How to lay linoleum on a wooden floor. Is it possible to lay linoleum on a wooden floor? Detailed analysis of the issue

Floor coverings such as linoleum require a flat surface for installation.

This is what causes most of the problems when laying it on a wooden base.

Of course, when laying on a base made of sheet materials, the difficulties are minimal, but with an old plank floor you will have to work more thoroughly.

The wooden base transmits sound, moisture and cold very well, so when choosing linoleum you should choose a coating with good protective properties.

Despite all the advantages of natural material, it is not recommended to use it in this case. It is better to choose a synthetic one, which has low thermal conductivity and is not susceptible to rotting due to fairly high humidity.

Particularly good in this regard are types of PVC linoleum on a foamed or multi-layer heat and sound insulating base.

Alkyd linoleum also has good insulating characteristics, but it is quite brittle. Since the wooden base has a large number of seams, even after preparatory work, this type of linoleum is still not worth choosing.

Otherwise, there is a high probability of creases, cracks or even tears in the fabric. For the same reason, you should not purchase products with a thickness of less than 3 mm.

Floor condition assessment

Before laying linoleum, it is necessary to assess the condition of the wooden floor and the need for preparatory work.

Walk energetically around the room, or better yet, jump.

If the floor does not wobble underfoot and does not make any sounds, then such a floor will be the easiest to work with, even if it does not have a perfectly flat surface.

Inspect the surface: the color of the boards should be natural. Try to pierce areas with discoloration with a screwdriver or an awl - healthy wood, regardless of age, will be strong enough.

The good condition of the floor and a normal level of humidity is indicated by the absence of fungus or mold on the boards and rust on the heads of the nails.

Another problem with wood flooring is wood-boring insects. Their presence is indicated by eaten grooves on the surface and inside the boards. Rotten boards must be replaced, otherwise the rot will spread to other wooden elements.

If there are traces of the presence of insect pests, then treatment with bioprotective preparations is mandatory.

It is advisable to lift one or two boards and assess the condition of their undersides and the joists on which they are laid. Tap them with a hammer - a distinct wooden sound should be heard, and a dull sound indicates the presence of pockets of rot.

Particular attention should be paid to load-bearing joists if the floor creaks or sag: most likely, they cannot withstand the load and you will have to place bricks or bars under them, and additional boards are nailed to the joists.

The squeaking noise can also be caused by friction between the floorboards. To solve this problem, it is recommended to pour talc or graphite powder into the cracks between them.

In addition, it is necessary to evaluate the evenness and horizontality of the surface. Performing all these actions is the key to long service life and good appearance of the coating.

Tools and additional materials

Before starting work, prepare everything you need:

Sharp knife;
A spatula with teeth (wooden or metal);
Long ruler or staff (2-3 m);
Glue or double-sided tape depending on the mounting method;
Roller;
Nails;
, if joints of the canvases are expected.

For preparatory work the following will be useful:

Planer or sanding machine for leveling the surface;
Plywood, bars (joists) and nails/screws to create the most horizontal and even surface;
Glue, putty.

Preparation of the base surface

It is necessary to remove paint from the old plank floor and deepen the nail heads.

If the floor is strong enough and does not have any distortions in height, but the surface itself is uneven, then you can use a plane or sanding machine to level it.

Scraping can also be done manually using a hand scraper or a piece of glass, but this method will be very labor-intensive and ineffective.

The gaps between the boards must be filled. In the same way, it is worth treating the places where the nails are buried.

If the surface is not treated, then the unevenness of the wooden flooring will appear on the linoleum.

If the floor has significant unevenness or differences in height, then sanding the surface alone will not do.

How and with what to level a wooden floor under linoleum? Methods of preparation

In this case, several options are possible:

Although the floor will be almost perfectly level, this is not the best option for wooden surfaces. But if you decide to use it, then you should select a mixture specifically designed for plank floors.

Leveling the surface using sheet material.

Under linoleum on a wooden floor, you can use hardboard, plywood, fiberboard or furniture panels. If you only need to get rid of unevenness, then the sheets are fixed with parquet glue or a mixture of PVA and gypsum, and then additionally nailed to the floor with nails or a construction stapler.

To create a horizontal line, you will have to lay the sheets on logs made of bars or plywood strips fixed to the floor with glue.

After laying the sheets using any of these methods, the seams must be puttied. Finally, the surface must be oiled.

Additional thermal and waterproofing is usually not required, since the base of correctly selected linoleum itself performs these functions.

Before laying linoleum, the floor must be thoroughly cleaned of debris, vacuumed, washed and dried.

