No-Glue Vinyl Sheet Pre-cuts
Installation \ Resilient Installation Systems\No-Glue Vinyl Sheet Pre-cuts
Easy Installation With Vinyl Flooring Tape

Step 1 - Preinstallation Care & Materials Estimating
Step 2 - Inspect and Prepare Subfloor - Subfloor must be clean, dry, and smooth.
A subfloor is the surface over which your new Armstrong sheet flooring is installed.

Step 3 - Room Preparation and Procedure
These Pre-cut rugs are designed for modified loose lay installation using Vinyl Flooring Tape. The tape must be used at doorways and other selected areas with heavy movable appliances. Do not use the tape around the entire perimeter of the room.

Do not install cabinets over the Pre-cut rugs flooring.

Unlike felt-backed or "flex"-floors, the pre-cut rugs are a unique structure allowing the product to be installed by the simplified modified loose lay with tape method. It will span minor subfloor movements and tends to hide seasonal changes that can sometimes occur and become visible at underlayment joints. Depending on the wood subfloor/underlayment construction and the degree of moisture condition changes in the home environment, these rugs can, under severe moisture changes, show a slightly raised area or buckle near a perimeter pinch point. Typically, if this happens, it will occur during prolonged periods of cold weather when indoor conditions become very dry and the wood subfloor/underlayment components dry out and shrink.

Should this happen and a buckle occurs, the flooring should be gently lifted or pulled back from the pinch point and retrimmed. If the flooring shows fullness at a doorway or other area where tape has been applied, gently lift from the tape and push out the fullness and rebond. Use a fresh section of tape if necessary.

Remove all baseboard or quarter-round moldings, wall base, appliances and furniture from room. Cut the rug approximately 3/16" to 1/4" away from all vertical surfaces such as walls, cabinets, pipes, etc., to allow expansion or buffer zone against seasonal movements that can occur in certain floor/subfloor constructions due to changes in temperature and humidity.

When finishing job, the gap will be covered by moldings and/or coved wall base. (BONUS: This also makes your installation much easier since the flooring does not need to be fit precisely against the perimeter surface.) The decorative trim and jamb moldings at doorways should be under-cut to allow flooring to slip underneath since you can't hide the expansion zone with wall base in these areas.

After preparation work, be sure to sweep and vacuum entire work area to remove all dust and debris. Check the subfloor one last time for smoothness, cleanliness, loose boards or squeaks. Correct as necessary. Installation on stairs in not recommended.

Installations in bathrooms are acceptable; however, the Vinyl Flooring Tape should be used where the flooring butts up against tubs, shower stalls or toilets. To prevent water seepage and damage to the subfloor, silicone caulk must be used to seal the edges of the flooring at these fixtures. Leave a smaller gap of approximately 1/16" to 1/8" between the pre-cut rug and these bathroom fixtures. Fill the gap with a neat bead of caulk at the floor/fixture juncture using a high quality, nonshrinking, pigmented caulk of appropriate color.

Step 4 - Make a Pattern
Your pre-cut rug should be unrolled and allowed to lay flat in a separate room or area with similar conditions as the installation area. Do not lay it out over carpet or other soft surface. The subfloor should be solid to prevent distorting the flooring while working or walking on top of it.

For Best Results...
The Armstrong Guaranteed Installation Kit recommends using kraft paper to make a pattern of the installation area. Pattern is then used to cut new flooring for correct fit before installation.*

Unroll and fit the kraft paper to exact shape of your room. In order to make sure paper does not slip or slide as you are making pattern, cut small V-shaped notches approximately every three feet. Use masking tape to anchor paper to substrate.

TIP: Use a "broad knife" or wide putty knife to press the paper into the wall/floor interface and then use it as a guide to cut with the utility knife.

Be sure to slightly overlap and firmly tape successive pieces of kraft paper together so pattern remains intact when placed on top of the pre-cut rug for cutting. Reference marks across adjoining pieces of paper can also be used to insure correct positioning when your pattern is transferred over to new flooring.

Keep kraft paper smooth and flat as you progress. Small pieces of paper can be taped to larger ones to fill in small areas such as desk kneeholes and refrigerator cutouts. Accurately follow contours of your room as you fit and cut paper pattern to include walls, cabinets, pipes, vents, etc. Where doorway moldings have been undercut, slide paper under molding.

When your pattern has been completed, remove tape from V-notches, and roll or loosely fold up pattern paper. Take it to the room where the Pre-cut rug has been conditioned and is laying flat. Transfer pattern.

* CAUTION: The GIK instructions and tools were intended for flooring installations requiring net fitting and adhesives - rather than the pre-cut rug's tape installation method. For the pre-cut rug installations, GIK guidelines can be followed through pattern transfer and flooring cut. THEN an additional 3/16" to 1/4" must be trimmed off of the perimeter edges (expansion zone) that will be covered by wall base or molding. (See Room Preparation above.) Return to these pre-cut rug instructions for bonding with the double-face tape, seaming, etc.

Step 5 - Transfer Pattern to the Pre-cut Rug
Unroll paper pattern on top of new flooring. If your flooring has a definite pattern, shift paper so your layout line representing the most noticeable straight wall in your room runs parallel with the floor pattern. Make sure the pattern is laying flat with no wrinkles and that all pieces of the pattern are still securely fastened to each other in their proper position. Anchor the pattern to the rug by applying masking tape over V-notch cutouts so it doesn't shift when you are cutting the flooring.

