How To Lay Vinyl Flooring

Items You Need

• Stanley knife (to cut the vinyl flooring to size)

• Adhesive or double-sided tape (depending on the size of your room)

• Measuring tape

• Straight edge

• Trowel for adhesive

Please note, underlay is not suitable to be used with vinyl sheet. 
 

Preparing your subfloor for vinyl flooring

You need to ensure the subfloor is level, dry, clean and free from grit, dust, grease, oil, polish & old adhesive. We would recommend that the vinyl is laid straight to the subfloor, not over existing floors. 

Concrete floors: If the surface is uneven, rough or cracked, use a levelling compound (about 3-6mm). 

Floor boarded timber floors: Make sure all loose floorboards are secured and all loose nails are hammered down. After that, cover the floorboards with plywood panels and secure them. If there is a solid base under your wooden floor, remove the wood and treat your subfloor as a concrete floor.

Quarry or ceramic tiles: Follow the same steps as with a concrete floor, you usually will need to screed over them if they are not flat, smooth and level.

Existing smooth flooring: cushioned vinyl, linoleum or cork flooring must be removed before placing a new vinyl floor.

After the subfloor preparation is done, carefully remove all dirt from the subfloor with a vacuum cleaner, broom or brush.
 

Method of laying vinyl flooring

Now comes the fun part of the process… actually installing your vinyl flooring. Before you can start, make sure to check the subfloor is level, as this can cause problems further down the line.

Once you’ve determined the subfloor is level and clean, plan your desired pattern for when it comes to laying the flooring down. It’s always better to have a clear idea of what you want in advance, as this can cause indecision and mistakes.

1. Adjusting your vinyl floor to the room

It is best to lay out your cushioned floor 48 hours before you start laying it. This should be done in a dry room between 18°C and 29°C and away from direct sunlight. Sheets of 2m wide floor covering should be rolled loosely and stored upright. Sheets of 3/4m wide should be cut to size and laid flat for acclimation.

2. Laying direction

Ideally, you want your vinyl floor to complement the interior of your room. When using multiple rolls, you don't want your seams near doorways or parts of the room with a lot of traffic. In large, well-lit rooms, your vinyl sheets should run parallel to the incoming light. In long narrow rooms, sheets can be installed along the length of the room. In square rooms, it's best to lay the rolls parallel to the entrance light.

3. Pre-cutting

24 hours before installation, it is recommended to pre-cut your vinyl roll. Measure your room (add 5cm to each dimension), roll the material face out and cut away the excess roll. If more than one piece of roll is used, make sure the pattern of your vinyl roll matches when laying it out. Top tip: make sure both rolls come from the same batch, so there are no color differences. 
 

4a. Fitting your floor (one vinyl roll)

• After cutting your floor, you line up the vinyl piece to your starting wall. Let the 5cm over-cut run up the wall, ensuring that the patterns runs parallel to the wall.

• Cut the floor in gradually. Several small trimming cuts are better than attempting one cut. Always hold your stanley knife straight to the floor for a straight cut finish.
   

• For internal corners, you make small diagonal cuts across the material's corner very gradually until the material fits neatly into the corner.
   

• For external corners, you press the vinyl down firmly into the joint between the floor and the wall. Cut down the material, following the corner and trim flat to the floor. It can be helpful to gently warm the floor with a domestic hair dryer to make it more flexible.
   

• If you have pipes or other irregular fittings, push the material into the joint between the floor and the fitting and cut down almost to the floor. A small cross-cut will then stop the material from tearing. Gently push the material down around the pipe by cutting down to the floor at all pressure points and cutting flat to the floor.
   

• If done well, your vinyl sheet lies flat around the fittings and corners. Now the final cutting along the wall lengths can be done. Press the vinyl into the joint between the wall and floor with a straight edge and cut off small strips at a time. Gradually work the material down and keep the blade of your utility knife vertically and tight against the skirting board.
   

• Avoid trimming in too tightly as this will prevent the material from lying flat (around 2-3mm). Your vinyl floor should be able to move a little bit. You do this because temperature can make your room expand or contract.
   

• Release trapped air by sweeping with a soft broom.
   

4b. Fitting your floor (multiple vinyl rolls)

The instructions to fit your vinyl floor are the same as when you use one roll. Nevertheless, you need to look out for these things and ensure you order enough material to allow for the pattern to match:

• Length cutting: When pre-cutting the vinyl sheet, you add an amount equal to one pattern of the design + 5cm as margin. You can check the size of the pattern on the product sheet of your vinyl design under the spec information on our website.
   

• Pattern matching: For the best visual result, cut in the joints for tile & wood designs. As said before: different rolls need to come from the same roll. For plank and tile designs, we recommend every sheet to be placed in the same direction. When ordering the material you need to ensure one piece has an allowance for the pattern repeat, so when joining the material the patterns match when butted up. For all-over designs, we recommend rotating the direction of each sheet 180°.
   

• Pattern matching for 2m rolls: When installing 2m rolls, check the back of the rolls and look for the arrows on one side. Place the arrows next to each other and place the sides without the arrows next to each other.
   

• Fitting the pieces: Start laying down the largest piece, followed by the next largest. Let the pieces overlap, ensuring that the pattern matches.

5. Attach vinyl to subfloor

• After fitting, turn back the flooring to expose about half of your subfloor.

• Apply your adhesive to the entire surface of the subfloor, always follow the instructions on the adhesive tubs. If you are using glue-down, this is done over the entire floor, if you are loose-laying your vinyl floor, this is done at the edges of the room.

• Allow the recommended drying time.

• Place the vinyl flooring back onto the subfloor carefully without trapping air bubbles.

• Do the same with all other parts of the floor.

• Roll the flooring with a 50kg flooring roller to push out any trapped air bubbles.

To attach multiple rolls next to each other, you follow the same instructions, but at the seam, you follow these instructions:

• Place your steel rule so that the guiding edge lies over both edges of the overlapping material.

• Cut through both sheets, keeping the knife as vertical as possible. This will require gradual cutting.

After the installation

After laying your vinyl floor, let it rest for 1 to 3 days. Keep furniture out of the room and keep traffic to a minimum. When moving heavy furniture, always protect your floor.
For the first 72 hours, avoid contact with water and heat.