How To Repair Sheet Vinyl Flooring

While sheet vinyl flooring is a resilient flooring type, meaning that it will last you for many years being quite sturdy and durable, it can at times happen that a piece of vinyl needs to be patched or repaired. While vinyl tiles are very easy to repair by simply replacing the damaged piece, with sheet vinyl you need to do a bit more work.

The first thing you need to do is make sure that you have an extra piece of the same sheet vinyl material available. You don't want to use something else unless you're prepared to do a multicolored flooring quilt. The leftover piece should be big enough to cover the piece that you are trying to repair.

What you will need:

• Leftover piece of the same material enough to cover the piece to be repaired
• Utility sharp knife
• Putty knife
• Masking tape or a painter's tape
• Straightedge
• Vinyl adhesive
• Kitchen towel
• Steam iron
• Solvent that will clean the extra glue and a clean cloth for glue removal

How to repair sheet vinyl flooring:

If you have sheet vinyl as your flooring material, it will most probably have some pattern or texture on it. When you use the extra piece you have around, try to match up the piece with your rest of the flooring so the edges fall within the seams of your availalble pattern, so the actual patchwork is not very visible.

1. Once you know exactly which part of the extra piece you will be using, cut a piece from it using a knife and the straightedge. Put something protective like a cardboard between your cutting work and the actual floor so you don't damage it with the knife.
2. Place the cut extra piece over the area that needs to be fixed and try to see how best you can match up the vinyl pattern.
3. Use the tape to secure the piece over the floor. The entire damaged area should be easily covered up with this piece.
4. Cut with your knife and the straightedge through both vinyl pieces (the original damaged piece and the replacement leftover piece) around the area that will be replaced
5. Once it's cut, set the new piece aside.

From this point on whether you are adding your new patched piece of vinyl or you are replacing a vinyl tile, the steps are identical.

1. Remove the damaged piece from your subfloor. First soften the piece (or tile) by placing a kitchen towel over the piece and using the iron (on a medium setting) to warm it up. Basically this will warm and soften the underlying adhesive so it's easier to remove.
2. Use a putty knife to actually lift the piece at one corner. Lift it up carefully and gradually.
3. Allow the glue to cool off and become hard again and then use the putty knife to scrape the adhesive off from the subfloor. You need to have a smooth and bump free subfloor to lay the new piece on it.
4. Use a trowel to apply the glue to the subfloor.
5. Place the replacement piece on top of the glue-covered space between the rest of the vinyl floor and make sure that you use the right pattern so it matches with the rest of the flooring, as discussed earlier.
6. Press the piece slowly in place.

If you like to rely on ready made products for home repairs, then check out the Vinyl Floor Repair Kit (image on the left), as it is a good one that actually does the job quite fast, and it's extremely cheap as well. Just make sure to follow the instructions that come with the kit to do it properly.

Any glue that comes up between the tile pieces should be removed immediately with a proper solvent before it sticks to the vinyl surface. Then check that the new piece is not too low or too high against the rest of the flooring.

If it's too low, pull it up a bit and add some more glue. If it's too high, push it down hard and clean any glue that comes up through the process. Avoid walking on the repaired surface until the glue dries completely.

Check with the glue label for drying times, as each adhesive can have different times for drying depending on their component.