napkin on the base on top, cover with a piece of plastic diaper, glue the edges of the film to the base with tape, place a small weight on top and leave for 15-20 hours, if the paper remains dry, then cover ready to lay.

Linoleum must adapt to the conditions of the room and even out, for this it is necessary to roll out the rolls, laying the sheets with the edges to each other, and leave them indoors for at least 24 hours. It should be noted that at the time of laying linoleum, the temperature at floor level should be at least +15 C.

Cut linoleum

After the linoleum has straightened, adapted to the temperature and humidity of the room, they proceed to the next stage – cutting. It is necessary to correctly position and cut the panels, avoiding unnecessary joints and material residues. When cutting the canvas, it is necessary to leave an allowance for the shrinkage of the material, usually 2-6 centimeters.

If it is impossible to cover the room with one piece of linoleum, the seams obtained during joining are placed perpendicular to the street walls of the room, if there are two or more light sources in the room, the seams are joined along the length of the room. Before cutting, the canvases are laid out on the floor and fixed with a load, after which they are cut along the perimeter of partitions and walls, using a sharp knife and a ruler.

In order for the linoleum to finally take its shape and straighten itself in front of the sticker, the cut material is left to lie for several days.

Laying and gluing

After the cut linoleum has settled down, they start fixing or gluing, usually linoleum is attached to the base along the perimeter or in its entirety.

If the area of ​​the living space is not more than 20 m² and one or two pieces of canvas are used, it is not necessary to glue the linoleum to the floor, the edges are fixed with plinths, and the seams with double-sided tape.

In non-residential premises, it is always recommended to fully glue the canvas, regardless of the area.

Before gluing, the base is cleaned of dust and random debris with a brush, after which mastic is applied from the middle of the room, for which the linoleum is carefully rolled up, for better adhesion with mastic, the canvas is coated with mastic, leaving an untreated strip of 10-12 cm, then the canvas is laid, smoothing it by hand, and then with a rubber roller or hammer. In the absence of a roller or hammer, a sandbag is used. The canvas is smoothed either along the length from edge to edge or from the middle to the edges, excess glue protruding from under the canvas is removed with a spatula. The second sheet is glued in the same way, while overlapping the first one (about 2-3 cm), after which both edges are cut simultaneously, resulting in a butted seam.

Pruning

Two to three days after the mastic has dried and the linoleum is reliably glued to the base, they start trimming the edges and cutting the joints. To cut the canvases along the joint, a sharp knife and a long metal ruler or a long straight piece of board or plywood are used, which are laid on the joint and an incision is made using a knife along the ruler or board, ideally, it is necessary to cut two layers of linoleum in one motion.

After that, the joint is cleaned of the protruding mastic and fixed with a board and a load for two to three days until it dries completely. If blisters are found under the canvas, it is necessary to expel the bubbles to the edge or make a puncture in the bubble and release the air to press the canvas to the base.

If the area of ​​the room is small, then it is not necessary to completely coat the linoleum sheet with glue or mastic, it is enough to coat the edges of the sheet and fix it around the perimeter. Cutting of joints is also carried out using a knife and a ruler. In the case of joining transverse joints, a zigzag cut is used.

When working with linoleum with a pattern, it is necessary to ensure that the pattern matches at the junction of the canvases.

To combine the pattern, it is necessary to calculate its rhythm, in other words, the distance between two repeating elements. Linoleum with a pattern is glued in the following way: one sheet is glued, after it dries, after two or three days, the adjoining side of the next sheet, about 20 cm wide, is fixed with a load and left in the same way for two or three days, after which making sure that the linoleum is glued evenly and displacements no, they glue the rest of the canvas. If it is necessary to glue three pieces of a canvas with a pattern, then in this case, first the central part is glued, and then the edges of the two side panels, after complete drying and checking the joints, the side panels are glued completely.

Welding seams

If the linoleum sheet is glued neatly, then the resulting seam is almost invisible, but sometimes complete insulation is required. In this case, joint welding is used. Two types of seam welding are widely used – cold and hot. The choice of the type of welding is determined by the type of linoleum and the complexity of the butt weld.

The strongest mechanical joint is obtained when using hot welding, this method is used in the installation of commercial coatings where the mechanical stress on the web is highest. In hot welding, a compressor is used that blows air onto the heating elements, a welding torch, as well as filler rods with a profile of various shapes that soften with temperature and play the role of an adhesive element. The joints are welded after the linoleum sheet is securely fixed to the base, but not earlier than the next day after laying.

Cold welding is excellent for domestic use, it does not require special equipment and trained specialists. There are two types of cold welding adhesives:

• type A glue is suitable for welding seams of newly laid linoleum;
• type C glue is used for welding seams of a fabric that has already been in the room for a long time.

The principle of operation is as follows: glue is poured into the gap between the canvases and melts its edges, fixing them tightly. The difference between type A glue and type C glue in consistency, type C glue is thicker because it is used for welding old sheets, the gap between which can be several millimeters.

Care and protection

To increase the service life of linoleum coatings, they require some care and protection. It is not recommended to use active cleaning agents for cleaning, they can lead to tarnishing and cracking of the surface. Use only special products designed for cleaning linoleum.

To protect against premature aging, special mastics and polishes are used, which increase the service life of the coating and reduce the electrostatic effect. To prevent scratches and breaks in the coating, it is better to equip furniture legs with caps made of soft material..