Vinyl floor on the wall: How to fix it correctly

Contact adhesive for fixing vinyl floors to the wall

Gluing a vinyl floor to the wall is a novel and increasingly popular alternative in interior design.

This article explains what is important when installing vinyl floors on the wall.

Until now, vinyl was primarily known and proven for laying on floors.

But modern vinyl floors can also be attached to the wall.

Due to the advantageous material properties and the limitless selection of different decors, they open up a wide range of possibilities in the design of the room. However, in order to achieve a lastingly beautiful result, there are some important aspects to consider.

Which vinyl floor can be mounted on the wall?

As the demand for vinyl floors for the wall has risen sharply in recent years, the vinyl flooring market has responded.

Since the world’s leading trade fair Domotex 2018, more and more manufacturers have been offering vinyl floors that are also specially designed for the design of walls.

These products, marketed under the term Luxury Vinyl Tile (LVT for short), are a cost-effective and user-friendly alternative to laminate and parquet, but especially to ceramic tiles.

Vinyl floors are generally available in two versions:

• as solid or solid vinyl
• or as a ready-made vinyl with click system on HDF carriers.

In principle, all vinyl floors can be attached to the wall.

Also those that are actually intended for conventional use as flooring. However, there are differences in the preparation of the substrate and in the assembly.

Glue full vinyl floor to the wall

The material of full vinyl floors is much thinner than vinyl on HDF.

If a full vinyl floor is to be fixed to the wall, the substrate must therefore be completely flat and smooth.

Otherwise, bumps would penetrate the wall, resulting in unsightly dents in the vinyl floor.

However, the thinner material also has advantages: it is easy to process and easily cut against the wall with a sharp knife.

A full vinyl floor is usually mounted in planks that are attached to the wall.

In order to ensure long-term durability, the full-surface bonding with a suitable adhesive is most suitable.

The use of a double-sided adhesive tape or the attachment of the vinyl floor to the wall with nails is not recommended.

Joints and transitions can be filled and sealed with silicone. This also makes the vinyl floor on the wall water resistant, making it suitable for use in bathrooms.

Fixing click vinyl floor ingtotheis on the wall

Unlike full vinyl floors, click vinyl floors forgivable minor bumps in the underground due to their higher strength.

If a click vinyl floor is to be attached to the wall, it is therefore not absolutely necessary to spat it absolutely smoothly beforehand – dry and even the substrate must still be.

The assembly of click vinyl floors requires some practice:

The boards can be connected relatively easily by the click system, but still have to be attached to the wall with a suitable adhesive at the same time.

It is best to glue the click vinyl floor from bottom to top on the wall so that the boards can support each other.

In addition, the expansion and shrinkage behaviour of the Click vinyl floor must be taken into account:

In the edge area, so-called expansion joints must be released so that the material can work accordingly.

These joints play a crucial role, especially in click vinyl floors on HDF carriers, as otherwise unsightly joint or dent formation can occur during moisture or heat exposure due to e.g. solar exposure.

Is a vinyl floor on the wall also possible in the bathroom?

A major advantage of vinyl flooring on the wall is that it is water-resistant and can be applied to almost any existing substrate.

Accordingly, it is particularly popular with the renovation of bathrooms, because the elaborate, noise- and dirt-causing removal of existing tiles can be dispensed with.

When selecting the vinyl floor for the wall, care must be taken to ensure that it is specifically approved for use in wet rooms.

In addition, it must be ensured that the substrate is sealed against water and moisture.

However, this should already be the case with existing tiles on the wall, so that a new sealing is not required. With fully glued vinyl flooring on the wall, the joints can be easily sealed with silicone.

For click vinyl floors, the groove and spring provide waterproof joints, but expansion joints must remain in the edge area.

Suitable vinyl floors are basically water-resistant, so that neither splash water nor prolonged water exposure damage the surface.

Appropriate sealing of the substrate also prevents mold formation under the vinyl floor on the wall due to penetrating moisture.

With what glue can the vinyl floor on the wall be fastened?

In order to glue vinyl flooring to the wall, it is recommended to use contact adhesive, which is applied to the substrate and vinyl floor. Contact adhesives are easy and safe to use – both planks made of full vinyl and click vinyl planks adhere immediately to the substrate and cannot slip.

As an alternative to the contact adhesive, special polymer adhesives can also be used.

Regardless of the product, the adhesive must in any case match the weight and thickness of the vinyl floor on the wall – and the adhesive strength must not be caused by evaporating ingredients such as water or solvents.

In wet rooms, the vinyl floor should only be attached to the wall on a polymer-based basis, as these can also be water exposure ensure long-lasting durability. From self-adhesive Vinyl floors on the wall are generally discouraged in the bathroom because the dry adhesive is not geared to this.

Regardless of which adhesive is used, make sure that the wall is dry, clean and level before the vinyl floor can be fixed to the wall.

* Last updated on  2024-04-19 / We are using affiliate links / All images are served from the Amazon Product Advertising API.