any tricks to laying linolium?

[FarmboyBill]

Other than to let it get good and warm before installing?? Id be laying it on hardwood floors. I thought to get some of that black felt and run a layer one way, then run another the other. tp provide cushion, and help absorb any anolomities in the old floor. Whats your thoughts??

[Vickie44]

Just make sure any nails that have risen, bumps or little pieces of grit are removed. Eventually every little bit will show itself.

Laying linoleum is pretty easy . I use a regular razor blade , the hooked edge with a handle that they sell is harder to control ( for me )

[coolrunnin]

Starting with a clean smooth surface is paramount after that its pretty easy. I almost would suggest the 12X12 commercial tiles they are peel and stick. I used them in a couple of rentals and they are holding up well.

Can't believe you are covering over wood tho. Shame for shame

[Mickey]

My thoughts are WHAT ARE YOU THINKIN'??? Covering wood with linoleum? Tsk,tsk, tsk.

[HermitJohn]

Real linoleum? Or just vinyl?

[Yvonne's hubby]

Originally Posted by Mickey

My thoughts are WHAT ARE YOU THINKIN'??? Covering wood with linoleum? Tsk,tsk, tsk.

My thoughts prezactly!

[dlskidmore]

The floor must be absolutely smooth or the linoleum will crack later. Get all the nails set in. I've used "floor leveler". It's a powder you mix up and pour over the floor, it fills in the little bumps and smooths out your surface. I've used sheet and linoleum tile. The sheet was unfortunately cut badly by someone else before I inherited the project and had a few too many seams. The tile is way easier to install, but little mistakes can mean some cracks between tiles that water can get through. I'd use the tile in a hallway or kitchen, but not in a bathroom.

I was just a teenager when I did these, working on other people's houses, so I don't know how it held up in the long term.

[FarmboyBill]

The whole house is hardwood dated 1922. BUT The roof has leaked in places, especially in the kitchen. Leaked so bad that theres a strip of tin nearly centered in the middle of the kitchen that is nailed down, around 6in wide, and 16in or less long.. So, I intend to put linolium down there. HJ I dont know what linoliums made of nowadays. Which is better, real or vinal?
IF I get the place, im only gonna have 10G to spend on it, IF I cant get the owner bank to come down below $60Gs. They had it at $62, and theyve had it 2yrs.
I had a contractor look at it, and he came in with $10.4Gs. Material.

I want to have the lowest materrial cost, and know what I used to get it, That way, I can either go with it, IF I have to. I can modify the contractors price where I want to, Or go with his price if I get that much money to play with. Im positive I can beat his price by around a 1/4, and he didnt include any plumbing or electric in his material cost.

The living room at the front door, and at a side door next to it into another bedroom or whatever room off the living room, outside, the concrete walk cracked in the center, and right at the middle of the front door. That diverted water to the center of the walk and as the front end of the slab sunk a bit and the back end didnt, the water drained at the front under the front door and rotted/weakened the floor at those places. Ill shore up and replace what needs to be done underneith, and may have to cut out a 3ft square portion and replace that flooring. SO Ill put linolium there also. The dineing rooms floor is fine, and ill sand it and varnish/stain it and that will be it. Likely also the side portch floor, along with both bedrooms.

MORE. You say you wouldnt use tile in the bathroom. Im afraid of linolium as when it gets wet by the side of the tub, it will curl. The floors bad in there also. Ill likely take up that floor, and go back with new flooring. BUT, left as wood, its bound to get wet so I would think I need to cover it with something.

I called Lowles? and they said a bundle of asphalt shingles would cover a 1 X 3ft area. I have to shingle the whole house, so ALOTTA the money will go there, along with redecking 1/2 the house, as the W part was redecked when they put the new 4th layer of shingles on it.

Would someone tell me what they think of my idea of useing black paper going in both directions under where id lay linolium.