Preparation of linoleum

When purchasing linoleum, you should add 5-15 cm along the length and width of the room. If it has a repeating pattern, then you need to take one more row on each side. Thermal shrinkage allowance should also be taken into account. For PVC it is 2%.

Do not bend linoleum during transportation, as creases will form. Having brought it home, you need to spread it in the room, leveling it from the center to the walls, and leave it for a couple of days to adapt. If there are waves, they must be pressed down with a weight.

And if significant fractures or bends are detected, it is better to replace the roll. The room temperature should not be lower than 16°C, and the humidity should not be 40...60%.

It is better to place single-color or marble canvases in the direction of daylight, which makes the seams less noticeable. The joints of linoleum of any color should be placed in the middle of the board.

After leveling, the canvas is cut, leaving a space of 5..30 mm to the walls, which will be covered with skirting boards. To cut holes for pipes or protrusions for other elements, these places are first marked with a pencil or gel pen, and then carefully cut out by making small cuts.

Fastening linoleum to the base

The simplest method is flooring without gluing. It is exclusively suitable for small rooms ≤12 m². the canvas is secured around the perimeter of the room with skirting boards, and in the doorway with a threshold.

If there is no real threshold, the linoleum is fixed in its place with a special strip. But with this installation method, the coating wears out faster, and during operation, waves may appear on the surface.

The second, more practical way is to secure it with double-sided tape.

It is glued along the perimeter of the canvas, and for better fixation it can be secured with additional strips over the entire surface area.

The sticker is made in stages. First, one half is bent, the protective layer is removed from the tape, and then this part of the coating is straightened.

Work with the second half is done in the same way.

Planting with glue will fix the linoleum more thoroughly, but this process will require more time and physical effort. If the room area is ≥20 m², then this is the only acceptable method.

Half a piece of linoleum is folded back, coated with glue and waited for some time indicated on the packaging by the manufacturer. After this, the material is unbent and smoothed by hand. Then move on to the second half.

After gluing, the surface is rolled with a special roller or roller. Until the glue dries (7-10 days), you should not walk on the freshly laid floor.

If two pieces are connected, then they are glued with a slight overlap on each other. At the point of overlap, use a sharp knife to cut off two layers of material using a ruler. Then, without waiting for the glue to dry, a “cold welding” compound is applied to the seam.

You can see clearly how to lay linoleum on a wooden floor in the video. Laying is carried out on a leveled wooden floor, it can be plywood or other sheet material, followed by gluing:

Correctly laying linoleum on a wooden floor is not so difficult; it takes much more time to prepare the surface. But correctly selected material, the installation technology of which is not violated, will please the eye for a long time.

The modern flooring market offers a huge range of products. One of the most popular materials is still linoleum. Its popularity is due to the variety of colors and textures, durability and ease of care. Professionals quickly install it on a concrete floor, but they use a different technology to lay the canvas on top of wooden boards.

Pros and cons of the product

Like any other material, linoleum has its advantages and disadvantages.

pros

Large selection of cover sizes.
Wide range of colors.
Variety of textures.
The ability to avoid seams in any room. The seamless nature of the flooring is aesthetically pleasing.
Easy and quick installation using simple tools.
Average degree of heat and noise insulation.

High moisture resistance.
Resistant to any household chemicals when cleaning.
Can be used when installing heated floors.
Long service life without loss of appearance.
Lack of special care (rubbings, polishes and varnishes are not required).
Conservative cost.

Minuses

Household-grade coatings have a low degree of mechanical strength. If handled carelessly, dents and damage may occur, for example from furniture.
Low quality types emit unpleasant chemical odors for some time after installation.
Flammability. The cheap variety releases toxic substances when burned.
Special requirements for preparing the floor surface before installation.

Which is better?

Linoleum comes in two types: natural and polymer.

The natural top layer consists of natural components such as cork, small sawdust, resin, and minerals. The bottom layer is usually made of jute fiber.

This linoleum does not burn, does not accumulate static electricity, and is an environmentally friendly material. However, buyers can be stopped by its high cost, low moisture resistance and uniformity of shades.

PVC linoleum is the most popular. The range of colors and variety of patterns allows you to match it to any type of interior.

Relin is a multilayer rubber linoleum about 3 mm thick. The composition is based on a mixture of bitumen, crushed rubber or caoutchouc. The top layer is made of colored rubber of small thickness.

Alkyd material is resistant to abrasion and has a high degree of noise absorption and thermal insulation. But it is very fragile, so it is not recommended for wooden floors.

Colloxylin fabric has no backing. Nitrocellulose is used for its production. Absolute resistance to moisture, elasticity and non-flammability make the material quite popular.

