Vinyl Floor: How to Fix Peeling Areas

LESLIE: Calling in from Waterbury, Connecticut we’ve got Michelle who’s got an unsticky floor situation. What’s happening?

MICHELLE: We had vinyl flooring put down a few years ago and it’s peeling at the seams. And even though we’ve lifted it up and put down new adhesive and resealed it, it still keeps peeling.

LESLIE: Are these the tiles or are they full sheets like a full flooring?

MICHELLE: It’s full flooring and it’s vinyl. It’s not the little squares. It’s sheets.

TOM: OK.

LESLIE: OK.

TOM: Have you had any moisture issues in the floor that this is on top of?

MICHELLE: No.

TOM: You’ve just got a plain, old poor adhesive situation. What kind of glue have you been using?

MICHELLE: The regular vinyl adhesive glue that the flooring company told us to use.

TOM: I have a feeling that once that stuff starts to stick there’s probably something happening there; some reaction with the floor that no matter what you do to keep putting more of this on it it’s probably not going to work. Have you considered, Michelle, using contact cement?

MICHELLE: No, I haven’t.

TOM: Yeah, that would probably be my next step. There’s not much …

LESLIE: The only thing with when you’re using contact cement is you’re going to have to sort of peel back this area by the seam; apply the contact cement to both sides …

TOM: And let it dry.

LESLIE: … the floor and the back of the flooring; of your vinyl. Then let it set up. So you’re going to be holding it up or propping it up for a little bit of time.

TOM: There’s a reason it’s called contact cement, OK?

MICHELLE: (chuckling) OK.

LESLIE: It’s gonna stick.

TOM: You get one shot. There is a solvent that can break the seam loose if you really mess up, but once you get it on both sides of this you press it down where you want it; make sure you – and what you could also do is get a – well, you’re probably not going to have access to this. I was going to say a floor roller. But you could even take a rolling pin and roll over the area. Put a towel down and roll over the area so you get really good pressure along the whole area. And that will hold it. And by the way, don’t buy the water-based contact cement. Buy the solvent-based contact cement.

LESLIE: And open all the windows.

TOM: Yep. And buy a throwaway brush. Not the [foam kind} (ph). Just a cheap bristle brush so you don’t have to save it.

MICHELLE: Great. Thank you very much.