INSTALLATION  - easy “Dress Making” Method.

Ensure sufficient material is purchased to allow for pattern matching if two or more widths are to be installed and to assist the placement of seams in light traffic areas of the room (Note: it may not be possible to match the patterns of Econo Budget Vinyl or Comfort Budget Vinyl). An extra  5cm should be purchased to exceed all the room's floor dimensions and allow for cutting to size.

The sub-floor must be smooth, level, hard, dry and clean. It is advisable to unroll the floor covering several hours before it is due to be installed. The floor covering should be laid when the sub-floor, adhesives and material are all at 15^oC – 24^oC (normal room temperatures). Leave a 2 mm gap between the vinyl floorings edges and all vertical fixtures.

It is recommended to use only popular, branded adhesives and tapes which are compatible with cushion vinyl flooring. 

Step 1.  Make a paper floor template or pattern:

Make a template of the sub-floor area to be covered by taping together sheets of paper to within approx 1cm of all permanent vertical surfaces (walls, pipes, toilets, benches, etc).

Hold the template in place by taping masking tape over small holes made in a grid every 1m x 1m in the template surface.

Use a small ruler/holed disc to trace the relief of the wall etc. onto the paper template. Place the ruler/holed disc up against the wall etc. and make a pencil mark onto the paper against the inside edge (inner room side edge) of the ruler. Progressively move the ruler/holed disc around the room perimeter and other fixtures tracing a line onto the template.

In doorways or around pipes you may prefer to make a special paper template which is fixed to the main body and marked more accurately.

 Make a Paper Pattern Of The Room

 

Trace Perimeter Of The Room Onto Paper Pattern   

Step 2. Tracing out onto the vinyl:

Gently remove / peel the template from the sub-floor.

Lay the new sheet vinyl out in a suitable flat clean work area and let it relax.

Place the paper template over the new sheet vinyl and position it to suit the desired run of the pattern. Fix the template in place with the masking tape covered holes. Take the ruler and place an edge on the line marked previously (that made tracing the perimeter of the room). Place a pencil on the outside edge of the ruler and while moving the rulers inside edge progressively along the pencil line mark the surface of the new sheet of vinyl.

If you made special paper templates for difficult areas (doorways, pipes, etc) then also trace these on to the new vinyl. You should now have a line(s) marked on the surface of the sheet vinyl that represents the perimeter of the room and any fixtures to be negotiated.

When joining two sheets together, overlap them by approximately 5cm so they can be double cut and then fixed.

Transfer Tracing Onto Face Of New Vinyl Flooring With A Pencil

 

Step 3. Cutting the Sheet Vinyl to size:  

Remove the paper template.

Place a thin cutting board under the new sheet vinyl and proceed to slowly and carefully cut along the marked line with a sharp utility knife. When finished cutting off the excess, carefully roll up the sheet vinyl to take it into the room to be covered.

Starting at one wall, gently and carefully roll out and slide the sheet vinyl into place to ensure it fits and is entirely flat on the floor. Do not roughly pull or drag the sheet otherwise you may tear it. Carefully re-trim any edges if they are to tight a fit as a small 2mm gap is preferred.     

 

Step 4: 3 suggested methods to Install & Anchor your Vinyl Flooring. 

 

Anchor Option 1.   Roll Out - ‘Loose’ Laying:   

Required - Double Sided Adhesive Tape eg. Duck/ Manco DT-12  38mm wide x 36m  

The area should not be greater than 20 sqm.

At all entrances, seams and underneath heavy appliances it is recommended to apply two widths of double sided adhesive tape, whereas a single width is applied around the perimeter of the room in general.

If the area is close to the maximum recommended of  20 sqm, apply the double sided adhesive tape along only two adjacent walls (in an ‘L’ shape ). Progressively roll out and fix the double sided tape in the required places on the sub-floor (leave on the tapes' release paper). Carefully lay/roll out and slide the vinyl flooring into position in the room. Progressively work around the room lifting up the edges/sections of the sheet vinyl flooring and removing the release paper from the double sided tape and then carefully laying the sheet vinyl down onto the tapes adhesive surface. Rub the surface of the vinyl to ensure full contact with the adhesive tape is achieved.  

Anchor Option 2.  “Post It Note” Fixing:

Required - Pressure Sensitive adhesive eg. Bostik  Instant Pro Vinyl + Carpet Tile Adhesive, and  Black builder’s plastic (sufficient to fully cover the sheet of vinyl ).

Lay the sheet vinyl face down on a smooth sub floor. Use a small disposable paint roller to apply/paint a thin coat of  Pressure Sensitive adhesive  onto the back of the sheet vinyl. Let it fully dry over approximately for 30 – 45 minutes. The sheet vinyl is now like a large self stick tile. To protect the adhesive you cover the PS Adhesive painted back of the vinyl with black builder’s plastic. Trim the black builder’s plastic to be a neat fit to the sheet vinyl. Turn over the sheet vinyl (with the black plastic covered adhesive back) so it is face up and then gently roll it up.

Select your starting point at one end of the room to roll out the sheet vinyl. As the sheet is already cut to fit the room area pull away enough of the protective black builders plastic so you can loosely adhere with light hand pressure approx 10 - 20cm of the leading edge to the sub-floor (don’t push the vinyl down hard yet until the whole sheet is in correct position).

With the start of the sheet correctly positioned, you progress to slowly pull out approx 30cm of the black builder’s plastic at a time and smoothing the sheet vinyl out with light hand pressure ensuring there are no trapped air bubbles or creases in the sheet vinyl. Continue to roll out across the whole floor area in this procedure. If the vinyl appears not to be correctly positioned at any time you can gently peel it back up and reapply the black builder’s plastic as you go. You can then start re-laying it out again.

Once the sheet vinyl is full laid out and correctly positioned, start from one end and working towards the other by pushing the vinyl down more firmly with kitchen broom in a regular sweeping motion.        

Anchor option 3.  Permanent Fixing : 

Required - Use a single stick acrylic adhesive eg. Bostik Instant Pro  Carpet + Cork Tile Adhesive & a 1.5mm Notched Trowel. Follow the adhesive manufacturers recommended spread rate & open time.

Allow approx 1lt. of adhesive for each 3 sqm (textured/porous floor) to 5 sqm (smooth/sealed sub-floors).   

The adhesive is best applied progressively from one end of the room to the other.

Apply the adhesive with a 1.5mm  notched trowel to a sectional width of the sub-floor (say 1m  long by the width of the sheet). ‘Lay-in’ (unroll) the sheet vinyl flooring into the adhesive as per the adhesives best “open time”. Progress across the room, a section at a time. After ‘laying-in’, firmly roll the surface of the vinyl flooring into the adhesive using a Vinyl Flooring Roller (a large wooden kitchen roller may be suitable) so ensuring the toweled adhesive fully contacts the back of the sheet vinyl and air bubbles are expelled from under the sheet vinyl.

Roll The Floor To Ensure Contact To the Adhesive

Step 5: Seal the Seams:  

Required -  A tube of Clear Cold Welding seam sealer eg. QEP - ‘Do it Yourself Seam Sealer’.

Cold weld all seams by overlapping the joint with a  3mm  bead width of fluid in a single layer. Do not tread on or wash welded seams for two hours after application. The cured welding fluid will be slightly visible on the floors surface but this diminishes with normal foot traffic wear.