Anxious to decorate your new living space you decide to hang some pictures in the kitchen when you accidentally drop the hammer. You look down and there in you nice shiny new kitchen floor is a deep dent.

The longer you look at the dent, which you can see is actually a cut, the larger it looks as you envision having to replace an entire sheet of expensive flooring. You think to yourself, if only I had gone with tile instead of vinyl flooring than just one tile would have to be replaced instead of entire floor.

Such is the dilemma faced by many homeowners. A vinyl floor can be comfortable to walk on and easy to keep clean without the joint lines that come with using individual floor tiles. But when faced with the prospect of repairing a damaged area in the floor, the choice may be a little more complicated than most of us would like. As in the hammer story, if the flooring was tile, even ceramic, the task of making a repair would not be as daunting and could handled by the average weekend home improvement buff. Choosing to use vinyl flooring comes with certain risks and your lifestyle goes a long way in helping to determine which flooring option is right for you.

First a few facts about modern vinyl sheet flooring. Often referred to as resilient flooring, vinyl sheet flooring construction has improved since its predecessor linoleum was introduced over 100 years ago. Linoleum sheet flooring was made of linseed oil backed with burlap or similar material and though wear resistant it was not very durable, chipping and cracking with age. Modern vinyl sheet flooring is made from polyvinyl chloride and is designed with multiple plies consisting of a backing layer, cushion layer and a pattern layer topped by a wear layer. Unlike vinyl tile flooring, multi layer vinyl sheet flooring can be more comfortable to walk on because of the padding layer and the wear layer protects the pattern layer.

One of the disadvantages found in using modern vinyl sheet flooring is that the load placed on the flooring may damage it. Dents from chair legs may not readily spring back, leaving a dent as in the hammer story. Manufacturers provide information on the load limit of their flooring and this is information can be important when considering the load of appliances like refrigerators and stoves.

Repairing damage to vinyl sheet flooring may require the help of flooring professional. If you choose to do the repair yourself, remember that any decorative pattern on the floor must be matched. Repair kits are available that can give you step by step instructions on how to make the repair.

The repair usually requires a piece of matching flooring which can sometime be a scrap piece left over from the original installation or cut from under a large appliance like the refrigerator. The size and location of the damage will usually determine how big an area you need to replace. It is important to remember that the scrap piece of flooring will need to be larger then the area of damaged you remove.

Working with vinyl flooring requires the use of a very sharp cutting tool like a utility knife. You must be sure to exercise extreme caution when cutting vinyl flooring and if you have any doubts about the repair may be better left to a professional. Your local flooring retailer or home improvement store is a great source of information on how to make the repair yourself or find a qualified repair professional.