Installing an easy-to-clean, one-piece floor covering
Flexible, do-it-yourself sheet flooring comes 6 feet and 12 feet wide. Try to cover a room with one piece.
Prepare the floor as you would for tiles. Unroll the flooring in a large area and let it flatten for 24 hours. Sketch your room’s dimensions. Transfer them to the flooring. Cut it 6 inches wider all around.
Roll up the piece and unroll it in place with edges lapping up the walls. Cut each corner vertically to make the vinyl lie flat; do outward-projecting corners first. Trim the edges, using a utility knife and a metal straightedge. Leave a 1/4-inch space between the wall and the flooring.
Following the manufacturer’s directions, secure the flooring at the edges, using adhesive or staples. Or fold back half at a time, spread adhesive with a notched trowel, and press it firmly back.
If you must seam two pieces. leave 18 inches of the first piece unattached. Lap the second piece’s edge over the first, match the pattern, and weight it securely. install the piece, leaving the seam edge free. Then cut the seam along a pattern line, going through both layers at once.
Fold back the edges, spread adhesive on the floor, and press them back firmly. Apply a sealing adhesive on the seam. Reattach the perimeter trim to the wall, not the floor; slip a thin cardboard spacer under shoe molding as you nail it on. Don’t attach a metal threshold through the flooring.