One of the most affordable ways of leveling the floor is to tie the floor with claydite with your own hands, which will ensure not only perfect alignment, but also increase the sound and heat insulation of the floor.
Thermal insulation with expanded clay will reduce the cost of heating the room in winter.
A simple technology allows you to do all the work yourself.
Before choosing a floor with expanded clay, you should know - in which cases this technology will be most suitable.
Contents:
- Properties of claydite and its use
- Device of semi-dry screed
- Dry screed technology
Properties of claydite and its use
Claydite is a light, durable, reliable and easy-to-use material representing burnt clay that compacts and hardens under the influence of high temperature.
Claydite granules have a light weight with a strong outer shell, which is moisture resistant.
The presence of cavities inside the granules ensures the insulation of the floor.
Ceramsite is divided into 3 fractions: gravel, gravel and sand. Crushed stone - a material with medium granule sizes, excellent for making concrete mortar.
Expanded clay gravel is a granule in the size of 0.5-4 cm, light and durable. Expanded clay sand is a loose material that consists of granules of less than 5 mm in size.
For floor screed, a mixture of fractions is most often used, which increases the density of the layer. Any kind of expanded clay can be used. But it is better to use sand, which gives the smallest shrinkage.
First of all, the screed with expanded clay is used to raise the floor level, and also provides insulation and strengthening. Strengthening characteristics are much higher than those of cement screed.
The main advantages of expanded clay:
- resistance to temperature changes;
- possibility of use in any premises;
- all claydite fractions are not subject to ignition and rot;
- leveling of any irregularities;
- simple installation.
There are also disadvantages: it is important to make the screed properly, otherwise such a floor is prone to cracking;when the screed is dry, the sheet material is destroyed under the influence of moisture.
The floor screed with expanded clay is ideal for the following cases:
- When raising the floor level by more than 15 cm is required. In this case, the claydite base will be cheaper and stronger;
- With a weak foundation of the house, which does not allow increasing the weight of the structure, and the expanded clay has a low weight;
- The presence of wooden ceilings, unable to withstand the heavy weight, which has a wet screed;
- If there are concrete or reinforced concrete slabs in the base;
- When installing an electrical or infra-red system of a warm floor;
- To increase sound insulation;
- In the presence of communications in the lower floor overlap, as expanded clay creates additional insulation;
- To reduce financial costs for the purchase of consumables.
Video:
With expanded clay, the screed can be dry and semi-dry with the addition of cement.
Which option is better to choose depends on the financial possibilities and on the time during which you need to make the screed. Let's consider both variants.
Device of a semi-dry screed
Both dry and semi-dry screed begins with preparatory work, which for all technologies is the same. It is also necessary to calculate the consumption of materials.
To know how much claydite is required, it is necessary to make a calculation. How much material will be required depends on the thickness of the screed.
Standard calculation: for a 1 cm layer, 0.01 cubic meter of expanded clay is required per 1 square meter of area. If the claydite is sold in liters, then the calculation is as follows: 1 cm of claydite in the screed is 10 liters per 1 sq. M.
Calculate the flow by example: for a floor area of 20 square meters, the thickness of the expanded clay is 4 cm.
We will calculate in cubic meters: 20 x 0.04 m3 = 0.8 cubic meters. Calculation in liters: 20 x 40 liters = 800 liters.
In practice, during the screed device, the consumption of expanded clay is increased. The larger the area of the room, the more the calculation deviates. This is explained by the fact that the floor has a slope.
In order to determine the total consumption of expanded clay, the total surface area should be multiplied by the material consumption per 1 sq.m.
The first stage prepares the base, for this you need to dismantle the old coating, remove debris, it is also recommended to vacuum the surface.
If there are any cracks in the base, then they need to be cemented. Cables and wires in the floor should be wrapped in polyethylene.
Joints of polyethylene need to be wrapped with scotch tape to prevent the ingress of solution, dust and other substances.
