Turbo Heat Welding Tools was founded by Leo Martinez, a professional flooring installer with over 40 years of experience in residential and commercial installation. Leo started modifying welding tips in his garage in 1987 because the tools available at the time required too much feel and too much experience to produce consistent results. Every Turbo tool has been developed the same way since: designed on the jobsite, tested in real conditions, and refined based on installer feedback. Read the full story on our About page.

All Turbo products are 100% Made in America. We design, manufacture, and ship from Buena Park, California.

Turbo tools are built for professional flooring installers working with sheet vinyl, linoleum, and sports flooring. Our tools are particularly well suited for installers who want consistent, repeatable results without relying on years of trial-and-error feel — and for contractors who need their crews to produce professional-quality welds regardless of experience level.

Leister makes excellent heat guns, and we actually build several of our kits around Leister guns with our own custom modifications. Where Turbo is different is in the grooving and nozzle design. Our tools are engineered to remove the variables that cause inconsistent results — groove depth, heat concentration, weld angle on both horizontal and vertical surfaces. The goal is that a less experienced installer using Turbo tools produces a result that rivals what a veteran can achieve with a standard setup.

Heat welding is the process of fusing two sheets of vinyl or linoleum together at the seam using a hot-air gun and a welding rod. The process involves three steps: grooving a channel along the seam, feeding a welding rod into that channel using a heat gun, and skiving (trimming) the excess rod flush with the floor surface once it cools. A properly welded seam is watertight, structurally sound, and nearly invisible.

Adhesive alone does not create a watertight seam. In commercial environments — especially healthcare, food service, and other areas where hygiene matters — seams that are not heat welded can allow moisture, bacteria, and contaminants to work under the flooring. Heat welding eliminates that risk and is often required by flooring manufacturers to maintain warranty coverage on commercial installations.

Sheet vinyl (PVC), linoleum, marmoleum, rubber flooring, and sports flooring can all be heat welded. Each material has different requirements for groove depth, welding temperature, and rod type. Turbo tools are designed to work across all of these materials, with specific products optimized for linoleum and sports flooring where the technique differs most from standard vinyl.

Temperature depends on the material. For most sheet vinyl, 350–450°C is typical. Linoleum requires careful heat control — around 350°C — but must be welded more slowly. Rubber materials and Armstrong camouflage product typically require maximum heat, around 600°C. The Universal Turbo Nozzle lets you weld at higher temperatures without scorching heat-sensitive urethane finishes because it concentrates heat precisely into the weld channel rather than spreading it across the surface.

Skiving is the process of trimming the welding rod flush with the floor surface after it has cooled. A properly skived seam is smooth and nearly invisible. Skiving is typically done in two passes — the first while the rod is still slightly warm, the second after it has fully cooled. The Turbo Plane allows you to complete both passes in a single motion, but that must be done after the weld has completely cooled. Curved quarter moon knives and X-Acto blades are used for detail areas like coving.

Flash cove refers to vinyl flooring that is installed up the wall to form an integrated baseboard — common in healthcare facilities, commercial kitchens, and other sanitary environments. Welding the seams at the cove transition is one of the most technically demanding parts of a vinyl installation because the vertical surface and tight geometry make standard tools difficult to control. The Turbo L-Welding System was specifically designed to solve this problem.

The groove is the foundation of the weld. If the groove is too shallow, the welding rod has nothing to anchor into and the weld will fail. If it's uneven, the rod won't sit centered and the finished seam will show. On linoleum, the groove must reach the jute backing precisely — too shallow and the rod won't bond, too deep and you break through the backing. Turbo groovers are designed to maintain consistent depth and tracking so the result doesn't depend entirely on the installer's feel.

The Turbo Groover is our entry-level groover — durable, straightforward, and built around standard U-blades used on Altro safety flooring and sheet vinyl. It's a solid choice for lower-volume work, helpers, and apprentices.

The Master Turbo Groover is our premium groover for high-volume professional use. It delivers greater comfort, speed, and precision for installers doing consistent commercial work specifically and exclusively with sheet vinyl.

The Turbo Marmo Groover Set is specifically designed for linoleum and marmoleum. It uses a two-pass system that creates clean groove walls and lands precisely at the jute backing without breaking through — something standard groovers consistently struggle with on organic materials. The first pass groover is also suitable for vinyl and can use any of the Master Turbo Groover blades.

The Cove Groover is designed specifically for grooving flash cove areas — including under toe kicks, cabinets, and in tight vertical transitions where standard groovers can't track properly. It features a front guiding fin that keeps the tool on the seam even when visibility is limited, making it the right tool for areas where you're working blind.

