How to Repair a Curling Vinyl Floor Seam
Are the vinyl floors in your kitchen or bathroom starting to show their age and curling along a seam or against the wall? If they are, you should fix the floor before the curling gets any worse. The edges along the seam could break off, leaving you with a hole in your floor, dust and grime can get into the crack and create a bump in the floor or moisture could even get in under the flooring and rot the underlying wood. Fixing a curling vinyl floor seam isn't hard--here is how.
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Heat the curling flooring with a hair dryer. This will soften both the flooring and the underlying adhesive, allowing you to roll the vinyl back a little bit and clean out any dirt or grime that may have accumulated.
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Before you apply fresh flooring adhesive to the open area, protect the top edges of your peeled-back vinyl using a strip of masking tape on both edges. This will ensure you don't get any flooring adhesive on the top of your floor.
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Use your putty knife to spread flooring adhesive on the floor underneath the opening, then roll the vinyl flooring back into place, pressing down firmly and squeezing out any extra adhesive. Use a damp rag or old sponge to clean up any of the adhesive that squeezes up onto the surface.
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Hold your repair in place until it dries. First put a piece of wax paper over the reglued seam, then lay a piece of scrap lumber wood on top of the paper and finally stack books or a pail of water on top of the wood to hold the flooring firmly in place.
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Allow the glue to set up for a day (or at least overnight), then remove the weight, board and waxed paper.
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Finish the job by using a seam repair kit to fill and seal the seam. Use a straight edge to guide you when putting the sealant onto the repair (so you don't get any on the floor around the patch) and be sure to follow the directions on the package.
Check out this related video from Homesteady on Youtube.
Tips
- When heating your flooring with the hair dryer, keep it moving. If you hold the dryer too long in one place, you could overheat the vinyl and cause it to blister.
- Using a small putty knife (about 1-inch-wide) and bending it upward about an inch from the end of the blade will make it easier to get flooring adhesive under the rolled-back flooring.
Warnings
- Be sure you have adequate ventilation when working with flooring adhesive. The fumes can make you sick.
Writer Bio
I learned home repair and maintenance hands on. Over the past 30 years I've built sheds, decks, fences and gates and planted numerous trees and shrubs. Inside I've done all the common jobs like repairing and installing toilets, plumbing and light fixtures plus I've transformed three basements from bare concrete floors and walls into warm , bright family rooms. I write on home maintenance and repair for DoItYourself.com and answer maintenance and repair questions online at MyHomeImprovement.com.
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