Cutting vinyl sheet flooring

[seanf]

Today I have been single-handedly laying down a sheet of heavy duty vinyl flooring in my garage that will become my workshop. It was enormously heavy and difficult to manoeuvre, but I finally have it laid out well enough. I now need to trim the edges to fit and also around a couple of obstructions. Ideally I would have cut this to size out on the drive and then brought it in, but weather is not going to allow that for a number of weeks and I need to get on. Has anyone got any tips on doing this please? It is about twice the thickness of a “cheap” standard sort of vinyl so it is quite hard to bend nicely between the floor and walls. I have done a test cut with a fresh Stanley blade and it does cut relatively easily

Thanks

Sean

 

[Bingy man]

If it cuts easily then try warming it with a hair dryer or a heat gun on a very low setting to make it more pliable

 

[seanf]

Thank you. I'm going to see how it is after lying out overnight and how workable it is. A bit of heat is a good idea

Sean

 

[Jameshow]

Watch a few videos on carpet / lino fitting they will show the right point to cut!

 

[seanf]

Watch a few videos

I have been watching a lot and have read up. I can’t find much detail on fitting a heavy duty vinyl though and it is much stiffer than what is shown in how to videos on YouTube. I will try heat and give it a go. If my edges end up rough I can always fit a PVC skirting (it would be below DPC) to make it look better

Sean

 

[Parsnip]

I have been watching a lot and have read up. I can’t find much detail on fitting a heavy duty vinyl though and it is much stiffer than what is shown in how to videos on YouTube. I will try heat and give it a go. If my edges end up rough I can always fit a PVC skirting (it would be below DPC) to make it look better

Sean

For a neater finish when cutting in it is best to use a hook blade, almost upright, ( the blade angled into the meeting point of the floor/wall). When cutting round obstacles fold the vinyl against the leading edge (using heat gun or hairdryer to warm and make flexible) and then cut from each corner slightly diagonally inwards (i.e. toward the middle of the leading edge) which will allow for trimming each side as you fold it round. If the object is rounded ease one side round making cuts at regular intervals down to the floor/object meeting point ( using heat) which will allow the flooring to lay flat around the curve with the excess against the object "wall" in a fanned out effect. This can be trimmed with a hook blade in the same manner as against the wall. Repeat on the other side.
BTW. If you are using safety flooring arm yourself with plenty of blades as it will eat blades at a considerable rate.
P.S. You may need to glue the flooring down if any machinery is to be moved about.

 

[seanf]

Thank you for the tips. Typically the weather is much better this afternoon, the sun came out and melted all the snow and ice, but I can't get out to get on and get this done due to other commitments. I would have been able to drag it out to the drive and cut to size there. Oh well, such is life!

Sean

 

[Noel]

A hooked blade in a multi tool might work well. Assuming of course you have access to such a tool.