Fixing a Sheet-Flooring Bubble
A few easy-to-find household items make easy work of removing bubbles from sheet-flooring.
I had installed a Marmoleum kitchen floor, but after several weeks, a bubble formed where the glue hadn’t held. I didn’t want to cut an access slit for additional mastic, but the bubble was a good 2 ft. from the nearest wall. It occurred to me that I might gain access by removing the heat register, then prying up the flooring all the way to the bubble.
As shown in the drawing above, I pried up the flooring next to the heating duct, then inserted a length of nonmetallic sheathed cable to plow a path the rest of the way to the bubble. Then I pulled the wires out of the cable sheathing. That left met with a long, flexible tube, which I taped to the end of a turkey baster filled with flooring mastic. I used this to force the viscous glue into the bubble and continued applying it as I pulled the sheathing back out. Then I used a 100-lb. flooring roller to smooth out the Marmoleum.
— Paul Johnson, Portland, OR
From Fine Homebuilding #218
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