When choosing a floor covering, it is important to focus on the base on which it will be laid. If it is a wooden floor, then you will have to abandon the natural material, despite many advantages.

Synthetic linoleum is more moisture resistant and therefore does not rot. In addition, the multilayer polymer coating is characterized by a good degree of heat and sound insulation. Experts advise purchasing coatings with a thickness of at least 3 mm.

The choice of flooring depends on the area of its application, as it is characterized by the level of load, abrasion resistance, and impact resistance. The service life depends on this.

Household - the thinnest material, suitable only for rooms with low traffic levels: bedrooms, storage rooms. For the average level, it is better to choose a semi-commercial type of linoleum. Usually it is laid in the kitchen, living room or hallway. It is preferable to equip floors in public places and offices with commercial grade material.

The specified classification of wear resistance and abrasion depends on the thickness of the coating and the structure of the materials. Therefore, when purchasing, you should first pay attention to these criteria. PVC coating up to 3 mm thick has a bottom felt layer or a layer of fiberglass, which is covered with a polymer film. Woven-based linoleum does not have a fiberglass layer; it is thinner, but more resistant to abrasion and other external factors.

The thinnest floor covering is baseless. This material does not have a base and is intended for those rooms where excess moisture is possible.

Preparing the foundation

Preparing the base Before you start laying the covering, assess the condition of the wooden floor. Troubleshooting should be done if necessary. The boards should not bend or creak.

It is necessary to check the reliability of all their fastenings. The floor should be free of traces of fungus, mold and insects, as well as rusty nails. Professionals advise inspecting the logs, even if the boards are visually intact.

When tapped, a dull sound usually indicates the presence of rotten areas. Before laying linoleum using a building level, it is important to make sure that the floor is level.

If a fungus is detected, then mechanical cleaning is impossible, since the spores penetrate deep into the wood. In this case, the wooden flooring should be completely replaced. If insects are present, it is necessary to either replace the boards affected by them or treat them with special protective preparations.

Old painted floors are sanded to remove old paint. If it holds well, then it is enough to remove only the exfoliated areas.

Protruding heads of nails and screws should be deepened or removed. If the floor is uneven, then it is scraped or covered with plywood panels.

Looping is used if the flooring is strong and does not have significant distortions in height, but its surface is uneven. To eliminate defects, use a hand plane or its electric version, as well as a sanding machine. Afterwards, it is necessary to seal all the cracks and recesses with putty, otherwise unevenness will appear on the linoleum.

Eliminating irregularities

If there are significant differences, the floor is leveled. This process is carried out in several ways:

Sheet material in the form of plywood, chipboard or hardboard. The thickness of the sheet depends on the degree of deflection of the boards and varies from 8 to 12 mm. Laying of plywood panels is carried out joint to joint. If there are no significant irregularities, the sheets are fixed either with a special parquet glue or a mixture of PVA and gypsum. The strength of the connection will be ensured by nails or self-tapping screws with a countersunk head that do not protrude above the floor surface. The seams between the panels must be puttied. The plywood floor should be covered with a layer of drying oil.

Filling the base with PVA-based putty. It consists of sawdust mixed with glue. The method does not require large financial expenditures and is easy to implement. The work algorithm is as follows:

The surface is cleaned and sanded.
Self-tapping screws are used to strengthen loose and creaking boards.
Apply the mixture and level it.
It must be allowed to dry for up to two days.

Self-leveling mixtures– the most unsuitable option for a wooden floor. It should be taken into account that cement mortars cannot be used on wooden floors. In this case, special mixtures are chosen that contain additives and reinforcing fibers. The old floor is cleaned and degreased before applying the solution. Gaps are filled with foam or sealant. The surface is primed in several layers.

Coating preparation

After preparing the wood flooring and choosing the linoleum, you need to prepare the flooring for installation.

To begin with, it is adapted, or, in other words, rolled out on the floor and left for several days. In places where there is poor adherence to the floor, weighting agents can be placed on the material. This is necessary for straightening the material and convenient work in the future, since it acquires room temperature and becomes more plastic.

When purchasing and transporting, it is important to avoid severe creases in the fabric.

If it is not possible to avoid kinks, then the synthetic linoleum can be heated with a hairdryer and pressed as much as possible with a heavy object. Unfortunately, leveling using this method is not possible for natural coatings.

After the linoleum has settled, it is cut to the required dimensions. When cutting synthetic fabric, an allowance is left along the edges for shrinkage, which will be covered by the baseboards. All irregularities in the form of protrusions, pipes and thresholds are marked with a pen and then cut out with a construction knife.

How to insulate?

In some cases, owners additionally lay a substrate under the linoleum. It plays the role of a noise absorber and heat insulator.

