Installation of marmoleum, its classification, characteristics and features, leading manufacturers of the material and methods of its installation. Marmoleum is a natural floor covering. Its production technology is quite old, it dates back to the 17th century. But, despite its modern improvements, the material has remained one of the most environmentally friendly to this day. This floor covering can have about a hundred colors and a thousand different shades, with their help it will be possible to realize many artistic solutions. You will learn how to lay marmoleum to create a beautiful and cozy interior in your home by reading this article.
Technical characteristics of floor marmoleum
This material is made from natural ingredients: plant resin, jute and cork. During the production process, its composition can be slightly changed by the addition of wood flour, chalk and linseed oil. All components are mixed into a homogeneous mass, which is infused for a week, and then dyes are added to it. In the future, the mass is pressed, cut into tiles, boards, canvases, which are then dried.
Approximately 80% of the products are produced in the form of rolled canvases. They have a width of 1, 5 to 6 m and a thickness of 2-4 mm, which depends on the class of coverage. The weight of one roll can be up to 120 kg, so it is undesirable to work with it yourself. In addition to being heavy, the material is also fragile. Having rolled out the roll once, it is no longer possible to roll it. And working in a small apartment with long canvases is extremely inconvenient.
Marmoleum panels are made in size 90x30 cm, and tiles - 30x30 or 50x50 cm. At the same time, the tile design can provide for installation with and without glue, using special locking joints.
The finished material has a specific weight of 2, 6-3, 4 kg / m2 and is capable of withstanding a load of 160 kg / cm2 in the absence of permanent deformation.
To make it easier for buyers to choose the type of marmoleum for each individual case, the material is divided into classes:
- 21-23 grades … This includes inexpensive materials with a decorative layer up to 2 mm, which have a general purpose.
- 31-33 grades … These are industrial floor coverings. The thickness of their decorative layer is up to 2.5 mm. The material perfectly tolerates static loads, alternating - somewhat worse.
- 41-43 grades … These include coatings specially designed for rooms with intensive traffic of large flows of people. These are usually large airports, train stations, hotels and hospitals. The top layer of such material is quite powerful, the thickness of marmoleum here is more than 3 mm. Thanks to her, coatings of these classes can withstand up to 100,000 daily short-term loads from the legs for 5 years.
Considering these data, it is possible, for example, to determine that a thick and expensive marmoleum is completely unsuitable for home use, since the legs of heavy cabinets, household equipment, various stands and others can leave "non-healing" recesses in it. Therefore, homeowners usually purchase lower grade material, cheap and thin.
Locked panels and tiles are a good choice for home use. Their strength and durability is ensured by a special HDF-plate, complemented by a layer of cork from below, which helps to reduce noise in the room. The top of the plate is covered with a jute canvas with plastic marmoleum. If necessary, such a floor covering can be restored, sanded and covered with a protective film on top. In any case, his drawing will remain intact, since it occupies the entire thickness of the outer layer.
Advantages and disadvantages of marmoleum
When choosing a marmoleum floor covering, it is useful to know that it is extremely interesting not only for its composition, but also for its capabilities, which are due to a number of significant advantages of this material. These include:
- Harmlessness … The material is created exclusively from natural ingredients, so it is non-toxic and even has some bactericidal effect.
- Low cost … Among all floor coverings on the market of finishing materials, natural linoleum is one of the cheapest products. Its average price is almost 30% lower than the cost of the most inexpensive laminate.
- Heat insulating properties … Thanks to their presence, the floor covered with marmoleum does not need insulation.
- Persistence … The floor covering is capable of withstanding significant loads, it does not get wet, does not warp or fade. Even the paint spilled on the marmoleum does not absorb into it and does not stick to the surface. The guaranteed service life of the material is 20 years, in fact, it can be used twice as long.
- Fire resistance … It is almost absolute; it is possible to burn through the coating only with the help of an autogen.
- Decorativeness … Marmoleum can be given various colors and thousands of shades, change its texture, imitating wood, stone, metal and embody even the most unusual design solutions into reality.
- Ease of installation … This mainly applies to panels and tiles. It is not at all necessary to be an experienced specialist to lay piece materials.
With rolled marmoleum, the situation is more complicated. As already mentioned, this material is heavy and fragile. In addition, for its installation, you will need the help of professional riggers and lifting equipment.
In addition to its high weight and fragility, the material has a couple more disadvantages that are worth mentioning:
- Over time, marmoleum melts and hardens. To some extent, this is its advantage: if the fragments of the material have small gaps between them, they will not have to be repaired, they will converge on their own. But on the other hand, there is a risk of buying defective material if its shelf life is exceeded. Therefore, this information should be clarified when buying a floor covering.
- The decorative possibilities of the material are sometimes limited by the fact that it is poorly cut. The resulting cut of natural marmoleum is never smooth and as even as, for example, laminated board or MDF. Therefore, cut the flooring only along the walls.
Manufacturers and prices of natural linoleum
Today, natural linoleum is produced by only 3 companies in the world: ARMSTRONG-DLW, FORBO and TARKETT-SOMMER.
