How to fix swollen and cracked chipboard floors?

Question

Our house was built in the 80’s with chipboard floors. Our freezer defrosted and the joins in the kitchen have swollen and now have cracked the Lino. A similar thing has happened in the toilet. Can the swollen parts be sanded, the cracks filled and the entire floor sealed to make it more water resistant?

EricL · Answer

Hello @gneaton

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's sensational to have you join us, and thanks for sharing your question about your flooring.

I'm sorry to hear your flooring experienced a bit of moisture damage. If the flooring material has not totally expanded and blown out, it might be possible to sand it down to its original level. The worst-case scenario is that the floor surface will break apart and the damaged sections will come off. However, this can still be addressed by filling in the damage with

https://www.bunnings.com.au/turbo-175ml-builder-s-bog_p1670144

.

In regard to the second issue which is sealing the cracked lino, I'm currently not aware of a product that you can use to permanently seal the lino and restore it to its original state. To temporarily patch the damaged sections, I suggest using

https://www.bunnings.com.au/t-rex-48mm-x-9-1m-white-ferociously-strong-duct-tape_p0593957

. The white colour of the duct tape will at least partially blend in with the light colour of your linoleum and not glaringly stand out. This will also work for the damage in your bathroom flooring.

My best advice is to take into consideration replacing your linoleum floor with a new one or perhaps upgrade to a more robust flooring such as

https://www.bunnings.com.au/hanwood-5mm-2-64m-delta-grey-spc-hybrid-waterproof-flooring_p0522415

which is 100 percent waterproof.

If you have any other questions we can help with, please let us know.

Eric