How to remove bubbles on linoleum, a few simple ways

Linoleum is the most common budget option for flooring, which is often used in the repair of any type of premises. It is well suited to different styles and colors, has a lot of advantages over other floor coverings, but requires proper installation. Otherwise, already during operation, a situation may arise when the material is swollen, and the person does not know what to do with it.

Linoleum sighed what to do about it

The floor covering attracts many people with its low cost, texture and various color schemes. It is easy to install and to maintain. But this does not guarantee the absence of problems with him. If the flooring is not used correctly or there were irregularities during installation, linoleum can form unpleasant bubbles in the eye, which are difficult to eliminate.

A similar situation can arise under force majeure circumstances if the coating was poorly fixed initially. The main thing, when choosing linoleum as a decoration material, to study its features and learn in advance information on how to cope with similar problems.

Causes

There are several main reasons due to which bubbles can form on the surface:

• force majeure (floods, earthquakes, floods by neighbors or other similar problems lead to damage to the flooring);
• negligent attitude during installation (violation of clearly regulated laying technology often leads to similar problems);
• lack of proper preparation (if the surface of the subfloor was not sufficiently leveled and subsequently rolled material was laid on it, linoleum will repeat all the existing bumps).

In addition, the quality of the finish coating may be affected by the quality of the material itself, insufficient or excessive use of the adhesive, the wrong choice of glue for a particular type of linoleum and sharp temperature differences. All this will undoubtedly affect the evenness of the linoleum laid in the room.

Important! Before laying linoleum, you should carefully study the basic rules of installation, as well as select high-quality materials. Including glue for coating.

Remedies for swelling

If linoleum is not glued to the floor, but simply laid on the rough surface, care should be taken to heat the swollen piece. To do this, you can use a rubber heating pad, which is pre-filled with hot water. It is laid in place of the swelling and allowed to warm up the place a little before they even out the sheets of material.

Instead of a heating pad, if one is not at hand, you can use a heated iron. But you can’t use it directly, you can pave the place of swelling with paper or foil, through which the influence of the electrical appliance will be carried out.

The heating

You can use heating in the case of a glued linoleum sheet, using similar devices. However, this is a very time-consuming and lengthy process that will require enough patience.

It is necessary to pierce the resulting swelling and heat the surface of linoleum to such a state that subsequently stretch the resulting bubble, without spoiling the coating in other places. After heating, the bubble becomes pliable and quickly squeezes out from under the floor covering.

Important! For better fixation, a glue composition is introduced into the puncture and a load is placed at the place of material discharge, which is maintained for two days.

Piercing glue

For blistering a small area, you can use a puncture. To do this, you need to have a sharp awl and an adhesive composition at hand, with which the lagging linoleum will be glued. Puncture a bubble, remove air from it, and then glue is injected using a syringe. After this, it remains only to lay plywood in the place of swelling and install the load. As a heavy object, a kettlebell or sandbag will do.

Incisions

If bloating is an impressive diameter, the notch method is used. With a sharp knife in linoleum, one or two incisions are made (crosswise) and all excess air is released from under the cover. A small amount of glue is distributed along the edges of the incision and a sinker is installed on it for full gluing to the subfloor.

Other means at hand

As a heating element for small bubbles, you can use heated table salt. It is heated in a frying pan, and then placed in a dense canvas bag and put in the place of swelling. It is also recommended to set the load and wait until the surface is level.

If the number of blisters is too large and cannot be eliminated by conventional methods, completely dismantle linoleum, remove all glue and mastics, allow the material to rest and start a new one installation.

What swellings cannot be removed, why?

It will not be possible to fix some flaws, even when using such tricks, if initially the installation and preparation were carried out incorrectly:

• with insufficient equalization of the rough coating (if the surface of the rough floor is uneven, bubbles will form again and again, requiring constant repair);
• if moisture gets on the substrate (in this case, it is necessary to dry thoroughly before repairing the canvas not only laid linoleum, but also a substrate, this may require a professional tool);
• with poor-quality material (buying defective or poor quality linoleum can result in similar problems, in this case it is better to contact the supplier and exchange the goods).

Repairing linoleum swollen after installation is quite simple, but it is recommended to do this very carefully so as not to damage the surface. Nevertheless, it is better to initially comply with the installation technology so as not to experience similar problems in the future.