The choice of insulation is especially important if the floor has not been leveled with plywood sheets. In this case, it will not only provide warmth, but also correct minor irregularities.

Types of substrate:

Cork. Excellent natural and safe insulation. Application is possible only in the presence of light loads on the floor, since the material has a low degree of strength. Also, when buying a cork backing, the high cost stops it.
Jute. High resistance to moisture and rot, as well as non-flammability, makes jute filling popular.
Linen. Linen backings are more suitable for preventing mold.

Felt. An excellent heat-insulating material that can additionally hide unevenness. Felt material is resistant to heels and heavy furniture.
Combined options include several of the materials listed above. They are a good heat insulator.
PVC insulation in demand due to affordability. Foam options are good as sound and heat insulators.

Most often, owners buy linoleum with a backing already glued on.

Laying methods

Methods for laying linoleum are divided into adhesive and non-adhesive. Both options provide reliable fixation of the coating, however, for floors that experience heavy loads, it is optimal to use the adhesive method.

Glueless

The floor in small rooms can be covered with linoleum without using glue. The canvas is laid, smoothed from the center to the edges and secured around the perimeter with the help of skirting boards and in the doorway with a threshold. To do this, simply nail the fastening elements to the base.

The disadvantage of this method is the rapid wear of the material and the appearance of waves during operation.

Adhesive

This installation involves two methods:

Using double-sided tape. To do this, it is glued along the entire perimeter of the room. To improve fixation, it is permissible to lay additional strips over the entire area. Then the linoleum is laid in stages, gradually unrolling it from the roll and removing the protective coating from the tape.
For glue. Adhesive fixation of the coating is the most thorough, but requires a lot of time. It should be noted that in large rooms this is the only way to lay linoleum. Special glue for gluing is applied with a spatula in parts, gradually unrolling the roll. Waiting time – 20 minutes. Only after this can you press and fix the material on the floor. The floor covering can be used only after 7-10 days.

Special compositions that are used for the adhesive method:

Bustilate is a synthetic adhesive designed for rigid fixation of coatings.
Acrylate is a universal acrylic polymer designed for reliable gluing of various types of linoleum to surfaces made of concrete, wood and metal.
Bitumen mastic is used for working with fabric-based roll coverings.
Rubber-based mastic is used as a fixative for rubber or PVC linoleum without a backing.

How to secure the joints?

Since the glueless method implies the absence of joints during installation, it is necessary to study options for fixing parts of the coating to implement the adhesive method. To do this, the following materials are required: special glue, double-sided tape or cold welding. Sometimes hot welding is used.

Using tape and glue

In this case, double-sided tape is placed under the joint along the entire length. The parts to be glued are overlapped by 8-10 cm and fixed.

The tape should not reach the overlap area at a distance of 2 to 3 cm.

In the center of the joint, the linoleum is cut simultaneously to its entire depth. The trimmings are removed. The floor at the seam is either coated with glue or covered with double-sided tape, after which the material is ironed with a roller.

Cold welding

The algorithm for welding a linoleum seam is as follows:

The surface of the parts to be glued is fixed in the seam area using double-sided tape. To do this, the tape is first glued to the base in two stripes. The top protective layer is removed from them, freeing the adhesive surface. Pieces of linoleum are overlapped on them.
Using a construction knife, the coating is cut simultaneously in the middle of the overlap.
The resulting joint is glued on top with masking tape, which is cut along the seam.
The seam is filled by cold welding using a needle so that it protrudes slightly above the tape.
After an hour, the masking tape can be removed.

Please note that complete adhesion of the glued parts will occur after 8 hours, so the floor cannot be used immediately.

As a result of welding, the seam is waterproof and almost invisible.

Hot welding

For very dense homogeneous linoleum without a backing, experts advise using hot welding to ensure reliability and solidity of the canvas.

This process is more complex than the methods described above and requires specialized tools and skills. The joints are fixed after gluing the linoleum to the floor.

When hot welding, you must perform the following steps:

Cut the seam with a construction knife to the entire depth of the coating.
Clean the edges.
Set the industrial hair dryer to a temperature of up to 350 degrees and attach the nozzle of the desired size.
Place a polymer fusible cord into the nozzle and wait for the tool to heat up.
After heating, move the nozzle along the seam. In this case, the cord will melt and fill it.

Joints made in this way are absolutely moisture-resistant and wear-resistant.

Flooring rules

There are several main principles for laying linoleum on a wooden floor:

The canvas is laid along the boards.
When laying linoleum, it should be taken into account that the joints should be in the middle of the floor board.
The average temperature in the room when laying the material should not exceed 20 degrees.
It is recommended to place a canvas of marble or plain color in the direction of the light beam, which will make the seams invisible.
It is important not to forget that when installing with tape or glue, parts of the linoleum are laid overlapping, so when cutting, you should leave 8-10 cm for it.

