How to lay linoleum on a wooden floor: correctly laid, do it yourself

Linoleum is a multifunctional floor covering, the pattern of which can be styled for any material ranging from parquet to tile. Its main advantages are an affordable price, a wide range of models, and versatility of use.

Linoleum coating can be laid on any foundation, whether it is concrete or wood. But in each case, the installation procedure has its own characteristics and nuances, which should be strictly observed during the work.

So that you do not doubt whether you are doing the job correctly, we will tell you in detail how to lay linoleum yourself on a wooden floor.

Materials and tools for independent flooring

Before you begin to work directly, you should stock up on all the tools and materials that may be required.

Tool Selection Options

They depend on the technology of fastening linoleum paintings to the base of the floors. Today, the following fastening methods are used:

• using adhesive compounds;
• on construction double-sided tape;
• “Floating” option - without a rigid coupling with the floors.

Depending on the laying technology, you will need to purchase either a special glue suitable for gluing polymers and wood, or a double-sided adhesive tape.

To increase the adhesive properties of wood you need to treat the base of the floors with a primer. When buying a primer, you should choose a composition designed for impregnation of wooden surfaces.

Attention! When calculating the amount of soil composition, you need to remember that the base should be painted in 2-3 layers. Typically, the capacity indicates the average consumption of the primer when processing the surface in one layer.

Necessary materials and tools

The following materials will be required for work.

• A long ruler, preferably no shorter than two meters.
• Roller.
• Sharp knife.
• Putty knife.
• Soldering iron for welding joints.

Flooring preparation

If you are going to lay linoleum with your own hands, do not forget that the flooring of the material requires preliminary preparation.

Floor surface requirements

Wooden floors are characterized by a set of a number of defects that arise as a result of improper installation of floorboards or that arise during operation.

The most unpleasant of them is the following.

• Floorboard curvature, as a result of which they begin to protrude at the joints with each other.
• The appearance of gaps due to wood drying out.
• Squeak of floorboards when walking on them.

Linoleum, unlike other types of flooring, does not have the necessary rigidity to hide uneven floors. therefore after laying, all defects of the base will immediately be displayed on the linoleum surface. The situation will be even worse if linoleum is laid, which has a certain geometric pattern. For example, in the form of parquet, floorboards or tiles. therefore Before starting work, prepare the surface.

How to prepare an uneven floor for linoleum flooring

The smoother the base of the floors, the more aesthetic they will look after laying the floor.

Alignment

• Small cracks in the boards or cracks in the places of their joints can be repaired with putty on wood.
• Larger joint seams with a width of more than 0.5 cm can be filled with sealant or construction foam from a spray can. After it dries, the protruding parts should be cut flush with a sharp knife.
• Minor irregularities in the floorboards, for example, at their joints with each other, can be eliminated with a grinder or an electric planer.
• If the defects of the base are more significant, then the only way out is a continuous covering with a leveling layer. It can be sheets of plywood, laminated particleboard, OSB-plate. Leveling sheets should be laid so that there are no bumps at the joints. Otherwise, the differences are aligned with a grinder with a coarse circle or a plane.

At the same time, the sheets should not lie too tightly. Between them it is necessary to leave a gap of 2-3 mm to compensate for thermal expansion. They are attached to the floors with self-tapping screws. The distance between adjacent screws should not exceed 20 cm. The slabs themselves need to be laid apart in relation to each other, like bricks in a masonry. Thus, the likelihood of unevenness in the joints of four adjacent plates is reduced.

Antiseptic Treatment

After the wooden floors are completely leveled, it is necessary to treat them with antiseptic and water-repellent impregnations.

Attention! Linoleum is not a moisture-proof material, therefore, under it, moisture can accumulate, evaporating from wood or glue.

This, in turn, leads to wood damage by putrefactive fungi and mold. Special impregnations can increase the resistance of plywood and particleboard to moisture.

Primer

The next step is to apply a primer that enhances adhesion of adhesives to wood. For this, mixtures specially created for wood processing are used, and "Concrete" or "metal" soils are unsuitable for these purposes. The primer should be applied in several layers, usually at least 2. Each subsequent layer is applied only after the previous one has completely dried.. This allows you to increase the adhesion of the adhesive composition with the base several times.

Preparing linoleum for flooring

Like floors, linoleum in front of the cover also requires prior preparation.

