DIY floor repair in Khrushchev

In the 1960s, several thousand houses of the same type were built in our country to solve housing problems. The apartments in them were standard, with the same finish. The floor was most often wooden. And although a lot of time has passed since then, in some apartments there is still an old floor covering. If you live in such a house and decide to ennoble and put your house in order, you need to figure out how to spend floor repair in Khrushchev, which has its own characteristics and nuances.

Floor characteristic

Standard floors in Khrushchevs consist of several layers, each of which has become unusable since time and requires replacement:

• Concrete floor slab. In some cases, the ceiling is made of wood.
• Waterproofing. Protects the floor from water leaks to the lower floors.
• Sound and heat insulation.
• Screed or rough floor.
• Finish wood flooring.

Older homes may lack some of these layers. As insulation, a special material or ordinary construction waste is used.

The tree during operation suffers from physical exertion, moisture, sunlight. Therefore, it is natural that cracks, crevices, and abrasions appear on it, and the floor itself begins to creak and fail. These problems can be eliminated with the help of cosmetic repairs. But still, it is advisable to completely replace the flooring with a new one that will last for many years.

The type and extent of repair is determined depending on the condition of the floor. If the floors were changed every 15–20 years, then they can be updated with cosmetic repairs. If this was not done, then it is better to overhaul the floor in Khrushchev.

Cost of work

The price of redecorating a floor in Khrushchev starts from 130 rubles. per sq. m. in Moscow and from 90 rubles. per sq. m in St. Petersburg and depends on its condition.

Major repairs will cost many times more, its cost will depend on the type of device selected the new floor (logs, screed) and the type of coating (solid, parquet, parquet, laminate, linoleum, carpet).

Gap elimination

Slots in the floor make the room look unaesthetic, increase the amount of dust and make it difficult to clean. They appear due to the fact that wooden boards dry out over time. It is best to solve the problem in the initial stages, otherwise it will increase, and the repair price will also rise.

A small gap can be putty and scraped. This gender will last for about five more years. On top, you can lay a plywood substrate and lay a laminate. The topcoat will be new, and such repairs will be inexpensive. But remember that old boards can creak and crack. The effect of such repairs will not last long.

Large slots require more serious work. It is necessary to examine the condition of the transverse lags that are under the boards. The steps will be as follows:

• Remove the skirting board.
• Using an ax, lift the boards.
• Remove the floor elements that protrude with a nail clipper.
• Inspect the supports below them. If necessary, replace them with new lags.

An important point. New supports must be treated with an antiseptic for the tree so that they are not exposed to the harmful effects of the fungus and insects.

• Replace the boards. Damaged remove and put new ones.
• Secure all boards with screws.
• Put the baseboard.

If you want to lay linoleum or carpet on the old floor, it is recommended to pre-level the board with looping machine, and even better - using plywood sheets that will create a solid foundation for any finish coverings. Old boards swell over time, and if you do not align, all the bulges will be visible through linoleum.

Squeak removal

Squeak of floorboards may occur for several reasons:

1. The friction of the boards against each other.
2. Poor connection of boards and lag.
3. Poorly fixed lags.
4. Loosening the nails that connect the boards and logs.

All this is due to the fact that the tree is drying up over time. Excessive friction of the floorboards against each other or lags occurs. This cannot be avoided, any wooden floor begins to creak over time.

To delay the time of creak, when laying a wooden floor, it is necessary to press the boards together as tightly as possible. It is best to fix them to the base with self-tapping screws, rather than nails, this is a more reliable connection.

If such a problem has already arisen, then you can get rid of it with a little repair. There are several ways to eliminate squeaking:

• Foaming of the floor. This is an ineffective method, it gives a short-lived result. Suitable as a temporary solution to the problem. Under the wooden boards, foam is poured, which swells and fills all the free space. Thus, the boards are based on foam, not lags.
• Replacing nails with screws. If the problem of creaking is a poor fit of the board to the lags and loosening of nails, then they can be replaced with more reliable fasteners.
• Driving wedges into slots. If the creak appeared due to friction of the boards, then you can fill the gaps between them with wedges. From the tree, wood chips are cut to the size of the slit, hammered into it and the floor surface is leveled.
• Filling the slots with talc. In places of friction of the boards, you can pour talc or graphite powder, which will reduce this friction.
• Replacing boards. In places of creaking, boards can be in poor condition, which can not be restored. It is best to replace them with new ones.

Overhaul

Capital wooden floor repair in Khrushchev, it is carried out if the boards cannot be restored and the previous repair methods do not eliminate the problem.

Do-it-yourself stages of floor repair in Khrushchev:

• First you need to dismantle the old floor layer. With the help of an ax or nail puller, you need to remove the old boards and logs.

• Now you need to level the surface so that it is perfectly horizontal. Practice shows that on all grounds there are mounds or pits that builders left. The easiest way to check this is with a hydro or laser level.
• If the old lags become worthless, then they are replaced with new, pre-coated antiseptics.

It is desirable that the distance between the lags does not exceed 50 cm, otherwise the boards will begin to creak.

• Floor boards are varnished to increase their lifespan.
• Self-tapping screws fix these boards on the lags.

From above, the floor can be covered with linoleum, laminate, parquet or carpet, but, as mentioned earlier, this can only be done after a good leveling:

• looping method;
• plywood or OSB;
• special self-leveling mix for wood base.

Now you know how to repair your floor in Khrushchev. In most cases, minor cosmetic repairs can help. But in the case of the old floor covering, worn by 60%, it will not be effective, and a thorough overhaul of the floor will be required.

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