How to Prepare to Install a Sheet Vinyl Floor

Before you can install your new sheet vinyl floor, you'll have to take up the old floor, prepare the room and buy your materials. Here's what you need to do.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Measuring Tapes
• Upright Vacuum Cleaners
• Vinyl Floor Tile
• Blow Dryers
• Putty Knives
• Scrapers

1. Empty the room.

2. Remove any trim around the base of the walls and doorway thresholds.

3. Pull up old linoleum, sheet vinyl or other flooring surface. Try to take old flooring up in as complete a piece as possible to make cleanup easier.

4. Sweep or vacuum the floor thoroughly.

5. Use scrapers and putty knives to remove old glue. Make sure the exposed floor is well-cleaned; any rough spots will cause rapid wear of the new flooring. (Use a heat gun or hair dryer to soften the old adhesive for quicker cleanup.)

6. Measure the floor accurately all the way to the edge of cabinets, around corners and under thresholds.

7. Take the measurements to a hardware or floor-covering store and buy the necessary amount of sheet vinyl. Remember not only to buy the right number of square feet, but also to get the right length and width to cover the floor in a single sheet, if possible.

8. Purchase the adhesive and application trowel recommended by the manufacturer or store personnel.

Tips & Warnings

• Remember that prepping the floor is probably the most important step in ensuring a long life for your new flooring.
• Be careful not to gouge the subflooring when scraping up the old adhesive.