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Fitting Vinyl Flooring

By: Gary Hirsh

I will be blunt at this point. You’re gonna need quite a bit of kit to do this job. Unless you have got a lot of vinyl, it might even be less expensive to pay for another person to do it for you.

Anyway, in order to do the task you’ll need a roll of vinyl (obviously), a Stanley knife, vinyl glue, a steel straight edge, a tape measure, a paint scraper (for that glue), a ballpoint pen, a roll of double-sided flooring tape. And, if you have got a tiled floor or it is made of concrete you will probably will need some self-levelling compound.

Step 1: The Vinyl:
Laying cold vinyl is a nightmare. It’s stiff and does not stretch well. So, leave the vinyl in a warm room for a day and turn on your central heating. It will make fitting it so much easier.

Step 2: Preparing your floor:
If you have a raw concrete floor, you will need to make sure that it is absolutely flat. Otherwise the lumps will show through the vinyl. It will look hideous and present a possible safety hazard. Buy a self levelling compound, spread it over the floor to fill the holes and follow the instructions. That will do the trick.

Self levelling compound is what you will will want when you are covering ceramic tiles, as well. Spread a thin layer and fill in the joints between tiles. Again follow the instructions and allow it to set.

In the event you are covering floorboards, you’ll be required to lay hardboard over them to create a flat, smooth and stable surface. Make sure you stagger the joints and use an abundance of pins to make sure they don’t rise over time.

Step 3: Lay the Vinyl:
Make sure the area is clean. Get the vacuum out and give it a good hoovering. Take your shoes off. You won’t need them on for this job. They will just drag grit around. Now, unroll the vinyl against the longest continual wall. Keep unrolling until the pattern is parallel with the wall. Leave a 4 inch overlap against the wall.

Now you will will want that Stanley knife. As the vinyl is unrolled, keep it as flat as you can around the edges near to the wall by making vertical cuts into the waste vinyl (i.e. the stuff pressing against the walls that won’t be covering the floor). For a neater finish, cut into the corners and trim the excess vinyl so that you simply form a V shape.

Step 4: Fit the Vinyl:
Now that you have cut most of the excess vinyl off, it will be more manageable. Use a pen pen and mark off more excess vinyl. Cut it away. Your aim now should be to get the vinyl into the rough shape of the room leaving a 1 or 2 inch excess all around the sides.

Step 5: Trim and glue:
Ok, press the straight edge against the vinyl and trim to fit exactly. Force any edges under cabinets, skirting boards etc. This is going to give you a nice, crisp finish. if you have got anything different to ‘stay-flat’ vinyl, this will be the time to glue it it to the floor. Follow the instructions on the glue container.

Step 6: Finishing:
You’re practically there. Get a soft brush and starting from the centre of your room, push out any bubbles. Secure the vinyl at the doors and entrances to the room with double sided carpet tape. It is going to stop it moving.

Article Source: http://articles.tiptopweb.info

For my training as a carpet fitter, I joined a company called Carpet Fitters. They taught me everything that I know.

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