Doing repairs, for some reason, many people focus on walls and ceilings, forgetting that modern design ideas can realize absolutely any imagination. One of these ideas is liquid 3D floors. They allow you to create individual compositions from drawings, flat and three-dimensional objects, fascinating look. The images are so realistic that it seems that they are about to come to life. The technology of self-leveling floors is not so difficult, if you perform all the stages of their installation accurately. In this case, they can last several decades.
What is bulk flooring?
Self-leveling floors are a polymer fill that is applied to a pattern or image and subsequently hardens. This results in a seamless coating. The figure itself is applied over the base layer, and it is the finish polymer fill that allows you to achieve a 3D effect. The thicker the transparent top layer, the more realistic the effect. It is not necessary to use ready-made drawings, you can make a decorative layer of sand or other natural materials inside the coating.
Experts advise to trust professionals when laying liquid floors, but everything can be done with their own hands, it's not so difficult. But you will have to observe the technology quite accurately.
Advantages and disadvantages of
Self-leveling floors are very reliable and practical, but the list of their advantages does not end there.
One can distinguish the main advantages of such a floor covering:
- the floor surface is perfectly smooth and smooth;The
- coating is seamless, so there is no risk of water accumulation and mold formation, as in jointed joints;
- flooring floors are not erased, therefore can serve for decades;
- coating has a high waterproofing, and this is an important time when laying the filler floor in the bathroom;
- reliability, practicality and impact resistance. The risk of chips and scratches is minimal. At the same time, a high resistance to chemical attack is also ensured;
- environmental friendliness and non-toxicity;
- easy cleaning and simple laying technology;
- resistance to UV radiation;
- great scope in the implementation of design solutions.
Filling 3D floors also have some disadvantages:
- long drying( up to a week);
- expensive care;
- the price of liquid floors "bites";
- is difficult to dismantle floors;
- if the floor is wet, then there is a very big risk of slipping.
But all the disadvantages overlap with pluses, because the liquid floors have a very long life. And the bulk of the cost goes to the preparation of the image and the basis of the floor.
Types of
All liquid coatings are divided into two types:
- One-component .These floors are needed only to create an absolutely flat surface, in order to finish it later. To obtain such coatings use dry mixtures that dissolve in water strictly according to the instructions. The resulting solution is applied to the prepared substrate and leveled.
- Two-component. These coatings are already used for decorative purposes. Make floors with resin and hardener. Sometimes quartz sand is added to the mixture, which gives the property of increased strength. The resulting solution is applied to the prepared substrate and leveled.
3D effect
As a matter of fact, 3D floors are stacked in much the same way as usual bulk ones, but some nuances are simply taken into account. Either the image is applied to the base layer with acrylic paints, or else a banner or vinyl film with an already prepared pattern is used. You can print an image on such a film in the appropriate company, where there is similar equipment. Of course, the second way to get an image will be significantly cheaper than the first, where you need to use the services of the artist. How the 3D effect is achieved will be described below.
Technology
The technology of laying such a floor is not so difficult, but to achieve a 3D effect, you need to take into account certain details. The temperature of the air in the room where the floors will be laid should not be below 10 degrees Celsius.
Substrate preparation. The base must be perfectly level.
Concrete screed must be prepared in advance. For this it is necessary:
- to grind the concrete base with a special machine, and carefully remove any protrusions with a bit or perforator;
- get rid of all cracks and possible chips. To do this, they are filled with cement mortar or epoxy resin;
- thoroughly clean the dirt from the screed, and remove the accumulated dust with a vacuum cleaner designed for industrial purposes;
- make sure that there are no oil stains on the surface, otherwise the floors will peel off over time. If there are spots from them, you must definitely get rid of them. Primer base primer. After complete cleaning of the concrete screed, a primer is applied. It is needed to fill itself with all the pores in the concrete, providing an ideal grip of the screed with the materials. Apply primer with a brush, roller or spatula. It is placed in two layers with small intervals in time. After the surface is primed, you must wait at least 4 hours, but not more than a day.
Application of the base layer
The base layer can also serve as a concrete base. And you can use for this purpose the polymer surface itself. But if the self-leveling floors incorporate exclusively natural materials, then the base layer will serve as a background, so it should be as high-quality as possible and appropriately colored.
If you use the polymer floor as the base layer, you need to fix the damper strip along the walls and prepare the solution. It is distributed on the base and leveled. To ensure that there are no air bubbles on the surface, it is treated with a needle roller. The level should be checked to see how exactly the ground is.
Work required requires a complete absence of drafts and sunlight on the floor. The base layer dries for at least 5 days.
Decorating or painting
As mentioned above, the image is applied in two ways: with acrylic paints or with the use of a cloth. If a finished canvas with a pattern is used, then it should be slightly larger than the size of the room, so that there is a small margin, which is much easier to cut off later. When using a vinyl film, it simply glues to the base. Of course, it needs to be carefully leveled so that air bubbles do not form under it.
When using a banner fabric, it is glued using a very thin layer of the mixture used for the finish. It is also unacceptable to form air bubbles under the cloth.
Finishing and protective coating
For the finishing coat, a polymer composition is required, the volume of which is calculated based on the thickness of the layer. The minimum thickness should be 3 mm. The final layer is applied as follows:
- all components of a two-part solution are first mixed;
- the resulting mixture is poured onto the pattern and spreads over the surface;
- until the mixture thickens, it is necessary to roll the surface with a roller that removes air bubbles.
The setting time of the mixture is different, it depends on the air temperature in the room and humidity, as well as on the thickness of the coating itself. In the process of working on the stage, you should move around the floor in special shoes.
The protective varnish is applied over the finish coat after it has finally solidified. It will protect the floor from various damages and increase its service life. Using a special varnish, you can also make the surface non-slip. In addition, the applied varnish will make it easier to take care of the floor, without fear of the detrimental effects of detergents.
For the bathroom
The choice of the image for the self-leveling floors in the bathroom depends on the overall design of the room.
Most often resort to the creation of marine subjects, for which as a picture images of seashells, seabed, dolphins, seaweed are applied. You can stop at the image of the watery surface, and then it will seem that you walk on the surface of the water. Quite interesting under the feet are pebbles from the seabed. You can recreate the illusion of the beach, adding a sandy shore to the image. The choice of the optimal pattern is limited only by your imagination.