Yes. The Sports Turbo Groover is specifically designed to distribute pressure when grooving Tarkett sports flooring materials and other composite cushioned floors, which are designed to compress during athletic activities.

Subfloor variation is one of the most common sources of inconsistent grooves. Standard hand groovers require the installer to compensate manually, which introduces variability. The Master Turbo Groover is designed to maintain consistent blade contact and track through the seam even on uneven surfaces, reducing the amount of correction the installer needs to make.

This is almost always caused by heat spreading beyond the weld channel onto a urethane-finished or heat-sensitive floor surface. It happens when the nozzle tip is too large or too close to the floor, the welding speed is too slow, or the temperature is too high. Lowering heat or increasing speed are the standard fixes — but both risk a cold, weak weld. The better solution is the Universal Turbo Nozzle with Roller Guide, which concentrates heat precisely into the groove and physically maintains the correct distance from the floor surface, letting you weld at full heat without scorching.

On vinyl, a weak weld is usually caused by insufficient groove depth — the rod has nothing to anchor into. Check that your groove reaches the required depth and that the seam walls are clean. On linoleum, a pulling weld almost always means the groove didn't reach the jute backing. Use the Marmo Groover two-pass system to ensure correct depth. Also check welding speed — moving too fast creates cold spots where the rod doesn't fully fuse.

Cold spots occur when you're moving the gun too fast for the current temperature setting, or when the airflow through the nozzle is inconsistent. Try slowing down slightly or increasing temperature. If the issue persists, check that your nozzle isn't clogged or damaged — restricted airflow is a common cause of uneven heat delivery.

Vertical welding is where most installers struggle — gravity works against you and heat-sensitive finishes scorch easily. We recommend the Leister Hot Jet S for its lighter weight and more precise control on vertical surfaces paired with our Turbo Detail Nozzle for Wall Panels. For the coves transitioning from the floor to the wall use our Turbo L-Welding System and Turbo Detail Nozzle, which are specifically designed for cove, corners, toe kicks, and other detail areas where a full-size gun can't be controlled accurately.

A visible seam after welding is usually a skiving issue rather than a welding issue. If the rod isn't trimmed completely flush, or if the first skive pass is done when the rod is too cold, the surface won't feather out cleanly. Make your first pass when the rod is still slightly warm, then finish with a second pass once fully cooled. The Turbo Plane is the perfect solution for completely cooled welds and it's designed to produce a clean, flush result efficiently and consistently.

Yes. Turbo nozzles and tips are designed to be compatible with Leister heat guns including the Triac ST, Triac AT, and Hot Jet S. Several of our kits include a Leister gun pre-fitted with a Turbo tip.

That depends on your primary work. For most sheet vinyl commercial work, the Master Turbo Kit is our most versatile professional setup. If you work with both vinyl and linoleum, opt for the Turbo Marmo Kit. For installers focused on flash cove and detail work, the L-Welding System Kit is the key tool. For sports flooring, the TSK Tarkett Sports Kit is built specifically for that application. If you're unsure, call us at 714-522-4290 — we'll help you choose based on the work you're actually doing.

The Chiquita is our automatic welding machine — a compact, high-performance floor welder designed for long straight seams on commercial jobs. It delivers consistent pressure, temperature, and speed automatically, eliminating the variability of hand welding on large floors. One installer review notes that they purchased two, so that they "would never be without the ability to weld perfectly every time."

The Concorde is our manual welding machine, designed for installers who want machine-level consistency with more hands-on control than a fully automatic welder. It's a strong choice for complex layouts or materials that benefit from manual adjustment during the weld.

Yes. Replacement blades, nozzle tips, and accessories are available in our Blades and Accessories collection.

Yes. Turbo tools are backed by a lifetime warranty. See our Return & Warranty Policy for full details.

Contact us at info@turboheatweldingtools.com for warranty questions or claims.

Every Turbo purchase includes a 30-day money-back guarantee. If you're not completely satisfied within 30 days, return the product for a full refund — no questions asked. See our Return & Warranty Policy for full details.

You can order directly through this website. We accept all major credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Shop Pay. Orders are processed promptly and ship from Buena Park, California.

Yes, we ship worldwide. We are also actively expanding our international distribution network. If you are interested in becoming a Turbo distributor outside the US, contact us at info@turboheatweldingtools.com.

Turbo tools are available through select flooring tool distributors. See our Distributors page for a current list of retailers who carry our products.

Absolutely. Call us at 714-522-4290 or email info@turboheatweldingtools.com during business hours. We have professional installers on staff who can help you select the right tools based on the specific job, materials, and conditions you're working with.