Alan J. Krist Web Site, ynow.net.

Sheet Vinyl, Sheet Polyurethane, and Vinyl Tile Flooring.

Some people are confused about the term Linoleum flooring. The product Linoleum was made by solidifying, (by oxidation), linseed oil, mixing that with gums, pigments, and cork or wood dust, then layering it on top of canvas or burlap backing. Old Linoleum flooring is now rare and valuable to some people. If you inherit a house with true linoleum floors, you may be tempted to save the sheets for re-sale in an antique store or collectors shop. Be aware that the adhesive used under the linoleum almost certainly contains ASBESTOS. Use only legally approved safety procedures to remove the flooring. Even then, who would risk buying the tainted flooring from you? (Safety is a reason why these floors are covered over in the first place.)

People will still use the term Linoleum when they talk about any Sheet Flooring. Of course it is Sheet Vinyl and Sheet Polyurethane that is popular today. Other sheet floorings available include rubberized products like the track surface that I run on in both indoor and outdoor track and field events. The specialty products are also available in tile form. These other products are useful to know about if you are specifying public buildings, or special use areas. (Swimming pool decks, entrance ways that are plagued with water being tracked in, elevator floors, and the like.) Please work closely with your salesperson as the particulars of dimensions, maintenance, and installation procedures are different. Samples can be ordered.

Sheet Vinyl and Polyurethane Flooring.

One can install Sheet Flooring over any sound, level base. It is a comfortable floor to walk on. There is an enormous variety of colors, styles, looks such as emulated wood or marble, patterns, and sizes of patterns to coordinate with the interior design of any room. Prices in my area range from about $1 to $6 a square foot for just the sheet flooring product. (A rule of thumb; The better grades of sheet flooring will cost more, because there is more material and they will last longer.)

A sheet flooring product can be manufactured to install in one of three ways: Full-Spread glue down, Perimeter glue down, or Loose-lay. Both Perimeter and Loose-lay floors might be suitable for stapling along the perimeter, like under the cove base. Please ask your salesperson is stapling is OK.

The vinyl in sheet vinyl is flexible, a little soft, and capable of accepting dyes for patterns. The vinyl can just as well be stained if not protected, sealed top and bottom. Different ways have been developed in the manufacture and installation of sheet vinyl to seal the flooring from accidental stains. Some techniques have gone the way of the Pony Express. Most are variations on fundamental methods. There are two major construction types for sheet vinyl products. One style of sheet vinyl starts with putting a relatively thin pattern layer on top of the vinyl, then coating over the whole floor, normally with urethane. The second style of vinyl flooring fuses many bits of different grade vinyl, and sometimes other materials, into a sheet. This sheet is not easily stained, even if gouged into the middle of the fused material.

The term Inlaid refers to bits of material literally laid into the vinyl as part of the pattern. If the materials are stronger and more durable than the soft vinyl surrounding them, than the flooring is supposed to last longer under traffic. (Like using pebbles in concrete sidewalks) Sometimes the extra materials are purely decorative. Wear-through warranties on coated flooring is on the wearlayers, not the vinyl under the wearlayers, even with inlaid material.

Sheet Polyurethane is normally just two layers, the polyurethane and the backing. The polyurethane layer serves as the wearlayer, and holds the pattern of the floor. The pattern in this type of flooring is not going to be as crystal clear compared to some photographically processed, and thin, pattern layers of urethane coated sheet vinyl floors. Cleaning instructions will be the same as urethane coated sheet flooring.

The Backings on sheet flooring have deferent properties based on the particular needs of a floor.

• A Full spread glue down floor needs a firmly laminated felt backing to provide a porous surface for the adhesive. The adhesive can act as a vapor and water barrier. Note: Some fumes can stain vinyl flooring from below.
• Perimeter and Loose-lay floors may need a backing to provide structural stability. The backing should also block water and vapors from migrating into the vinyl.
• All backing material must be compatible to the seaming adhesive specifically meant for the flooring. The seaming is between two pieces of the flooring wearlayers and maybe the vinyl. The idea is to seal the seams from water and dirt. The backing does not necessarily need to be seamed.
• All backings should inhibit the growth of micro-organisms like mold and mildew.

