Sheet products are tightly rolled in the factory where they're made.

This puts the material under tension, which is only released when the material is unrolled again.

As the material returns to normal, it will shrink slightly in length.

The best way to avoid problems with shrinkage is to re-roll a cut length back on itself and wait for about 15 minutes.

Then you can unroll it again and start fitting it in position.

If you're fitting a long length, such as in a corridor, you should take the extra precaution of only scribing and sticking down the sheet up to about the last 2 metres.

Then scribe the second end, spread the remaining adhesive and stick that end down.

Note that the whole sheet must be stuck down before the adhesive sets. If the first part starts to set before you lay down the last section, any overspread in adhesive might result in bubbles where the two parts meet.

Conditioning

Before you begin an installation, you need to let the floor covering condition to the surrounding temperature and humidity in the room.

This process is also called acclimatisation.

AS 1884 says that floor coverings should be conditioned for at least 24 hours, or until the product has achieved an 'ambient room temperature' range of between 15° and 28° C.

For more information on the conditioning process, including the procedures you should follow in buildings with air conditioners or heated floors, go to the lesson shown below.

Conditioning (Preparing floor coverings)

Batch lots

Floor coverings are manufactured in batch lots, also called dye lots.

Each roll of material has a batch number on the packaging to indicate which batch of colour dyes was used in that particular manufacturing run. It will also have a roll number.

Where possible, you should try to use flooring with the same batch number and sequential roll numbers when they are being placed side by side.

This will help to provide the best match of colours and avoid any inconsistency in shade or intensity.

Handling long lengths

An easy way to lay out long lengths of sheet material on the floor is to use a linoleum dolly.

The dolly not only allows you to roll out the material with the face side up, it also reduces the risk of injury.

There will be times, however, when you won't have access to a dolly on-site and you'll have to make do with your own manual handling skills.

In these cases, you should roll out the material on the floor with the face side down, and then turn it over.

The learning activity below will give you some hints on how to turn over a long sheet without damaging the material or straining yourself.