Bubbles under the lino!

[Mike_LeClair]

Hi everyone! A couple of weeks ago I had posted about finding some surprise water leaks in our RV. I have dealt with those by fixing this, repairing that and installing some shark-bite ballcock valves in strategic locations. My problem for this post is about the ensuing bubbles that have popped up from where the lino is lifting due to the water leaking under it. I know very, very little about flooring in general and even less about lino. Any thoughts on what I can do to try and repair the lino where the bubbles have occurred or at least get the lino to lay back down again. I thought about slitting the lino and injecting some glue and then lay the lino back down with some weight on top. I'm just not sure that this is the proper way to fix the lino. Some of the bubbles in the WC are about seven inches long and vary in height up to 1/4" or slightly more.

I really do not want to consider installing new lino as it just doesn't fall within our window of "doable" right now.

Your helpful inputs would be appreciated.

Thanks and Cheers!

Mike

[DrewE]

I suspect the floor is sheet vinyl and not actual linoleum (which is made from cork and varnish pressed together onto a backing cloth). That detail probably isn't very important here.

My suspicion is that the actual problem is the underlying subflooring breaking down from being wet, in which case the only successful repair would be to pull it up and replace it. Particle board and similar products often don't need to be wet very long before they start to break down and the wood bits expand. I could, of course, be all wrong in my guess, though.

If it's clear that there's a void between the vinyl and the subfloor, I'd probably try poking a tiny hole with a pin or needle and applying pressure and moderate heat. I don't think a glue you could inject would work very well; the flooring is usually applied with a sort of mastic compound, relatively thick. Possibly Gorilla Glue would be something to try if heat alone fails, since it tends to foam and expand a little bit.