Home Improvements

[drgene]

Hello,

We have a vinyl floor in our kitchen. Along the 2 edges the vinyl is detaching from the sub floor. Before I could get to it, a family member walked through and clipped a portion of the edge with their shoe and about a 2 inch, half moon piece came off the edge. I have another area that had the same problem but years ago my father in law helped my wife repair it and God bless his soul, it didn't work. So now there are two areas of the floor that I need to repair. I have seen on Ask This Old House and read on their website how to fix the floor. On the old area I am going to take a crack at the overlay technique; taking a left over piece of the floor, laying it and lining it up then taping down and then using a utility knife with a new blade cut through both layers then use the resultant patch to replace the hole. I have bought some edge sealer or seam coating kit that I assume will hide the line. Now if it does, I have the half moon piece that fits in exactly like the other patch. Can I just use it to repair the floor and then go around the edge with the sealer, or will I have to make a bigger patch? Will the seam coating kit hide the edges of the repair?

Thanks to anyone who answers that has had experience doing this.

Ron

[Gbotha]

What type of vinyl? 2 types, 1 with paper under, 1 just vinyl. Paper back is easiest to fix, simply re-glue with vinyl adhesive, and cover join with SEAM SEALER when glue is dry. [comes in high or low gloss]. Type with no paper is "innerflex" and actually shrinks within 1 hour of instrallation, like a drumskin. This stuff gets hard with age and needs a heat gun to soften whole area, so you can re-stretch to close gap. Uses different type of glue too. Innerflex adhesive, which bonds to vinyl, and sets pretty quick. EXPENSIVE. Again hit repair with seam sealer to lock join together. If you cut out and repalce a patch, the procedure is pretty much the same. Just get glue about 3-5" under both sides of joint if its innerflex, because it will shrink again.

Regular white caulk can be colored with watercolor paints to match your repaired area, and used to fill and hide any voids/holes/gaps. Wait till dry, see if needing more, and when finished, cover entire filled area with seam sealer. The sealer will help to hold the 2 pieces together.