Required Tools

The most accessible tools that you may need when laying linoleum yourself are:

Tape measure or 2 meter ruler.
Pen or pencil.
Construction knife or scissors for cutting material.
Spatula for the glue method.
Roller.
Nails and screws.
Hammer or screwdriver.

In addition, when preparing the base, a plane or sanding machine may be required.

Installation technology

Summarizing all the information, we can imagine the technology of laying linoleum in the form of the following algorithm:

Inspect the wood covering for defects and insects.
Checking boards for strength and creakyness.
Cleaning the floor from debris.
Sanding wooden boards to remove old paint. It is quite possible to do this yourself using hand tools.
Treatment with protective agents and impregnations.
Drying.
Leveling the floor in a suitable way:

using plywood sheets;
filling with PVA-based putty;
using self-leveling mixtures.

Acclimatization of linoleum. The roll of material is placed indoors for several hours to reach room temperature.
Linoleum is rolled out on the floor and cut correctly depending on the geometry of the room. If joints are planned, it is necessary to provide a margin for overlap fixation. You should also leave allowances for the baseboards.
The material is left indoors for several days. During this time, the canvas should straighten out. If there are deep creases, weights must be placed on them.
Final adjustment of the canvas, taking into account the exact dimensions and obstacles in the form of pipes, thresholds, protrusions.
When installing using the glueless method, the final stage is laying skirting boards around the entire perimeter of the room, installing thresholds or, in their absence, a protective strip.
In the case of adhesive installation, the linoleum is glued to the base after adjustment. After this, the joints are fixed. Fastening methods can be different: tape, glue, cold or hot welding.

Installing linoleum on a wooden floor yourself requires knowledge of many features and rules. If you follow them while performing work, you will have a 100% smooth and beautiful floor covering.

Wood flooring allows cold, moisture and sound to pass through well. In this regard, for their arrangement it is necessary to select types of linoleum that are characterized by high protective characteristics. Currently, the construction market offers consumers the following types of coatings that interest us:

On a fabric basis. A very durable and at the same time plastic material with two layers - protective (located at the top) and fabric (at the bottom), recommended for installation in residential premises.
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC). It is made from modern polymers on a heat-insulating, fabric and foam base. This material is considered ideal for wood floors. You can put it in any room of your home.
Alkyd. This linoleum has a base made of synthetic or natural materials; it is made from resins to which minerals are added. Alkyd products are rarely used for wooden floor bases, since creases and cracks often appear on their surface during operation. This is due to the low plasticity of such a material.
Four-layer foam. Linoleum of high strength and durability with excellent thermal insulation properties. There is no particular point in laying it in residential premises. It is designed for installation in facilities where there is a lot of traffic and high humidity is constantly present.
Rubber. The top layer of this coating is made from rubber of different shades, the bottom layer is made from a composition of recycled rubber products and bitumen. This linoleum is very waterproof and flexible. It is most often used in production and industrial premises. It is not used in residential buildings.
On a sound and heat insulating basis. The top of such products is made of PVC film, the bottom is made of reinforced foam or felt. Their cost is relatively high, but their performance characteristics are considered excellent for residential premises.

Fabric-based covering

Thus, if you decide to lay linoleum on a wooden floor, it is best to purchase material made from polyvinyl chloride. It would be great if it had several layers, as well as a heat and sound insulating base.

Laying linoleum on a wooden floor requires truly thorough preparation of the surface of the latter. The material we describe should be installed on an extremely level base. Even four-layer high-strength linoleum inherently remains a fairly elastic and relatively thin material.

During operation, it takes the shape of the surface on which it lies. It is clear that the presence of tubercles and other irregularities on it will not contribute to the long service life of the material.

On uneven areas of the linoleum floor, cracks will appear over time, and then it will not be long before the coating breaks or wears off.

Cracks in linoleum

Before installation, you will need to examine the floor base, remove and fix (or simply replace) boards that have become unusable (creaking, rotten, unstable, etc.). It is advisable to treat the wood with some high-quality bioprotective compound, and also perform the following steps:

remove the old paint from the wood with a spatula (if the process is difficult, you can use a hair dryer to heat the coating);
remove all baseboards in the room;
sweep all dust and debris from the floor, vacuum it, then wash and dry thoroughly;
put patches on the gaps in the base if their width exceeds 4–5 mm, and putty all chips and small cracks;
deepen the screws and nails in the wooden boards by 5–7 mm, and then use a sanding machine to walk along the floor surface to level it as efficiently as possible.

