Glue is not dry under vinyl on stairs.

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davidmc36

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I put some vinyl flooring on the landing and stairs. After a few days the part on the treads (2x10 lumber) started to bubble up. On the landing that was covered with a piece of finished plywood it is fine. Also on the risers that are chip-board it did not bubble, it's not really stuck, but did not bubble.

I took off one of the nose caps and the flooring just lifts right up, the glue is not dry at all. I left it the recommended time after application before putting the flooring down.

Any ideas what happened here and if there is any way to fix it besides lifting all the flooring and cleaning the glue off and starting over?
 
Welcome to the site. The usual is to make the treads out of 1" plywood for inside use. If these are new stairs perhaps you have a moisture problem.
 
Stairs have been there since 1991 but maybe moisture in the wood since it is the stairs going to the basement? The area under the stairs is closed into a "closet" where the pump etc. and sump hole is located.

Same problem occurred though on the section of stairs that are not closed in going from the landing to upper floor.
 
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If it is moisture you may want to looking at venting the closet.
I don't know what else it could be but someone could probably write a book using things I don't know, but as the vinyl is a solid surface in order for the glue to dry the moisture has to gt into the substrate and if that is wet??????
 
nealtw said:
Is the underside of the stairs finished or are they exposed?
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"Exposed" to the inside of the closet.

The upper section where it happened is wide open to the basement.

I am wondering about moisture in the house since switching to natural gas heating the furnace draws in it's own air and no more dry air comes in the vent pipe that was there for the oil furnace.
 
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Depending on how tight the house is you do need replacement air for hood and bathroom fans. I think the treads would have to be really wet to stop the glue from drying, others may have some ideas.
 
You never said specifically what flooring you used. Vinyl, does not tell us much. We also need to know which adhesive you used and if the flooring was set into it right away, or if the adhesive was allowed to set or?

Jaz
 
nealtw said:
.... need replacement air for hood and bathroom fans.....
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There is lots available, the intake vent for the oil furnace is still installed, it obviously just does not get as much drawn in through it as before.

Maybe the solvents in the glue were just not able to evaporate through the dense 2 x 10 stair treads.
 
If the vinyl is shiny on the back, I think you may have used the wrong adhesive. Read the container of adhesive again. It's sheet vinyl right? It's got a brand name and style/series name too. What size notch trowel did you use?

davidmc36 said:
I left it the recommended time after application before putting the flooring down.
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Which is............?

Jaz
 
Jaz said:
....What size notch trowel did you use?



Which is............?

Jaz
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I went with the long end of the 30-40 minute range.

3/32 notch.

I think you may be right though, it says for felt backed vinyl. Looks like I got stung by the loser at the hardware store. I even had a piece of the flooring with me.

Yeah it's sheet vinyl. There was something printed on the edge of the sheet but the leftover roll has none of it left. I think it's safe to say the problem is identified.

Should have read the bucket fully. "Do not use on vinyl backed........" is down near the bottom.:mad:
 
Yup, and 3/32" notch is probably too much.

davidmc36 said:
I think you may be right though, it says for felt backed vinyl.
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* I have never made a mistake....I thought I did once....but I was wrong! :D

davidmc36 said:
Looks like I got stung by the loser at the hardware store.
Click to expand...

You will learn to not ask those nice people anything that is too technical or requires experience.

Jaz
 
nealtw said:
So now, what to do?
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Not sure. I took the angles off the nose of the stairs, lifted the tread portion, and rolled the flooring flat again. You can see from the shifted screw holes where it moved toward the nose of the stairs Going to leave it a few days and see if it stays flat.

Good news is if I decided I want to re-do them, it won't be stuck solid.:p

The only other option I see is totally removing the pieces, somehow washing the glue off the stairs, and starting over.
 
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