Unfortunately,
you will probably have to replace your vinyl flooring in a few
years.
Flooring installers... and
do-it-yourselfers... commonly install new sheet vinyl flooring
over many layers of old flooring. And a common technique is to
nail down a layer of 1/4" thick Lauan plywood over the old
flooring (and avoiding the expense of tearing up the old flooring)
and then gluing the new vinyl to the smooth plywood surface. This
works fine... as long as the right nails are used and all the
nails reach into stable wood structure.
The right nails to use are ring-shank
underlayment nails. These nails have serrations or rings on
the shaft, and they hold quite well.
But if plain nails were used,
they could back out over time, which would show up as a pimple or
bump in the vinyl flooring.
And it's possible that ring-shank
nails were used, but were too short to reach a sturdy wood base,
and now some nails are letting go. And it's possible that some
nails simply hit grooves between floorboards (this is quite easy
to accomplish on really old houses that were built before plywood
subfloors became the norm).
But the bad news:
I am not aware of any way to
repair this problem without replacing the entire floor. You can
pound the nails back in (and doing so might rip the vinyl) but if
the nails backed out once... they'll do it again.
When I install underlayment, I
use deck screws instead of nails, and I pre-drill and countersink
the holes so the screw heads will sink below the surface of the
wood. Then I use wood putty to fill the holes at each screw head,
so the holes won't show through the vinyl as little dimples (which
is the reverse of the problem you are experiencing).
If your flooring was installed by
a licensed contractor, it sounds like they have a problem with
competency. If this is the case, you may have certain legal rights
which an attorney could help you with.
If the floor was installed by the
previous home owner, them you have few options but to plan on
replacing the vinyl when the number and size of holes has exceeded
your tolerance level. This could take many years.
You might as well try pounding
some nails back in, and see if it rips the flooring. You might be
able to squeeze some glue under the flooring if a rip appears.
(There are special glues used for vinyl flooring, it might be wise
to buy some.) When you glue vinyl flooring down, you need to apply
a heavy weight to the area for several hours. (I'm thinking of
concrete blocks, or at least a bunch of old college textbooks.)
Sorry for the bad news.
Bruce W. Maki, Editor.
