Cushioned Vinyl bubbles appearing (pro fitted 6 months ago)

[darchy]

Hi, we had cushioned vinyl flooring fitted to our kitchen about 6 months ago. The fitter installed it on top of old vinyl tiles & didn't use any kind of adhesive at the time. The flooring has since started to bubble up in places over towards the floor units, it also appears to have stretched? We called the fitter back in about 2 months ago, he pulled up the vinyl & glued just the affected area (about 1/3 of our kitchen) this appeared to do the job but only days later the bubbles started appearing again in the places they were before (when he pulled the floor back, the bubbles seemed to be still in the vinyl so it may have been permenantly damaged).

My question now is, should he have fitted the vinyl on top of vinyl tiles? Should he have glued the floor down in the first place?.

I need to ask these questions because he is asking us to get the floor checked for damp before he comes back again, we have contacted the council from who we bought the property, they say that our house was refurbished 9 years ago, including damp proofing and should not have a problem (there are no signs of damp anywhere).

I shall post some photo's of the problem tonight

Many thanks for your time

Shaun

Gloucester

 

[WoodYouLike]

Get your fitter back to redo the job.
Him asking you to check for moist is ridicules, a proper fitter checks this before he/she even starts the work.

If he refuses to do anything to correct his work, try to get a 'second' opinion on the work done. You might start to put things in writing to your 'old' fitter at once.

 

[darchy]

well, the fitter just got back to us. Apparently rep from vinyl manufacturer has said that if we want to pursue it then they would take floor up, return it to factory where it would be tested signs of moisture, if any is found then we lose out? doesn't sound right to me that I could lose my flooring for daring to complain??

Shaun

 

[tim00]

darchy, they or he most likely is trying to scare you. They wont and they can't. If there is a moisture problem then the professional should have noticed it and given you due warning.
As a matter of interest ,you may puncture the swellings and "inject" a little adhesive then lightly heat the area and roll it down flat.

 

[darchy]

hi again, thanks very much for the reply, you have said what I was thinking, I'm glad it's not just me. I have put up a picture for you to see I deliberatly angled the camera to show reflections on the bumps. When they lifted it back up there were no marks under the vinyl, its as if it has stretched, butted up against the cabinet legs and dishwasher and warped out of shape (it has also done it by the cooker where no water is present). The floor wasnt glued anywhere when it was fitted, does anyone know if it should have been?

 

[breezer]

question you have to ask is why did it buckle there?

the remainder looks ok.

when i put lino down in the past, never glued it at all, gravity keeps it there, very odd (the buckles not gravity)

 

[darchy]

Hi, the only reason that i can see that it would buckle there and by the cooker is that these places do not allow any movement, further down from the dishwasher, where the cabinet legs meet the floor, the vinyl was cut around the feet, when they came to glue the floor the vinyl appeared to have grown and was 'riding' up the feet?? The rest of the vinyl is free to move.

Cheers again

Shaun

 

[tim00]

Some sheet vinyls dont require glueing down.
Some only req. perimeter adhesive or stapleing.
I'm not clear as to exactly what you have got?
All sheet material will move, so if some areas are to be trapped under appliances etc. then full stick down is req.
If you take personal remedial action then you must release the trapped areas, make relief cuts at all touching points and glue the whole thing down.
Only pull back half the sheet at a time, glue down, roll down if possible, and then repeat on the other half of the floor.