Vinyl floor has a bubble

[JohnD]

My elderly mother had vinyl flooring laid in her living room two years ago. it is on hardboard on old square-edged floorboards. the house is 105yrs old but on a concrete raft with the joist laid on honeycombed sleeper walls so not usually damp under there.

A bubble has developed in the flooring. I think it is the hardboard. It is about 1500 x 1000

I think it might be due to damp, or hardboard not tempered enough before laying, but it may be relevant that the sofa is pushed back on its castors two or three times a day in about that place, as she uses a wheelchair so the furniture is moved about when she goes in and out of the room. I know a tap was left running in the bathroom a few months ago and water ran onto the terrazzo hall next to this room and presumably got under the floor.

Might this be relevant?

the flooring was professionally laid and appears to have been stuck down to the skirting with silicon sealant.

I think the laying was done in a day but I did not see it done. The room is about 4 metres x 7 metres.

What suggestions?

 

[gcol]

Hardboard is banned in my house! It's basically cardboard and swells as such. I have a tiler mate that swears by using it over floorboards when tiling - he won't have it that it's not the thing to do. By the time the grout cracks the home owners don't seem to want to get in touch with him. I've been to houses where he's done it and they've told me. I'd NEVER use hardboard at all for flooring purposes.

 

[masona]

I'd NEVER use hardboard at all for flooring purposes.

They are okay for under carpet and also they are good fire resistance

 

[Akshay]

Whats the best material to use under tiles then if hardboard is out of the question?

 

[gcol]

I'd NEVER use hardboard at all for flooring purposes.

They are okay for under carpet and also they are good fire resistance

I don't have any carpet in my house.

 

[JohnD]

Oi, what about my bubble

 

[masona]

Oi, what about my bubble

Oh yes, right well erm, I don't think there's a cure for this, gonna have to come up I'm afraid to investigate. It maybe difference temperature rate and depends how it was fixed. Normally a pint of water per 8' x 4' per sheet to allow for expansion. I don't think it's damp as it's on concrete rafts but as you says water may have enter somewhere as concrete do soak it in. Best to use (WPB) exterior ply with waterproof adhesive bonded onto the concrete.

 

[JohnD]

not direct on the concrete... old square-edged floorboards. A concrete raft with the joist laid on honeycombed sleeper walls.

Same recommendation?

 

[gcol]

Anything but cardboard! I mean hardboard....

 

[masona]

not direct on the concrete... old square-edged floorboards. A concrete raft with the joist laid on honeycombed sleeper walls.re

Same recommendation?

There's many way of cheating to get rid of the bubble but that not what I called a proper job, one of them is to cut with a stanley knife new blade in an angle & slight curve on the centre of the bubble and lift it gently then floor tack/nail the hardboard onto the floorboards then glue the vinyl with weight on top. I believe you can buy vinyl floor glue repair kits to do this. It's not always a success but you have nothing to lose to start with. Or if you're very clever a small cut and lift the vinly and drive a nail into it and make sure the nail head is not sticking out. You may also get away with panel pins such as thin veneer pins and carefully punch it though and sometimes the vinyl covered itself!

 

[JohnD]

I think I will try to get the original firm to lift it and replace the bubbled hardboard with thin ply. Hopefully only one board is affected. It is a bit big for me to want to DIY..

 

[masona]

Make sure it's WPB or exterior plywood for trouble free.