About Pattern Matches.

• There is no way to know at just what point in a pattern the sheet vinyl flooring will start.
• Floors are rarely true to square or have perfectly strait lines. The extra length will allow you to properly align and flush the flooring to the walls. Three inch increments are customary in sheet vinyl flooring, (from experience laying floors, and typical pattern sizes that visually divide well into 6 and 12 foot goods).

If your new total length rests on a three inch increment, consider adding up once anyway to accommodate irregularities in the walls.

• DROP MATCH. The pattern runs DIAGONALLY across the flooring strips. You will see that every other strip is the same across a horizontal line, like the starting wall. The Pattern Repeat is the Drop.
• RANDOM MATCH. There is no match. Just seam the flooring. Pebble look flooring is commonly a random match.
• REVERSE MATCH. This means that every other strip should be turned around 180 degrees and seamed left side to left side of the roll, OR right side to right side of the roll in order for the pattern to be correct. Think of the pattern as existing across two strips.
• STRAIGHT MATCH. The pattern runs straight across each strip of flooring. The Pattern Repeat is how far down the strip you must go to see the exact pattern again. This regular pattern look, (squares, dimonds, tiles, bricks, what have you), is the most common Sheet Vinyl flooring.

Vinyl Tile.

For your convenience, I have added a sub-page that is a .GIF image of Graph Paper with one line of text for returning to this page. All you need do is click, PRINT, then return click.

Labor Estimates

It pays to look closely at any labor estimates to see what is included. When you have a low estimate, look for things not included. A Flooring estimate will have basically four parts.

1. Labor charges for preparing the surface.
2. Labor charges for installing the flooring.
3. Cost of materials, usually this is what the store is selling you.
4. Misalanious: hand written additions or separate sheets as required.
   • May includes materials supplied by the installer not sold by your store.
   • May include cost of disposal for old and wasted materials.
   • May include extra trip fees, especially if you say you are going to have someone home to let the installer(s) inside but do not. Sometimes special installers are put up in local hotels.
   • If the job mandates special EPA removal procedures to avoid asbestos or other contamination, you may find a separate fee or EPA approved sub-contractor estimate.

The cost of materials should be itemized for your benefit. The labor charges must be itemized if you are to compare different installers and to protect yourself from sloppy work. If you pay for something that was not done, the written estimate is what you take to small claims court. Please remember that an estimate is subject to alteration if the installer encounters a situation that was not known at the time the estimate was first written. For example; the installer scrapes up two layers of vinyl flooring to discover a damaged or unsuitable subfloor.

At this point I would like to explain a typical lobar estimate. Note: Remove and Re-install is abbreviated as R/RI Install is abbreviated as Ins. Prepare is abbreviated as Prep.

Labor charges for surface preparation.

1. Strip carpet _________
2. Strip tackless strips ________
3. Strip Vinyl Tiles _________
4. Strip Sheet Vinyl _________
5. Strip Ceramic flooring _________
6. Strip Hardwood __________
7. Strip Laminate w/pad __________
8. Strip Plywood/Subfloor ___________
9. Strip Steps ________ (how many steps. This can be a separate charge as the square footage may not be included with the flooring or is a different kind of material.)
10. Renail the Subfloor _______
11. Repair the Subfloor _______
12. Wash the existing floor _______ (You can save a few bucks by washing it yourself.)
13. Prep. the Slab ________ (Concrete slabs need to be etched to except an adhesive.)
14. Prep. the Wood and/or Underlayment _________ (This may include sanding old finish.)
15. Trim existing doors _______ (This may mean removing the doors, planing the bottom, painting the bare wood, then re-installing the doors.)
16. Disposal Fee _______ (When you need the installer to haul away the old flooring instead of dumping it on your tree lawn - garbage pickup area.)
17. R/RI Toilet _______ (Important: for a class A number one job, the installer should completely remove the toilet, lay the floor without unnecessary seaming or pattern irregularities, then re-install the toilet with a new wax ring. Too many installers will lay a Vinyl floor by cutting a slit from the toilet to the wall so they do not have to remove the toilet.)
18. R/RI Bathtub/Shower Stall _______
19. R/RI Pedestal Sink/Utility Tub _________
20. R/RI Stove ________
21. R/RI Refrigerator, w/water line? _________ (Water lines for ice makers take extra care.)
22. R/RI Dish Washer __________ (They have a water line AND a drain.)
23. R/RI Cloths Washer _________
24. R/RI Cloths Dryer ________ (Gas?)
25. R/RI Hot Water Tank ________
26. R/RI Water Softener system ___________
27. R/RI Bi-Fold Doors __________
28. R/RI Cabinets _________ (Again, some jobs need to be done right, that may include placing the cabinets above the new flooring.)
29. R/RI Registers ________ (Heating and cooling registers.)
30. R/RI Threshold(s) ___________ (How many and of what kind?)
31. R/RI Shoe Molding ____________
32. R/RI Cove Stick __________ (Typically vinyl cove base glued to wall.)
33. R/RI Wood Base __________ (Wood nailed or glued?)
34. R/RI Carpet Base __________ (Carpet glued to wall.)
35. R/RI Metals _________ (Flat ____, Carpet ____, Bull ____, Scribe ____.)
36. Install New Subfloor/underlayment __________
37. Emboss Leveler __________ (This is the stuff that makes your floor level - flat. Vinyl floors will sink into depressions in the substrate as you walk on them.)
38. OTHER __________________________________________ (Oh, who knows? Move a wall. Install an in-floor heating system first. You live on the fourth floor with no elevator. Whatever.)
    
    TOTAL COAST OF PREPARATION $ ________________
    
    

    Labor charges for Installation.

39. Install Sheet Vinyl ___________
40. Install Tiles ___________ (Vinyl, Ceramic, Stone, or Carpet)
41. Install Hardwood _________ (Nailed down or glued? Normally hardwood floors are pre-finished. If unfinished, please discuss with the installer just what you want done. Do you sand, stain, and/or finished?)
42. Install Oak Transitions ___________ (Normally expressed in linear feet. May charge for staining.)
    (T-Mold ____ Reducer ____ Baby Threshold ____ Stair Nose ____)
43. Install Laminate flooring ______________
44. Install Laminate Pad ___________
45. Install Laminate Transitions ___________ (Normally expressed in linear feet)
    (T-Mold ____ Reducer ____ Baby Threshold ____ Stair Nose ____)
46. Install Steps _________
47. Install Landing _________
48. Install Carpet Gripper _________
49. Install Flat Metal _________
50. Install Bullnose __________
51. To Scribe ___________ (It is time consuming to mark the subfloor with the pattern to be installed.)
52. Install New Shoe Molding __________
53. Install New Molding __________
54. Install Metal Cove Nosing __________
55. Install Bubble Track _________
56. Install Wall Track __________
57. Install Vinyl Reducer ________
58. Install Adhesive _________
59. Install Seam Sealer _________
60. OTHER ___________________________________
    
    TOTAL COAST OF INSTALLATION $ ________________
    
    Materials supplied by installer:
    
    
    
    
61. Cost of These Supplies: $ __________________

Total Labor Charge: $ ____________________

By adding a detailed list of materials supplied by the retailer, with cost and sales tax if applicable, you have a full estimate.

Under construction.

Major Subjects.

Paint	Faux Paint	Window Treatments	Wallpaper.
Carpet	Flooring	NOW What?

The Alan J. Krist Web Site, ynow.net, is copyrighted material. This web site, (and any sub-page of this web site), may not be re-broadcast, published, copied, or disseminated in any way, in hole or in part, without my express written permission. I will allow two exceptions based on the honor system.

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