How correctly to lay linoleum on the concrete floor, in order to get a perfectly flat surface, and whether it can be done?
Linoleum is a universal material: it can be laid on a concrete base, and on a wooden one, it is not necessary to have special knowledge and skills, it is enough to familiarize yourself with the general technology of laying.
In general, many people choose in favor of this flooring because it is easy to lay and simply wash, it decorates the interior, is a durable material.
Contents:
- How to choose the material?
- Surface preparation
- Stilm linoleum
How to choose the material?
Linoleum is classified according to the place of placement for commercial, household and semi-commercial.
Commercial - used in commercial organizations, offices, shops with high traffic capacity of people, so it is the most durable and wear-resistant. Has the highest price.
Semi-commercial - can be used both in the home and in commercial organizations.
Household - also differs high strength, but in comparison with the first two species loses in this matter.
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In a home environment, there is no need to lay the thickest and most reliable linoleum and overpay for it.
When choosing a linoleum for a house, it will be right to pay attention to the ecological compatibility of the product, as well as its design.
When buying this flooring, you need to be guided by the size of the room - this is important when choosing any material, but it has its own peculiarities:
- Lay linoleum better with one sheet, excluding the possibility of joining the canvas. Thus, the integrity of the coating is maintained, the installation will be easier. As for the drawing, it does not have to be combined, therefore, the material consumption will decrease;
- Allowances are added to the length and width of the room( minimum allowance is 7 cm).This is necessary for leveling, since flat walls are a rarity;
- The width of the linoleum and the largest wall of the room should be equal( preferably) to avoid the joining of the cloths. If this is not possible, then the material must be taken more than necessary;if there is a picture, then the consumption will still increase due to the need to combine;
- All grooves( doorways, under the radiator, etc.) are taken into account: their dimensions must be added to the overall dimensions of the room.
How to choose linoleum, see the video.
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Surface preparation
The service life of linoleum directly depends on the quality of the substrate. Why is a flat base so important when using this flooring?
It would seem that linoleum is not as whimsical material as laminate or parquet, so the floor can and does not even out. But this is not so.
First, all the mounds, troughs, irregularities break the beauty of the coating, as linoleum is a flexible material, and secondly, in these places the linoleum will be wiped, thinned, torn.
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As for concrete, it needs to be insulated and waterproofed so that the floor remains warm, and the linoleum does not succumb to rotting.
Preparation of the substrate begins with the dismantling of the old coating. All insulation materials are also retracted. Garbage formed during the work is swept away. As a result, there should be a clean concrete floor.
The next step is to check the floor for dents, cracks, bumps and other defects.
If their percentage is large enough( more than 20%), then it will be correct to fill a new screed or use a self-leveling mixture.
With a good condition of the foundation, all cracks, including joints of the slabs, are removed. To perform these works it is better to use epoxy resin, cement mortar, and also putty.
The bulges and knobs can be cut. The floor is preferably treated with a primer.
After complete drying, the insulation layers can be laid.
If you put linoleum with a heat-insulating substrate, the floor will still remain cold, so you can use plywood as a heat insulation material.
Plywood must be laid only on an even surface so that it does not deform with time.
Plywood sheets are laid with offset joints, brickwork, leaving a gap between the seams of a few millimeters. This ensures a thermal seam.
Before laying the sheets it is necessary to make a waterproofing of the floor, as a material it is possible to use dense polyethylene, which is laid on the floor overlapping, fixed with paint tape.
Polyethylene edges can go a little to the walls. They will be cut off together with linoleum at the last stage of laying.
See the video for the preparation of the foundation.
Video:
Stilm linoleum
Let's consider in detail how to lay linoleum on concrete.
In cases where linoleum flooring is carried out on a concrete base, previously covered with insulating layers, the material itself is better to be chosen with a heat-insulating substrate.
This is done to ensure that the floor was warm, and the room was more comfortable to be.
Go straight to the flooring is not worth it. Linoleum should stand indoors for several hours, after which it is laid out on the floor and left in this form for at least a day.
During this time, the floor covering is straightened, takes the temperature and humidity level of the room.
On a concrete base linoleum can be put in three ways:
- With bitumen mastic, which has good waterproofing properties. With its help, you can also align the surface of the base, if there are small( !) Cracks and irregularities. When using bitumen mastic, the concrete must be treated with a primer, but it will be correct to apply a special primer designed for further mastic processing;
- With the use of glue;
- With double-sided adhesive tape.
Before fixing the canvas, it is cut through, but this is done only after the material has lain in the room and is straightened.
The humidity of the room in which the work is done should not be high. Crop linoleum around the edges should be so that the material slightly went to the walls, remove the remaining surplus better after fixing.
Otherwise, gaps may be formed that spoil the aesthetics of the floor.
After that, the adhesive is applied( any of the three).
In case of using glue or mastic, you need to pay attention to the instruction, which indicates the information on the exposure of the substance: when the floor is covered with glue or mastic, you should wait about 20 minutes, after which the linoleum itself is applied.
The adhesive is applied by brush or roller, mastic - with a notched trowel.
Correctly will lay linoleum parts.
For this, roll it into a roll up to half, cover the floor with an adhesive, wait for time( if necessary) and straighten the linoleum, you can smooth your hands, or you can use a heavy roller.
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In the corners, the linoleum is slightly incised so that it fits snugly against the base. The rest of the floor is laid in a similar way.
If you use an adhesive tape, first around the perimeter of the room is glued tape to the base.
Linoleum for convenience is also rolled up. Next, the protective layer of adhesive tape should be removed and gently to adhere the floor covering.
Fixing linoleum with double-sided adhesive tape is better to use in small rooms. Glue and mastic are considered to be more reliable fixatives.
After the work done, all the excess edges are cut off and skirting boards are installed. With the help of the rack-threshold you can additionally fix( strengthen) doorways.
If laying linoleum is made in several bands, then it is necessary to fix the joints. This can be done by cold welding or in a simpler way - by double-sided adhesive tape.
How to do it correctly and quickly, look at the video in our article.
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