If, after such preparation of the base, there are still significant differences in height (more than 2 mm), you will have to additionally level the wooden covering. Popular methods of performing such work will be discussed below.

The easiest way is to buy a special self-leveling compound that is developed for wood floors. It must be applied to a well-sealed base. This means that you will need to fill any gaps in the floor as thoroughly as possible. The procedure for adjusting rough coatings with your own hands is as follows:

Impregnate the dry prepared base with a primer, which is designed to improve adhesion between the composition and the wooden base.
Cover the walls near the floor surface with insulating material.
Glue the joints of wall surfaces and floors with polystyrene foam.
In the doorway, install a bar (made of wood), which will serve as a limiter for the future floor covering.
Then you need to lay a reinforcing mesh on the floor with an overlap of 5-6 centimeters and fix it on the rough base with a construction stapler.
Mix the self-leveling compound with water (choose the correct proportions, following the instructions for the mixture) and pour it onto the floor.
Using a rubber mop or a spiked (again, rubber) roller, distribute the composition over the base, trying to ensure that it evenly covers the entire floor.
Now you need to wait until the mixture dries.

Self-leveling compositions are not suitable for leveling floors with large differences in height. If the old floor base is particularly uneven, it would be correct to use another method, which involves laying a special underlay on the wood with your own hands.

The backing material may vary. The most commonly used plywood (moisture-resistant for kitchens and bathrooms, regular for other living spaces), MDF sheets and particleboard products. The thickness of the substrate is 5–8 mm.

Moisture-resistant plywood

Plywood (or other material) should be laid on the floor so that its sheets in relation to each other are offset by approximately half their length. Make sure that there are no gaps between the individual products. But you should leave a small gap at the walls (about 1 cm).

Before laying the underlay, we treat the floor base with a special mastic or a mixture of building gypsum and PVA glue, which perfectly fills the unevenness of the floor. We mount plywood products on top, fasten them every 15–20 cm, the heads of which should preferably be deepened into the sheets as much as possible, and then puttied and, if desired, sanded.

Many experts advise running a plane along the joints of plywood sheets and filling even small gaps between them. After this, apply floor paint (quick-drying) or hot drying oil to the substrate, wait for the surface to dry, and then lay the linoleum covering.

Linoleum material can be laid on a wooden base in different ways:

With adhesive tape (double-sided). Perhaps the most popular technique, which is relatively easy to implement with your own hands.
Without gluing - not the most reliable, but a very simple installation method.
Gluing the material is the best technology for large rooms and premises.

Let's see how to lay linoleum on a wooden floor using double-sided tape. The work flow diagram is as follows:

Apply tape along the perimeter of the room, and then along the entire surface of the base (you make a kind of lattice from adhesive tape, maintaining a distance of about half a meter between its individual strips).
Remove the protective paper film from the tape and lay the linoleum. Do not remove all the film at once. Remove it only in those areas where you are currently laying linoleum. Then remove the next part of the film and lay the next piece of material again.
Smooth out each laid part of the linoleum surface.

Laying linoleum on a wooden floor

If everything is done correctly, linoleum flooring will serve you for many years.

Products that are mounted on glue are characterized by greater operational durability. In this case, laying the material yourself is carried out as follows:

Mark the linoleum and cut it.
Lay the coating on the subfloor.
You wrap the material with the base upwards from part of the floor area and along the edge that you wrapped, put a mark - a line.
Apply glue (use a notched trowel) to the base, staying within the marked line.
Lay the linoleum on the glue and roll the surface manually (crosswise and then longitudinally).
Smooth the bedding material again, this time using a roller.

Proceed in the same way with subsequent parts of the linoleum canvas. Note! When laying several sheets of material, it is necessary to lay each subsequent piece overlapping the previous one (by 1.5–2.5 cm). This way you will get well-joined seams and will be able to cut both edges efficiently. It is recommended to do cutting 48–72 hours after laying the material. This operation is performed with a sharp knife and a long metal ruler.

It is not recommended to lay linoleum flooring without tape and glue. With this technique, sheets of material are spread on the floor and pressed against the perimeter with skirting boards. It is clear that the method does not provide reliable fastening of the coating. It can only be used in small spaces (10–12 square meters), and even then with caution.

A few general rules to follow when laying linoleum:

The work is carried out in a room heated to 16–18 °C. This temperature should be in it 2-3 days before installation and maintained at the same level for the same period after laying the linoleum.
The roll of material is kept in the room where the material will be laid for at least 24 hours. During this time, the linoleum has time to “acclimatize” to the room.

