I have linoleum in the kitchen and there are some holes in it and it seems as though the floor is popping through it. Some are small, mabe 1/2″ and other are larger, maybe an inch in diameter. The flooring is about 10 years old, but should not e deteriorating like this.
Any suggestions as to what it is,, how to fix it (short of replacing the floor) or how to stop more from happenng?
- The bumps and holes are caused by nails most likely working up out of the flooring below.
- The flooring is simply worn out and the top surface is failing. This can happen if there is excessive moisture coming up from below but other reasons can be the cause as well.
If the nails are the cause and I think this is indeed the case where there are bumps. You can use a hardwood block and a hammer to drive them back down. Do NOT use the hammer alone you will damage the floor. Place the block of hardwood, not pine, but something very hard over the bump on the floor. Then strike the block of wood down onto the protruding bump,. This should help drive the nail back down. Although this is only a stop gap fix it should give you some additional time until you can pull the floor up and make the proper repairs using screws. If you have a real bad spot that just will not stay down, Then you need to carefully cut a small flap out on three side surrounding the offending area. Do this when possible along any pattern or seam type of area that can be hidden when you glue it back down in place. then using a sharp putty knife carefully pull this flap up and out of the way exposing this loose nail. Once you do this pull the nail out and replace it with a metal screw on both sides of the hole where the nail came out. This will pull the floor down tight, Then put the vinyl flap back down. Go to any of the home centers and purchase a vinyl seam sealant. This clear glue will weld the vinyl cut back as though its never been cut. You use very little amount of this glue. Much like super glue a little goes a very long way.