Before work, rolls should be brought into the room where they will be laid and left at least for the night. This is necessary so that the floor material is "used" to the room temperature. This is especially true for the winter season. Cold sheets of linoleum, laid without preliminary heating, will subsequently expand, which will lead to their deformations at the joints.

Commercial and semi-commercial varieties differ from domestic ones in greater rigidity. Forced expansion of them, especially when cold, can cause cracks. Before laying, such rolls should be rolled out in advance so that the linoleum can straighten itself, and during operation, its sheets fit snugly against the floor.

Next, cut linoleum along the length of the room. During the installation of the joint end-to-end with the walls, a small temperature gap of 3-5 mm from the edge should be left. This seam, subsequently covered with skirting boards, will compensate for the expansion of the material when it is heated, for example, in the summer heat.

Methods for flooring linoleum

Dry way

The easiest option to lay a linoleum cloth on a wooden base is the so-called floating or dry method.

In this case no fixing devices in the form of glue, adhesive tape, self-tapping screws, etc. are used to fix the coating. The whole process in this case looks like this.

• A sheet corresponding to the size of the room is cut from the roll.
• All protruding elements in the form of risers of heating or water pipes are marked on the workpiece and cut with scissors.
• The workpiece is spread on the floor for several days and only after that, it is fixed along the walls with the help of baseboards.

Despite the ease of installation, this technology has its limitations.

Important! The floating option is recommended to be used exclusively for small rooms where you can get by with one linoleum sheet.

On scotch tape

therefore if the width of the room is more than four meters (the maximum width of standard rolls), then it is better to use glue or adhesive tape to fix the coating. The fact is that without fixing to the base, individual canvases, when walking, will be shifted relative to each other, bullying at the joints.

A popular option for fastening linoleum sheets - to tape. For this You will need to purchase a special mounting double-sided tape.

As in the first case, first we produce the necessary blanks from the roll. Then we tear off the protective layer on one side of the adhesive tape and stick it on the floor along the direction of rolling the roll. The distance between parallel strips should be approximately 0.5–0.7 m. Thus, for a roll of 2 m wide, three to four strips of adhesive tape will be sufficient.

Next, we spread the pattern along the glued stripes at the place of its future location. We roll a section of linoleum from one edge into a roll to half its length. We remove the upper protective layer from the adhesive tape and carefully roll out the sheet of the floor covering, carefully pressing it in places of contact with the tape. Then we twist the linoleum on the other hand and repeat the whole procedure again.

On glue

If it is necessary to cover linoleum with large areas, fixing the canvas to glue is used. To do this, use universal adhesives suitable for gluing wood, PVC or polyurethane.

Before starting work, the pattern is also spread out in place, checking the accuracy of the convergence of the contours. Then it is twisted into a roll either to the middle or to the end. The finished adhesive is poured into a rolling bath or into another suitable container. Using a roller or a notched trowel, we coat the space in front of the roll 1–2 m forward.

After that, we roll the roll by gluing linoleum to a wooden base. In this case, it should especially be ensured that the canvas over its entire area fits snugly against the surface of the floors. To do this, its surface is gently smoothed with a wide spatula, air bubbles and excess glue are expelled from under it. Linoleum is left for 20-30 minutes, after which the whole procedure continues in the same order.

Attention! The adjacent sheets are laid with a slight overlap on each other. This is necessary to obtain more even joining seams.

After the whole linoleum is covered, the glue is allowed to set for a while. 3Then the edges of the cloths, overlapped by 2-3 cm, are cut through through with a long metal ruler and a sharp knife. The result is a thinnest, tightly fitted joint.

The next step is to seal this joint. This can be done with glue, for example, "cold welding", gently rubbing them with a seam. Another option is to use a special soldering iron with a fusible cord. Melting, this cord tightly seals the joints, forming a flat surface.

Useful Tips 

• Before starting work, you should check the entire linoleum for the absence of "bubbles", swelling and other defects.
• If such deviations are detected, the best way out is to exchange a quality roll for a better one. Because to get a flat surface in this case still does not work.
• Start work from the corner farthest from the door. It will be more convenient to lay the canvases in that you will always have access to the front door at any stage of laying the material.
• If you want to achieve not only an aesthetic effect with linoleum flooring, but also improve sound absorption or insulate floors, you should use a special substrate. It can be made from jute, cork or polymer.