​There is nothing more annoying than a split, tear, hole or bulge in vinyl flooring. It can appear irreparable, and the first thought for many would be that the whole thing needs replacing.

​With a little care, most types of damage can be repaired. Here is how.

First, clean the area thoroughly. Dirt will have caught in the split itself, making it darker than the rest of the floor. The best way to clean it is to scrub it with a little hot water and washing-up liquid. Allow it to dry thoroughly, and then examine the damage.

​Instructions

1. If the split is a clean one, then the two halves can be joined back together; to do this, you may have to soften the vinyl, which can be done with an ordinary household iron.
2. Heat it to its maximum temperature, cover the area of the split with a tea towel, and then press the iron onto the tea towel for about 10 seconds. Be very careful not to touch the floor with the iron directly, as the vinyl may melt.
3. When you lift the iron, quickly stretch the vinyl until it meets over the split, and make sure it cools like that.
4. Once cool, use a flat-bladed knife to lift one side of the split, squirt a little super glue into the aperture, and quickly glue the vinyl down and back together, wiping any excess glue away carefully.
5. Within 10 minutes, this should be good enough to walk on, but I wouldn’t wash it for 24 hours.

​Pro Tip
If there is vinyl missing from the split, then a small shaving from a hidden area can be used as a patch and glued into place. The skill here is matching the sliver and flattening it completely into the gap, but it is possible with patience.

A tear is generally larger than a cut, but should be treated much in the same way as a split.
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• You can peel back the vinyl in the tear, clean both surfaces and dry thoroughly.
• Use the iron trick to flatten the vinyl out, make sure the edges meet, and stick it down and together as before.

This works best with vinyl that is made to look like tiles, but it is possible with other designs. It requires spare vinyl being available, either the off-cuts or using some from somewhere else (under a kitchen unit, for example), where it will not show if you take a square.
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Instructions

1. First, clean the area of the damage, as before.
2. Then carefully cut out the square where the damage is (or if the pattern is not square, designate part of the pattern to be removed and replaced).
3. Cut the same sized and coloured square from the spare vinyl; try to be as exact as possible. Vinyl is quite a forgiving material and will flex if the gap and patch are a milimetre or so out.
4. Glue the patch into the hole, being very careful that the edges are well glued down and not proud of the hole.

This is the easiest problem to fix—no matter how bad it looks, be it from furniture or kitchen appliances.
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Instructions

1. Carefully use a hot iron over a tea towel on the bulge to restore the vinyl to almost as good as new.
2. Heat the iron to its hottest setting, lay your tea towel over the damage and firmly and slowly iron it out.
3. Make sure to put a weight on the bulge as it cools to make sure it stays flat.

I hope my experience of make do and mend with our vinyl flooring is of use to you.

​Thanks for reading.