Is it possible to lay linoleum on a wooden floor? Detailed analysis of the issue

It is no secret that in the modern world, linoleum is considered popular. This coating is made from natural materials: cork flour, jute fabric, linseed oil, wood resins, limestone powder. Since this material is universal, it is quite clear that it can be laid on any surface, providing the room with an attractive appearance and saving the owners from troublesome cleaning. However, the installation method that is most beneficial in a given situation depends on the type of PVC coating and the material of the floor of the room. Let's take a closer look at the order of flooring on linoleum.

Advantages of linoleum:

Strength;
Elasticity;
Low maintenance requirements;
Wear resistance;
Waterproof;
Reasonable price;
Large selection of designs and colors;
Relatively easy to install.

Types of linoleum

Depending on the materials used in production, There are several types of linoleum:

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC)

Made from polymer. The base can be foam, heat-insulating, fabric. Sometimes the base is not used at all.

Relin or rubber linoleum

Usually it is a multi-layer coating three millimeters thick. The bottom layer is a mixture of bitumen with crushed recycled rubber or synthetic rubber, the top layer is a layer of colored rubber. Relin can be single-colored or multi-colored. Its main qualities are elasticity and water resistance. Suitable for use in production and industrial premises.

Alkyd linoleum

The thickness of alkyd linoleum ranges from two and a half to five millimeters. Alkyd resins, mineral fillers and pigments are used as raw materials for the manufacture of the material.

Alkyd linoleum can be multi-colored, plain, or decorated with various patterns. It is resistant to abrasion, has high heat and sound insulation properties, but is very fragile and can break.

Colloxyl linoleum

Colloxyl linoleum is presented as a baseless coating. The product is made from nitrocellulose. Gloss, flexibility, moisture resistance, fire safety and elasticity are its main advantages.

Classification of linoleum

Linoleum is divided into types and depending on its wear resistance. Guided by manufacturing technology, manufacturers cover the image, which is first applied to a PVC base, with a protective layer on top. The wear resistance of the material depends on the thickness of this layer. The thicker the “shield”, the more expensive the coating.

Household linoleum, which has a low level of wear resistance, is usually laid in residential premises;
The material is of a semi-commercial type, which is considered to have an average level of wear resistance, which is why it is laid in rooms with average traffic: hallways, kitchens, offices. One is quite rigid, which is why there are no marks left on the surface from heavy pieces of furniture and other objects.
Commercial linoleum is endowed with increased wear resistance. For this reason, it is laid in industrial premises, as well as in areas with high traffic.

Linoleum is very popular as a floor covering. Of course, in appearance it is inferior to parquet or laminate, but it attracts with its affordable cost and ease of installation. Laying linoleum with your own hands will help you save money and use it for other useful needs for your home. The main thing is to cut the material correctly, taking into account all the features of the flooring of such a covering.

The optimal temperature for working with linoleum is 15-25 degrees. At low temperatures, it loses its elastic properties and becomes brittle and can easily crack. Therefore, linoleum should lie in a roll indoors, get used to the temperature, and only then can it be unrolled.

Having unrolled the linoleum on the floor, it should again be left alone for several hours. This will help it level out and there will be no waviness when laying.

The following tools are used for work:

Sharp knife;
Notched glue spatula;
Ruler;
Double-sided tape;
Glue;
Roller or brush.

Wooden floor as a base

In order for the linoleum to last for a long time and to avoid problems during installation, the rough surface should be carefully prepared. Any flaw or defect in the installation substrate will degrade the appearance of the finish. And it can even lead to rupture of the material in this place.

The covering is laid close to the walls, so the old skirting boards are first removed, which can be returned to their place after the work is completed.

Plywood base

Sometimes new linoleum is laid on top of the old one. But this is only possible if the old material that was glued to the floor is in perfect condition. If this is not the case, then the old covering needs to be removed, and then just lay a new one.

A primer must be applied to a flat concrete base before laying the covering.

Before laying linoleum on a wooden floor with your own hands, it is first leveled with plywood.

Leveling the concrete base

The flooring also requires preliminary preparation. It is laid out on the floor surface and left for a while to allow all creases and kinks to be smoothed out. Only after this can you begin to trim the material.

This floor covering is unpretentious to use and requires only a flat surface for installation.

How to calculate the required amount of linoleum

Room measurement

Linoleum should be laid in such a way as to minimize the presence of seams. To do this, the room is measured and the required size is determined with a margin that takes into account all the projections and niches.

Linoleum manufacturers produce rolls of different widths: 2.5 m; 3.4 m; 4.0 m. This width will be enough to lay it indoors without seams. It is recommended to take extra material to insure yourself against unexpected errors in cutting.