The next stage is laying the waterproofing. For this, polyethylene, isovalane, hydrosol or special mastic can be used. Lubricants increase the expense of finance.
You also need to glue a damper tape to the wall at the height of the screed.
The tape creates an additional layer between the wall and the screed, which prevents cracking during the drying of the surface.
After the screed device is completed, the remnants of the tape are cut off.
After this, it is necessary to make the marking, determine the height of the screed and set the beacons. The distance between the beacons should not exceed 1 meter. First you need to determine the highest point of the screed.
This can be done with a laser level. Beacons are set from the highest point. As a rule, at the highest point the thickness of the screed is not more than 6 mm, and in the low areas it gradually increases.
Lighthouses can be set up using a profile or rails that can be fixed with cement or gypsum.
When using cement, everything has to be done quickly until it clings. When ready beacons, you can proceed to leveling the floor.
Semi-dry screed with expanded clay is done in two ways.
There is a fine clay powder all over the ground, it's fine, so you can better tamper. The layer is covered with a thickness of no more than 3 cm from the highest point of the screed.
It is necessary to check the levelness of the layer with a level. Claydite must be filled with cement "milk".
Video:
For preparation of "milk" a usual mortar for screed of sand and cement M-400 is made, only in it it is necessary to add in 2 times more water. The consumption of sand and cement is in the proportion of 1: 3.
The solution can be checked as follows: pour a small amount of "milk" on the expanded clay, if the entire solution has leaked, then the "milk" is too liquid.
"Milk" does not have binding properties, but forms a film that will provide moisture protection of expanded clay. The layer dries a day.
After a day you can go to the finish layer. On the resulting film, you need to fill the required amount of expanded clay on the entire surface, leveling with the help of a level.
Next to the surface you need to fill the solution. To prepare the mortar, M-400 cement and sand in the ratio 1: 3 will be required.
It should be noted that river sand is not recommended for solution. Further water is added: 2 liters per 10 kg of the mixture.
All components should be mixed well with a building mixer for 15 minutes.
Finish layer to be leveled using the rule and leave for 3 days to dry. After the screed has dried, the beacons are removed, and the holes formed are filled with cement.
Detailed technology is presented in the video.
Video:
Application of this method also consists of two-layer use of expanded clay, only the screed is performed faster than the first method. First, a solution is prepared.
For this, the container needs to be filled with expanded clay, filled with water and mixed. Then in the resulting mixture it is necessary to add cement and sand in the right amount and mix everything.
How many materials to add, is determined individually, there are no exact ratios. Cement and sand are added until the solution becomes uniform, viscous.
The ready solution should be poured onto the base with a layer of 2.5 cm. After this, you can proceed to the finish filling. Finishing layer must be well leveled. This method is clearly presented in the video.
Dry Screed Technology
The device of dry screed with the use of expanded clay is simple and less expensive compared to a semi-dry screed. By the way, it is better to produce insulation in this way.
First, the substrate is prepared for dry screed and marking.
Then the waterproofing is laid and the damper tape is glued to the walls along the entire perimeter of the room, beacons are installed.
If gypsum is used for a dry screed, the beacons are installed at a distance of 120 cm, and if the plasterboard is 60 cm. Between them, the claydite is covered with a layer of 5-10 cm and carefully packed.
It is better to level using claydite of different fractions - this will give the least shrinkage. After this, you can proceed to laying the sheet material.
Drywall should be laid end to end, and GVL have special grooves for fastening, which need to be smeared with glue. To the beacons, the sheets are fixed with self-tapping screws in 7 cm increments.
To increase strength, one more layer of sheet material should be laid. The second layer is laid in the opposite direction and fixed with glue and long self-tapping screws.
Detailed technology of dry screed can be viewed on video.
Video:
The floor screed with expanded clay is fast, simple and inexpensive.
Application of expanded clay will improve the characteristics of the floor, which will last for many years, as well as create additional insulation.
