Laying linoleum on a wooden floor

Recommendation points

• Features of the behavior of linoleum coating
• Scraping and sanding the subfloor
• Aligning with sheet materials
• Whether to use a backing?
• Rolling of the canvas, exposure
• Linoleum gluing
• Rolling and pruning

Linoleum as a material for flooring is very versatile, but it has a number of specific qualities. To lay it on a wooden floor, not only ensure the correct structure of the supporting system, but also properly treat the surface and follow the laying technology.

Features of the behavior of linoleum coating

A subfloor made of wood is considered the most suitable base for laying linoleum. The boardwalk has a natural ability to regulate the microclimate: with excess moisture, the boards absorb it and give it back if the air is too dry. On a linoleum coating, this behavior of the base affects in the most favorable way: the canvas does not warp, the upper protective layer does not crack, due to which the operation of the floor is possible in a very long term.

However, a wooden sub-floor for linoleum requires special preparation. Basically, requirements are imposed on the smoothness of the surface, as well as the exclusion of damage to wood by microorganisms. You should also prevent warping and shrinkage of wood by all means, for this the supporting system must be as rigid as possible.

Linoleum can serve for years, sometimes tens of years as a finishing floor covering, but only if a number of risks are eliminated. When laying on a wooden floor, the main factors that can damage the coating are:

1. Swelling of boards due to inadequate preparation of lumber. On sharp edges of protruding boards, the coating quickly wipes and cracks.
2. Condensation forms between linoleum and plank flooring. Usually this phenomenon occurs due to an insufficient degree of floor insulation. As a result – the formation of mold and delamination of the coating under the influence of moisture.
3. Low adhesion of the subfloor, which is the result of insufficient quality processing of the boards. The presence of burrs and high roughness do not allow the linoleum to be reliably glued to the base.

Scraping and sanding the subfloor

Careful preparation of the wood base for laying linoleum is not required only if one of the cheapest materials is chosen as a coating with the prospect of replacing it in the near future. If the goal is to create a truly durable covering with an exclusive appearance, the boardwalk should be carefully processed.

Unlike the preparation of type-setting boards for a topcoat, shingles for linoleum have much smaller roughness tolerances. Since a rough covering from a calibrated or grooved board is rarely arranged under linoleum, the main task is to level the common plane to acceptable values.

At the first stage of preparation, the floor is roughly peeled to lighten the wood. If there are traces of finishing materials on the board, they are removed with a brush grinder until the whole body is exposed. In other cases, use a conventional electric plane with knives for removing a layer of about 0.3-0.5 mm.

This is followed by surface grinding. With it, the movement of the abrasive should be carried out strictly along the fibers or at an acute angle to them. An acceptable result is the complete absence of burrs and scoring of fibers, that is, as a result, a visually smooth and uniform surface should be obtained. Expansion of seams with chamfering of about 1.5–2 mm using an angled chisel is practiced for flooring from boards without ligation with tongue-and-groove piles, this stage is especially important when constructing a coating of high-quality linoleum with the prospect of its operation for the next 10-15 years. At the end of the preparation, a smooth flooring without protrusions between adjacent boards is impregnated with an antiseptic, thoroughly dried, primed and dedusted before laying the topcoat.

Aligning with sheet materials

If the subfloor made of boards has significant curvature or a sufficiently thick layer of paint is present on it, leveling with plywood or particle boards is practiced.

To level the floor under linoleum, a sheet material thickness of about 6–8 mm is sufficient. Since there is a rigid base underneath, the displacement of the sheets at the joints can be neglected. If the boardwalk is highly susceptible to warping, it is possible to lay under sheets of compressible roll materials such as polyethylene foam with a thickness of about 3-4 mm. It is also possible to eliminate swelling of joints by laying cork chips directly under the linoleum itself.

The leveling sheet must be firmly tied to the floor. Along the edges of the sheets with an indent of 30 mm and a step of 90–100 mm, fasten with self-tapping screws. They also fasten the rest of the plane of the sheets, on average, one point for every 150-170 cm² plane. When screwing in self-tapping screws, it is necessary to adjust the depth of embedding in order to avoid filling the traces from the fasteners with putty and removing peeled chips.

