Despite the emergence in recent years of the latest types of flooring, linoleum continues to be one of the most popular materials. By scope, it is divided into two main types:
- Domestic.
- Commercial.
The household variety is intended for use in residential premises, where the mechanical loads on the floors are relatively small. Such linoleum consists of several layers - the basis of PVC or polyester, coated with sealed polyurethane with a pattern applied to it. On top of the polyurethane is often covered with a protective film. The service life of such material does not exceed 10-15 years.
Commercial linoleum, unlike household, is designed for much larger loads. The main area of its application is public buildings: educational and administrative institutions, cinemas and shopping centers. Since in such places the load on the flooring is several times higher than in residential apartments, increased demands are placed on commercial varieties regarding their resistance to abrasion and other mechanical damage. The service life of commercial modifications of linoleum coatings exceeds 20-30 years. However, their cost is also higher than that of domestic varieties, and laying requires compliance with a number of special technological conditions.
Attention! The main feature of commercial floor coverings is their fire resistance, high resistance to chemical detergents and all kinds of pollution. Therefore, for the decoration of floors in public places, it is more expedient and economically more profitable to purchase more expensive, but highly resistant options.
How to lay commercial linoleum
There are two technologies for laying commercial linoleum:
- With a bend on the walls, when the edges of the coating go to the walls in the form of a low side.
- Under the baseboard - the edge of the coating lies without bending, at a certain distance from the wall. The gap above is covered with a decorative baseboard.
Regardless of which option you choose, a number of technological nuances are required when working. Before direct installation, both the base of the floors and the flooring must undergo special training.
Floor preparation
Linoleum is a very thin and flexible material, so it can not hide all the defects and roughnesses of the floor. And varieties with a geometric pattern, on the contrary, emphasize all defects of the base. To prevent this from happening, you will first need to carefully level the floors. Concrete substrates are most easily leveled using self-leveling floors - special liquid solutions that polymerize when interacting with air. Due to its fluid consistency, after application to the surface of the floors, they spontaneously level, forming a perfectly smooth surface.
A more budgetary option for leveling concrete floors is cleaning out protruding irregularities with a grinder. Potholes and chips are covered with cement mortar or special putty on concrete. Wooden floors should be leveled, laying sheets of plywood, chipboard, or OSB (oriented particle boards) joint to joint. After that, it is recommended to treat them with antiseptic and water-repellent compounds, in order to avoid damage by fungus.
An important part of the preparatory work is the surface treatment of the floor with primer solutions. Soil formulations are intended to increase the adhesion of materials. By adhesion is meant the interpenetration of particles of different substances, for example, paint or glue into the surface of a wall. Primer treatment at times increases the strength of the connection of the base with floor materials.
Attention! In today's market there are many options for primers, each of which is intended for certain surfaces. Therefore, for concrete floors, you should only buy a primer for concrete, and for plywood - primers for wood.
Laying commercial linoleum occurs after the primer is applied to surfaces previously cleaned from dust and dirt with a brush or roller, in 2-3 layers. Each subsequent layer is applied only after the previous one has completely dried.
Linoleum preparation
In the room where you have to work, there should be a constant positive temperature, in the region + 15 ... 20aboutC, and humidity about 40-50%. These are ideal conditions for finishing works in general, and for flooring in particular. Due to its increased stiffness, commercial linoleum is less flexible and more prone to cracking under forced deformation. Therefore, when working with it, certain care should be taken.
It is recommended to bring the purchased material before installation into the room and leave it at least for the night. This is necessary so that it takes the room temperature: after laying, the material will no longer change its volume and deform. In order for the sheets to straighten out as much as possible, the rolls should be rolled out and left in this condition.
Material laying
To fix the linoleum coating, three methods of attaching to the floors are used:
- On double-sided adhesive tape.
- Special adhesive solution.
- Floating - involves laying dry, with fixation only by wall skirting boards.
When working with large volumes glue is usually used. Adhesive tape, and the "dry" option is used in small rooms. The floating version is also often used for flooring ordinary household linoleum. The use of construction double-sided tape will further fix the coating on the floor.
Laying should begin from the corner of the room located further from the door. Initially, the roll sheet is cut along the length of the room. If you decide to use the option with a bend, add to the length and width of the sheet an overlap on the walls (usually approx. 5 cm). This option will dispense with the installation of decorative skirting around the walls. When choosing laying technology without bending, under the baseboard, you should cut the sheets so that they do not lie close to the wall, and between them there is a gap of 5 mm. This gap, also called the damper seam, will subsequently be closed by the baseboard, and will be completely invisible from the outside.
Attention! Damper joints are required to compensate for thermal expansion of the material. For example, in the summer period, with an increase in temperature, the sheets of linoleum will expand, and when laid close to the wall, they will begin to deform. If there is some clearance between the linoleum coating and the wall, such trouble can be avoided..
If linoleum is laid on the adhesive, then the base is smeared with a brush or roller, after which a pre-prepared section of linoleum is laid on it. Using a wide spatula, the glued section is carefully smoothed out, air bubbles are removed from under it. To obtain the most dense joints, individual sheets are stacked on top of each other with a small overlap, 2-3cm. Then, using a metal meter and a sharp knife, we make a through cut along the edge of the joint.
The knife must cut through both canvases, resulting in a perfectly thin joint seam. For further sealing of the seam, a special soldering iron with a fusible cord is used. When melted, the cord fills the joint, making it airtight, and almost invisible from the outside. In the absence of such a tool, the joint joints can be sealed with the same adhesive solution that was used for gluing linoleum.
Is it possible to lay commercial linoleum in an apartment
Is it possible to lay commercial linoleum in an apartment? In addition to public buildings, commercial linoleum coating is quite acceptable for use in residential premises. Due to its resistance to external influences, it is perfect for rooms with high mechanical stress, with a lot of people passing in the hallway, in the kitchen, balcony.
You can lay commercial linoleum in a private apartment using any of the methods listed above. Choosing a similar option, each homeowner proceeds from considerations of financial feasibility: is it better to use a more expensive, but also more durable commercial variety for a dwelling, or do you need a budget household linoleum coating.
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