How to lay carpet on linoleum

Do you want to refresh the interior of an apartment or a separate room? But I don’t want to, and there are no plans for a full renovation. What to do? There is still a way out of this dilemma - carpet.

By laying carpet on the floor, you can transform the room beyond recognition. This is achieved by the fact that the floor is the basis of any interior, which further forms the entire space. In addition, the texture of the carpet will give the room greater warmth and a feeling of coziness.

Advantages and disadvantages of laying this coating on linoleum

As soon as you want to lay carpet on the floor, a lot of questions immediately arise. And the most basic one is this: is it possible to lay carpet directly on the existing linoleum in the room? The unequivocal answer is yes. This will reduce the cost of money and time, because with this method of spreading there will be no need to additionally prepare the floor.

But the disadvantages of such installation include the likelihood of bubbles and unevenness appearing under the linoleum, which can cause swelling of the carpet.

IMPORTANT: If laying the floor is carried out along with other finishing works, then you should first finish them, and only then begin laying the covering on the floor. This will prevent contamination of the fleecy part of the carpet.

Is it possible to do this?

As has already been clarified, it is possible to lay carpet over an existing linoleum covering. But it is important to take into account some subtleties that will allow you to avoid unpleasant moments during further use of the floor:

• It is necessary to evaluate the quality of linoleum. It should not have cracks, holes or cuts on its surface.
• Linoleum must form a continuous, smooth, horizontal surface; the formation of extensive bubbles or stretched areas of linoleum is unacceptable.

IMPORTANT: Linoleum must be well fixed to the floor, for example, glued. This will prevent shifts and deformations of the top layer of carpet.

If all of the above points are taken into account and there are no obvious defects on the surface of the linoleum, then it will become an excellent substrate for a carpeted floor.

Instructions on how to lay carpet on linoleum

Before you begin laying carpet on your own, you should prepare the following materials and tools for work:

• Flexible tape measure.
• A long metal ruler.
• Scissors, knife with different blades.
• Double-sided construction tape.
• Hammer.
• A special tool for getting material behind the gripper.
• Stretcher.
• Glue for the base.
• Tapes for gluing.
• Special roller.

NOTE: For a long service life, it is imperative to carry out preparatory work, which consists of high-quality cleaning of the surface from dust, dirt, grease and other stains.

This is necessary because the carpet must be securely fastened. As a rule, this is done with glue. And glue needs a surface that has a high level of adhesion. Therefore, cleaning must be carried out in the most thorough manner.

Next, it is important to carefully measure the room. It is better to make a sketch of the room based on the floor area. Draw the configuration and indicate its length for each section. Measure the length with a flexible meter along the bottom of the wall, exactly where it meets the floor. Drawing up a reliable sketch will help take into account such elements and subtleties as:

• Complete geometry of the room. The way the walls intersect, at right angles or not.
• Niches, ledges, beams, columns, other protruding or recessed parts of the room.
• The shape and contour of part of the walls adjacent to the threshold.
• Will the shape and dimensions of the room allow it to fit into a single carpet fabric?

It is best if you lay the carpet in one continuous piece. It is not advisable to use separate wedges, as this will lead over time to lifting of individual parts in the seam area.

ATTENTION: Add 2 cm on each side to the obtained floor geometry parameters, this will eliminate unevenness and deflections of the walls.

Before you start working with the material, it should be kept for 24 hours in the room where it will be spread. This adapts the woven parts to temperature parameters. After this, spread it over the floor surface. It is advisable to leave it for at least 1 day. This is especially important for hard types of coating.

Recommendations for installation

After all the preparatory stages have been completed, you can proceed directly to installation, which can be performed in one of the following ways:

• Stretching. For this purpose, special strips are used, between which the carpet is stretched. But this method is quite labor-intensive. Most often used only in office or other premises, with the exception of living rooms.
• Fixation using a special adhesive.This method is justified only in rooms with a large area, from 20 m² and higher.

IMPORTANT: Do not use on linoleum, the adhesive is not intended for materials made of PVC. It is unknown how the synthetic surface of linoleum will behave under the influence of glue.

• Double-sided tape is the best option for DIY installation in residential areas.

After all the preliminary work, the canvas is rolled out and cut out using a special knife to the size of the room.

ATTENTION: do not forget about small margins around the edges. Next, the canvas is rolled back into a roll and double-sided tape is glued to its bottom.

Then, unrolling, the tape peels off from the adhesive tape and the surface of the carpet is pressed tightly against the surface of the linoleum. Simultaneously with rolling, all swelling and unevenness are eliminated.

At the final stage, the baseboards are installed.