Particular attention should be paid to the products of the Dutch company FORBO. Its patented MARMOLEUM brand has unique features that transform this material into a very special kind of flooring. Thanks to the inclusion of wood flour in the coating, and not cork, which is capable of repelling dyes, the company has learned to give its products rich and bright colors.
The protective layer, which is applied to the front side of natural linoleum after it has been laid, for the FORBO brand is a two-layer Topshield coating, which protects the material from wear and tear. For ARMSTRONG-DLW products, this function is performed by the Pur Eco System and LPX coatings, which were developed not so long ago.
High-quality protection of marmoleum solves a lot of problems. Thanks to her, the coating gets dirty less and cleans faster, acquires resistance to chemical and mechanical stress. It does not need to be rubbed with mastic before using. In a domestic environment, the renewal of the protective layer will not take many years.
The most popular natural linoleum FORBO Click, equipped with a lock made using Aquaprotect technology. It is marketed as a panel or tile with a cork backing and a moisture resistant NDF board covered with Topshield. The material is not afraid of the studs of women's shoes and the claws of pets, it is not difficult to wipe paint stains from the coating or remove gum from it.
The enterprises of the FORBO company are scattered across forty countries of the European Union, its products are respected and recognizable due to the exceptional quality, which is confirmed by certificates.
As for the cost of natural linoleum, it is in the price range between wood flooring such as parquet and ordinary linoleum. Today the price of rolled marmoleum is 600-2300 rubles / m2, material in the form of tiles 300x300x9, 8 mm - about 1500 rubles. for one package, in which there are 7 products, in the form of panels measuring 900x300x9, 8 mm - about 4000 rubles. for a package with seven items. That is, this material can hardly be attributed to the budget category. Therefore, in order to avoid fakes, it is better to buy it from trusted dealers.
Technology for mounting marmoleum on the floor
As already noted, the installation of marmoleum is not particularly difficult. However, some of its technological nuances still take place. This is mainly due to the characteristics of the material. Let's consider the main methods of covering from natural linoleum.
Laying the castle marmoleum
Before starting work, natural linoleum should lie down for a day in the room where the floor covering is planned. At the end of this time, the packaging with the material must be opened, its contents must be checked for completeness, the presence or absence of defects, and the defective material must be replaced if necessary.
There is nothing special in preparing the base for coating. In any case, it must be even, whole, clean and dry. There are many ways to achieve this, use any of them.
Before laying marmoleum, the finished floor surface must be covered with a waterproofing film. It can be polyethylene or polyester material. Waterproofing is needed to protect the coating from the possible appearance of condensation when the temperature of the overlap changes. The film should be laid with an overlap of 200 mm and placed on the walls by 5 cm. The insulation joints should be glued with tape.
The first cladding panel must be laid with a ridge to the wall, the rest of the elements of the first row are also mounted, connecting the ends. In order not to damage the material when compacting a row of panels with a hammer, a wooden block should be used as a gasket. It is worth leaving a gap of at least 1 cm between the wall and the covering, but no more than the width of the plinth. The gap is adjusted using special wedges.
After completing the laying of the first row, the cut piece of its last slab must be laid at the beginning of the next row. It is installed in the groove with its spike, but you do not need to click the lock, but leave it at an angle. In this case, you should use bars: first connect all panels with their ends to the end of the row, and then you need to remove the bars and gently press the next row on the previous one along the longitudinal connection.
After every 3-4 rows are laid, the position of the cover must be adjusted to maintain the size of the gaps. If the last row cannot be mounted in the usual way, for example, if there is a threshold, then the lock of the longitudinal part of the product must be cut, and when the last plate is brought under the obstacle, the rows should simply be glued.
In this case, the marmoleum is mounted according to the "floating floor" system, therefore the skirting boards of the covering should be fixed only to the wall so that they do not interfere with the linear movements of the coating when the moisture and temperature in the room change.
Laying glue marmoleum
All preparatory work in this case is similar to the previous description. Before laying, sheets or tiles of the covering must be laid dry on the floor, taking into account the expansion gap at the junction of the marmoleum to the walls. The last row of slabs must be cut to size with an electric jigsaw.
It is recommended to start the installation of marmoleum from the short wall of the room. To it, you should first attach a strip wrapped with a film to form a gap, and then apply special glue to the floor area, distributing it with a "snake". After that, you need to attach a tile to the treated surface and push it tightly to the rail.
Then other elements of the covering are installed in the same way on the right or on the left side. Laying is carried out in transverse rows towards the opposite wall. If necessary, you can use a clamp or hammer to press down on the tiles.
As for the installation of rolled marmoleum, its technology is no different from the installation of conventional commercial linoleum. It is recommended to lay such a material in large rooms, and in order to obtain a beautiful and durable floor, only two conditions must be met: an even, clean base and the use of special glue.
How to lay marmoleum - watch the video:
It's all. We hope that our article will help you choose the right material for this wonderful material and decorate the floor of your house or apartment with it yourself. Good luck!