As to nails ect sticking up. Ive been there 7 times, and havnt seen any yet, BUT then, I havnt got down on my hands and knees and gone over the floor.

[Yvonne's hubby]

Originally Posted by FarmBoyBill

The whole house is hardwood dated 1922. BUT The roof has leaked in places, especially in the kitchen. Leaked so bad that theres a strip of tin nearly centered in the middle of the kitchen that is nailed down, around 6in wide, and 16in or less long.. So, I intend to put linolium down there.

I would pull up the tin and see for sure whats under there. If its bad it can be replaced, and would look much better than linoleum in my opinion.

Originally Posted by FarmBoyBill

MORE. You say you wouldnt use tile in the bathroom. Im afraid of linolium as when it gets wet by the side of the tub, it will curl. The floors bad in there also. Ill likely take up that floor, and go back with new flooring. BUT, left as wood, its bound to get wet so I would think I need to cover it with something.

if you seal the hardwood properly water shouldnt be a problem. A good couple coats of poly should protect it fine.

Originally Posted by FarmBoyBill

I called Lowles? and they said a bundle of asphalt shingles would cover a 1 X 3ft area. I have to shingle the whole house, so ALOTTA the money will go there, along with redecking 1/2 the house, as the W part was redecked when they put the new 4th layer of shingles on it.

I have always figures shingles at 3 bundles per hundred square ft. (ten ft X ten ft)

Originally Posted by FarmBoyBill

Would someone tell me what they think of my idea of useing black paper going in both directions under where id lay linolium.

that not a bad idea at all. It will protect both the wood underneath, and the linoleum from surface problems.

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

yes , for roll linoleum make a template , masking tape and craft paper or large sheets of card board , you figure the hole thing out then lay the linoleum down on a clean surface like the living room floor and tape you template to it then cut it to exact size , don't cut the living room floor , use a cutting board or piece of thin plywood as one and work your way around cutting it out

next tip while your making your template find the center line of the room in both directions and mark them on the wall with tape and a pencil or marker , makes marks with tape on the linoleum then lay the template this is especially important if you have a pattern like tile with lines so your template has the center line of the room and it is laid out on the sheet of linoleum so that the lines are strait in when you look in the door

third tip turn off the ac or turn it to about 80 degrees , you want it warm in the room you will be uncomfortable but it makes the linoleum very flexible and soft and easy to work with you can bend it in ways you other wise could not

you can't have to many sharp blades for your utility knife , and a linoleum knife hooked blade can be useful also


test fit , then pull back half and lay the cement then line it all up pull back the other half and cement
get a trawl with the proper height grooves to lay just the right amount of cement

if the room has a toilet fully remove the toilet from the room before starting same for pedestal sinks

if there is a seam as in your room is larger than 12 feet in some direction , start at the seam and work the second piece from the seam

heavy but clean objects may be helpful ay times sand bags buckets of tools , buckets of wheat , sand , lead ect.. may all be helpful to hold a corner or edge down

2 people make it go much better more i suppose if it is a larger room


if it is tiles or planks , find the center of the room in both directions make a line and measure off the line , walls are not a strait starting point in any room i have done yet , but they were all old houses

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

the tiles planks that interlock do ok with a splash f water or a mopping , if the fridge makes a mess and there is standing water is leaks thru and the planks bow up , 5 gallon buckets of heavy stuff strategically placed while it all dries gets it to lay flat again

with any linoleum plank flooring i lay a new 1/8 inch sub floor so i have a flat clean surface to work with , you can feel a tiny piece of debris under the tile same with nail or screw heads

[Tom in TN]

FarmBoyBill,

It sounds like you have a big project ahead of you. I've installed vinyl sheet flooring before with very good results. I think that you'll be happy with it.

A couple of things to consider:

1. Some vinyl is made to be installed with no adhesive, but most of it requires at least some adhesive around the edges and in the middle of the floor. Ask the person that you buy your vinyl from whether or not it needs to be glued down.

2. Armstrong Flooring (and I imagine a lot of the other manufacturers too) offer an installation kit that enables you to make a perfect template for each room that you then transfer onto the vinyl sheet before you cut it. It's more time consuming, but it provides a perfect fit without worrying about making cutting errors on your vinyl. After you've used the kit one time, you'll see how easy it is to use cheap paper to form subsequent templates so you don't have to buy another kit.

3. It is best to take up the shoe mold (some call it quarter round although it's not usually really quarter round) along the baseboard so that the vinyl will go close to the wall (without actually touching the wall) and then reinstalling the used shoe mold or installing new shoe mold over top of the edge of the vinyl. It provides a much nicer appearance and prevents the vinyl from curling up around the edge of the floor.

Ask questions at the place you buy the vinyl. If the sales people are worth anything, they'll give you good advice.

Good luck with your project.

Tom in TN

[frogmammy]

And number one hint for using a template...make SURE the RIGHT side is up!

Oh yeah, and see if you can get contractor discounts.

Mon

[frankva]

Go get a runner. Like what is put on stairs. Fix it right when you can.

[Old Vet]

It all depends on how long do you want it to last and look good? The best way is to put down plywood over the flour with a A side up then use flour leveler then put down the linoleum. You can cut out as many steps as you want but the flour will show it quicker.

[FarmboyBill]

Frank, What is the runner for

OV Id like it to look good for 30 LIGHTLY used years. WHAT IS FLOUR LEVELER

[uncle Will in In.]

With all the water leaks soaking different places, I would be amazed if the house doesn't have gobs of TERMITES. Rebuilding termite damage and extermination would cost way more than the house is worth. Tear into some of the bad places and see what is under there.

[frankva]

Runner would cover the strip of tin until you can fix it right.

I'd worry about the roof first.

Floor leveler is used in certain applications to give you a smooth surface to stick the vinyl. Bumps and lumps will show thru the vinyl.

Another option is to throw down some sort of short industrial strength carpet over the whole kitchen floor, until you can fix it right.

[FarmboyBill]

OV We looked a bit when the appreaiser was out. Didnt see anything, BUT That dosent mean much I guess thery could be somewhere in the house. Woulda thought after 7 visits I woulda seen termites somewhere if there were any. Didnt see any mold either, but that was looking in a limited area

Frank. You cant put any carpet down under linolium and put anything on the Linolium without it going through the linolium.
I was worried, and thats why I asked, about/if TWO layers of felt paper, runing crosswise MIGHT be too much cushion.

Id not want carpet in the kitchen. I want it in the bedroom, and in the hallway, and MAYBE in the batrhroom, IF I dont keep a bathroom heater there.

[wharton]

No logical reason to attempt to install a felt cushion under a sheet vinyl floor. It is designed to be glued to, or floated over the smoothest, flatest, hard surface you can create. The proper way to do the job is to secure any loose floor boards, remove tin patches, replace any damaged areas, then check for protruding nails by scraping the floor with a wide drywall taping knife. Now you need to install a thin underlayment. This commonly is 4' square sheets of a cement based 1/4" material designed for this purpose, or sheets of 1/4" Luan. These are installed with ring nails, or preferably, 1/4" crown air staples. The next step is determined by what product you are using. A floating, edge glued, or plank floor can be installed immediately. If you are doing a full glue down product you need to patch all the seems and nail spots with a filler, then sand it smooth. Vinyl over existing rough wood flooring will be a disaster, eventually EVERY minor defect in the wood floor will end up showing through. The felt idea is not going to work as vinyl isn't designed to be installed over anything soft, or cushioned. Good luck.
Shingles are sold, typically in three or four bundles per square. A square is simply 100 square feet. So, if it's three bundles per square, and a bundle costs $25.00, a square costs $75.00 or $.75 cents per square foot of coverage. Good luck on your project.