Before laying linoleum with your own hands, you need to leave it in the room so that the material adapts to temperature and humidity, and possibly changes its size. After which the roll is unrolled and left for a day so that the linoleum rests and levels out. Such actions will help to avoid deformation of the coating during or after installation.

After purchasing the material and keeping it indoors, you can begin directly laying it on the floor. To begin with, the roll is unrolled for alignment. You can speed up the process by placing a weight on top.

Laying linoleum

Laying linoleum yourself is not difficult. The process consists of the following stages:

Stage 1. Layout of sheets

Sheets of linoleum are placed so that there is a small margin for the walls under the walls. If the room is large and several sheets of covering are used, then first the sheets are joined at the seams, and then the material is leveled to overlap the walls.

Joining of rolls

When applying a picture to linoleum, you need to lay out the material so that the picture matches. First they lay out the pattern at the joints, then near the doors. The combination of the pattern is carried out by shifting the sheets relative to each other.

Before you start pruning, there is an important point to consider. If there are straight lines in the linoleum pattern, they should be positioned so that they are parallel to the walls. To do this, the sheets are rotated clockwise or counterclockwise to obtain parallelism.

Stage 2. Trimming sheets

Trimming in the corner

Before removing excess material from the walls, you need to check the joints for gaps and any overlap of material on the walls. If the result is positive, proceed with pruning.

It is better to start trimming excess material from the corner. To do this, part of the sheet near the wall is turned away, and marks are made on the back side. After cutting, there should be a gap of no more than 3-5 mm between the wall and linoleum. Marks are made at a short distance from each other. Then use a ruler to connect the marks and cut off the excess part.

Hot welding of joints

If you lack skills, you should mark with a small margin. It is better to re-cut than to have a large gap between the covering and the wall. Repeat these steps around the entire perimeter of the room to adjust the linoleum.

Next you need to connect the different coverings in the doorway. If there were joints of linoleum sheets in the room, they can be joined by welding. This process is carried out a few days after fitting to give the material time to level out to its final state.

When to use mastic and glue

Applying glue

When laying linoleum yourself in non-residential rooms, even small ones, it is better to glue it. In living rooms, glue or mastic is used only on large areas (more than 25 m2), having previously prepared the base of the floor. Before applying the glue, the linoleum is rolled from both sides towards the middle into a roll.

The choice of mastic and glue on the market is presented in a wide variety. All that remains is to choose the right glue for a certain type.

Installation with glue

The container indicates how thick the adhesive layer should be on the floor surface. It is usually applied using a notched spatula. The higher the height of the teeth, the greater the thickness of the glue that can be applied. Correctly apply from the middle to the walls.

After applying the adhesive mass, the roll is gradually rolled out. In this case, a roller is passed over the surface of the linoleum to remove air between the floor and the coating. Such actions improve the quality of the connection with the base of the floor due to the uniform distribution of the adhesive.

If when laying linoleum you cannot do without seams, then they can be connected by cold or hot welding.

Cold welding adhesive

Cold welding does not require special training or tools, so it can be used at home. To connect the seams you only need glue. For a new, just laid coating, use glue A, and to eliminate defects on the old coating, choose a thicker glue C.

To ensure a strong and durable connection, hot welding of joints is used. This requires the availability of appropriate equipment: a welding torch, a compressor and rods for filling joints. The molten rod from the burner flame is placed in the joint between two sheets of coating. This method is applied 24 hours after laying the coating.

How to lay linoleum with glue or tape

Pasting method

The use of glue or tape is justified for room areas larger than 20 m2.

When laying on double-sided tape, strips are laid throughout the room in the longitudinal and transverse directions at a distance of 20-30 cm. In this case, the top protective film is not removed.

After applying the stripes, the linoleum needs to be laid. By bending one tap of the cover, the protective film is removed from the adhesive tape. The coating is laid with gradual smoothing of the resulting deformations towards the wall. The same actions are carried out with the other half of the coating.

Glue it on tape

When we lay linoleum with our own hands using glue, we first apply a primer to the floor and the back side of the covering. The process of laying flooring using adhesive goes like this:

Unfold the cover and fold back half;
Using a spatula, apply glue to the floor;
Unbend the linoleum and iron it thoroughly, removing air;
Carry out similar actions with the other half;
Trim off excess material.

Installation of skirting boards

The final stage is to secure the skirting boards around the perimeter and the thresholds at the door openings.

How to lay on chipboard or plywood

Linoleum is laid only on a flat surface, which is often leveled using sheets of chipboard, fiberboard or plywood. The base of such materials additionally has the properties of a heat insulator.