How should I best go about laying Vinyl Sheet flooring over an MDF Floor? Vinyl is not cushioned?

Question

My husband and I are pretty new to the whole DIY and are not to sure how to go about this. I have read that if the vinyl is not cushioned you need to use adhesive. What am I looking for and what is it called? Also the MDF we want to lay on is our 'floor'. We have an 85+ year old house with some dodgy floors, all a bit slopey in the 70's addition of the house. As it is impossible to get willing tradies where we live we put joists on top of our wonky floorboards and installed a new floor of 15mm MDF. Please tell me we can put adhesive on this. All answers greatly appreciated as we are in the throes of it as I type.

Answer 1

Yes you can put adhesive on the MDF. MDF is ideal for this type of application. However, your choice of 15 mm may not be stiff enough. If it flexes at the joints between the sheets... thats going to show up in the vinyl, possibly as tears, if youve glued it down, stretch marks, at least.

A couple of tips... any seams between the MDF sheets that have a gap over 1/16" (thats about 1.58 millimeters) need to be filled with a putty that dries hard. Also cover any sunken screw heads (after sinking any that were not flush). If you apply the putty smoothly enough, then you wont need to sand it much, afterwards, just knock down any ridge left by the knife. (use a wide putty knife) I'll note here that I really hope you used screws and not nails to put the subfloor down... if you used nails, they are going to back out on you, and be a problem later.

Also, I would suggest that you just glue around the perimeter, or just staple the vinyl down, along the perimeter (staple close to the wall and the trim will cover the staple)
For vinyl replacement, I cut the old vinyl out around the perimeter, and use that as the template to trim out the new vinyl. I cut the new a little over an inch larger(1"=about 25mm) than the old. You might want to go 2" since this is your first time.
With a new installation, you can cut to fit (sometimes fighting it around corners, hehe) or you can use a roll of kraft paper to make a template. Simply roll the paper out, and tape it together at the joints.
Whether you staple the vinyl, glue around the perimeter, or glue the entire thing... you should let it lay on the floor overnight, to flatten out. I usually find that when I cut one to fit, after letting it lay overnight, I need to cut another 1/8" to 1/4" total off the perimeter. It also lets me see where there might be a bind at a corner, before it is secured.
I like to use a strip of metal tape, around the lip of a duct vent. Apply the tape so that it will still be under the vent cover, on the vinyl, and fold it down into the duct. This keeps any air from getting under the vinyl oh...you'll want to seal off the vent temporarily while installing the vinyl, hehehe.. or it will blow it up like a balloon, hehehe.

I mentioned when replacing vinyl floor coverings, I use the old as a template... I do this by laying out some plastic on a flat surface to keep the new vinyl clean underneath. Unroll the new vinyl on top of the plastic, then unroll the old vinyl on top of the new. This lets me align the old on top of the new to get the best layout for the pattern on it... I can move the old around a bit here and there, to get any 'tile square' look to come out more evenly, than if I'd just laid it in and started cutting.

If you decide to glue the whole thing down, you'll want to rent a roller to help spread it out. Oh, the adhesive is made just for vinyl sheet flooring... you can find it where you bought the vinyl, or any building supply store.. just tell them what you are looking for. The 'sheet vinyl' adhesive tends to be a bit 'thinner' than the 'square tile' adhesive. It also needs a trowel with smaller grooves. What size trowel grooves will be specified on the adhesive container.

Oh yes, be sure to clean really well, before laying the new vinyl .... any small chips or other debris, will telegraph thru the vinyl, hehehe. I usually sweep at least twice, in my sock feet, to make sure Ive got it clean. (in sock feet, it is easier to feel those little chips...small enough you can't see them on the MDF, but they would definitely show up as a hump in the vinyl)

Feel free to holler if youve any questions, be happy to help if I can.

Have Fun

Answer 2

Yeah as long as there no coating on the MDF board you can put adhesive on it.Get the kind made for vinyl flooring tho.Here's how you want to proceed.
Pick a wall to start from and square up one edge to that wall and roll out the sheet and rough cut it to the shape of the roomBy this I mean cut it to within a 1/2" or so of the final size.Make sure that that starter edge stays square to the wall as you go.Its up to you how fussy you get around doors >What I do is to take a hand saw and cut about 1/8 to 3/16" right off the bottom of the door jambs so that the flooring can slide right up under them.This is easier than trying to shape the flooring to the jamd and its molding and I think it looks neater when the job is finished.
So after you get the sheet cut roll it back up to whichever side of the room you decide to start from and spread your glue in anice even thin layer from the starting wall out about 3 or 4 feet .Now roll the sheet out over the glue making sure that the starting edge is stays square to the wall and trim the the sides to their finished dimensions.Just continue this all the way across the room .
Now you should find something to use use as a roller to go over the whole floor a few times to make sure it adheres good to the glue.It kind of like rolling out a pie crust.

Answer 3

Mdf Flooring

Answer 4

You MUST lay the slate tile over a cement board. It's easy enough to remove the vinyl floor and underlayment. Then use a 1/4 inch hardi backer cement board screwed down into the subfloor using hardibacker screws and fill the seams with a gray thinset. Once the thinset is dry, you can install the 6 x 6 slate tiles into a wet troweled 1/4 in layer of fresh thinset, troweled evenly. You'll also have to have a wet saw to cut the edge tiles. and for the genius rob, below me, he forgets the thinset is 1/4 inch thick as well. why do you think they MAKE 1/4 hardibacker? the 1/2 backer is for WALLS! besides that, if you were to but up to hardwoods evenly, you'd only be able to use 1/4 hardibacker.

Answer 5

Short are more organic and unique, now days everybody desires longer and shorter nails are method easier to have

Answer 6

short neat nails are nice and neat. I dont like long nails because dirt can get under them and it look nasty
its digusting and gross when somebodys nails are usually all chewed up to the finish.