For leveling with sheets, use plywood of at least grade 2 followed by surface sanding or grade 3 without sanding. When using OSB, preference should be given to sanded lacquered boards. After laying and screwing the sheets, it is necessary to fill the joints with plastic glue, and then priming with PVA glue diluted with water to a third of the initial concentration.

Whether to use a backing?

The soft squeezing substrate does not fit directly under the linoleum. In some cases, it is possible to glue roll materials made of technical cork chips onto the base, followed by gluing the linoleum itself. The presence of a substrate is required if the quality of the preparation of the base is insufficient, in other words – if the protrusions between the boards exceed 1/3 of the thickness of the linoleum. The presence of cracks, large chips that cannot be removed by grinding, as well as holes from knots – the main range of indications for the use of cork backing.

Since wood has a relatively low thermal conductivity, the installation of insulating materials under linoleum is also not practiced. In extreme cases, the thermal insulation properties of the coating can be improved by laying heterogeneous linoleum on a felt or foam base. This is much better than using a cork lining, because the quality of factory gluing is much higher than with an independent multi-layer floor covering..

Rolling of the canvas, exposure

When laying on any type of substrate, linoleum must be kept in a room atmosphere for at least 48 hours. Of these, the first day it is allowed to keep the linoleum rolled up, however, at least 24 hours before gluing, the material should be laid out on the floor according to the laying scheme. During this time, linoleum adapts to the temperature and humidity in the room, the residual shrinkage phenomena disappear.

When unwinding rolls of linoleum, it is strictly not allowed to bend it at an angle above 90 °. If, upon delivery, the material was at a temperature below +10? C, it cannot be forcibly warmed, only at room temperature. When linoleum is first rolled out, wiping it with an aqueous solution of glycerin is widely used, which helps to avoid a reaction to a sharp change in humidity.

Some varieties of linoleum, especially natural linoleum, take longer to mature. Before laying the canvas, it does not need to be immediately cut along the contour of the walls of the room, otherwise there is a high risk that the coating will decrease in size and gaps will form near the walls that cannot be covered with a plinth.

Linoleum gluing

Absolutely all types of linoleum require rigid fixation to the subfloor. To ensure high-quality adhesion, the base is primed with diluted water-soluble glue. The primer is applied with a roller, ensuring thorough absorption and filling of the pores. Linoleum is glued 1.5-2 hours after applying the primer.

Linoleum is glued along the long side of the canvas. First, the canvas is leveled, then one half is pressed down to eliminate shifts, and the other is folded back. The base is greased with glue without excess, then the folded edge is put in place and carefully rolled. After one half is glued, bend the remaining section so as to tear off a strip of the glued section 5-10 cm wide. Next, glue is applied to the base, then the second half is laid and rolled with a heavy roller.

If linoleum is hot or cold welded at the seams, the edges of the canvas 10-15 cm are glued not on a water-soluble glue, but on a two-component (reaction) polymer. In this case, the gluing of the edges is not carried out together with the rest of the plane, because the overlap of the canvases still needs to be cut along a common line and a groove for the joint filler should be selected at the junction.

Rolling and pruning

Rolling the sheet during the gluing process is necessary in order to evenly disperse excess glue under the linoleum and get rid of air bubbles. After the web is fixed, it can be additionally pressed down, randomly rolling the coating in different directions. These actions can be performed within 1.5-2 hours after applying the water-soluble glue and no later than 35-40 minutes after applying the reaction.

When the entire treated area of ​​linoleum is laid and rolled, the floor is left for 20-30 hours until completely dry. This is followed by trimming and welding of seams, or the installation of docking sills. At the points of contact with the walls, the linoleum is pressed down with a bar, then an even thin strip or spatula is pressed into the corner and the coating is cut to the shape of the room with a sectional knife. To cut corners and turns with high quality, the room is bypassed around the perimeter, periodically cutting off the interfering remnants of the cut tape.