Transfer the shape of your room to new flooring by tracing along the edge of the paper pattern using a pencil or ball-point pen. Keep in mind that after the rug is placed into its final location, you'll be trimming a little more off around the edges (wherever it meets a vertical surface), to create your expansion zone of 3/16" to 1/4". Final pattern will work if cut within 1/8", plus or minus, to actual room dimension.

EXCEPTION: Doorway trim and other areas that have been undercut (because an expansion zone at these locations cannot be covered with wall base) will need to have enough material to slide under the cutout. Be sure to allow excess material for these areas.

Cut the rug along the layout line drawn on new flooring. Household scissors or a utility knife may be used for cutting.

CAUTION: Be careful not to damage surface below the rug. Use an underlayment board or similar material underneath the rug as a cutting pad when using utility knife.

Remove paper pattern and with a soft cloth, gently rub off any remaining pen or pencil lines from edge of flooring. Let the rug lie flat until you are ready to take it to installation area.

TIPS:
  1. When tracing pattern to floor, you may find it helpful to lay a straightedge along the edge of the pattern to help guide the pen on straight sections of flooring.
  2. For cutout areas, such as pipes, make a straight cut to edge of the rug so flooring can slip around object. Often you can help disguise this cut by following a grout line or the edge of some other design element in the pattern.

Step 6 - Apply Installation Tape
Before moving your flooring to installation area, it's best to apply Vinyl Flooring Tape at doorways and other select areas. (See Precaution below.) Make final check to be sure your prepared subfloor is clean, dry and dust-free. Do not overlap installation tape. Leave release liner in place on top side of tape. Press tape firmly to the substrate by rubbing with a dry cloth and hand pressure.

PRECAUTION: Tape should also be placed in the form of large "X's" (being careful to not overlap tape) underneath heavy moveable appliances. Tape will be needed under any relief cuts in the rug that were made to slip around pipes, etc. These locations can be taped after the floor is in place. In any area where the material has been cut to fit around pipes etc make sure to apply the Vinyl Flooring Tape to the area where the material comes together.

Step 7 - Lay Floor in Place
Reroll new flooring with design side out. As you roll your flooring, brush any dirt or dust off backing. Carry flooring to installation room. Get help to avoid material damage. Do not distort or crease the flooring when carrying to the installation area.

Unroll flooring and carefully position it in room. Balance flooring along all walls so it is laying flat without excessive fullness buckles. Use a push broom to smooth out vinyl and remove any trapped air from under floor. If there are certain areas that need a little material trimmed off edges so flooring lays flat, do it now.

Step 8 - Final Trim
Floor is now in place. Next, an expansion zone around the perimeter of 3/16" to 1/4" must be made. This gap will be covered by moldings or wall base in the finishing steps.

TRIM OPTIONS:
  1. Take an object, such as a piece of wood, approximately 3/16" thick and hold it against base of wall surface. Place marks on flooring indicating where to cut. Or, simply measure where to cut. Both methods involve pulling the material back away from the wall to make the cut.
  2. Another method which works along most wall surfaces is taking a short strip of wood, approximately 2" high x 18" long x 3/16" thick, and holding it as a guide along base of the vertical surface, trim with utility knife. Keep knife blade up against trim guide as you cut. Keep fingers out of blade path. Move trim guide along wall as needed.

Complete cutting expansion zone around entire floor - except doorways where floor should slip under undercut trim molding. Flooring should be laying flat and "balanced" in room.

Step 9 - Bond with Tape
NOTE: Armstrong recommends Vinyl Flooring Tape to install the Pre-cut Rugs. Carpet tapes may "read" through and impact the final installed appearance of your floor. Carpet tapes may also cause vinyl discoloration.

Gently fold back the edge of the flooring at doorways, relief cuts and appliance locations and remove release liner from the tape. Carefully reposition the Pre-cut Rug. It must be laying flat when put down on top of the tape. You can gently lift and reposition again if necessary. Continue removing release liner from tape and bonding at selected areas until complete.

Final bonding step: Use clean, dry cloth and hand pressure to firmly seat flooring into double-face tape. Seal any seams with the S-564 (016824) Seam Coating Kit to protect against dirt and moisture.

Step 10 - Finish the Job
Replace or install baseboard moldings or coved wall base to cover expansion zone (gap) around perimeter of room. Fasten molding to vertical surface; do not nail through new floor. Leave a slight clearance between molding and flooring so any effects of seasonal movements in your home due to temperature or humidity changes will be minimized. Should a small bubble or buckle occur, the flooring should be gently lifted or pulled back from the pinch point and retrimmed. If the flooring shows fullness at a doorway or other area where tape has been applied, gently lift from the tape and push out the fullness and rebond. Use a fresh section of tape if necessary.

At doorways where new flooring meets another floor surface, use a trim molding that covers the edge of the Pre-cut rug.

CAUTION: Most damage to new floors is done when moving kitchen appliances. Caution should be observed so any heavy objects, particularly kitchen appliances, do not catch and tear material. When moving heavy objects into place, use hardboard or underlayment panels to protect floor. Use strips of hardboard under feet of appliances as they are moved into final position. Tilt appliance slightly to remove strips. To further protect against heavy, sharp-edged furniture and appliance legs, the use of floor protectors is recommended. Your Armstrong retailer can help select the right protectors.

Maintenance Instructions: