Laying OSB on a wooden floor

What to do if the room has an old wooden floor, which is impractical to paint or varnish? If the boards are loose and creak? You can resort to a laborious and expensive way - to tear off the old coating, make a new one screed or stack fresh lags. But there is another, more practical, quick and cheap solution - laying OSB on a wooden floor.

This method has its own nuances that are taken into account during OSB installation. Looking ahead, it is worth saying that the basis of technology is the correct preparation of the foundation. Below is a detailed guide, following which will achieve an excellent result in part leveling the surface of the old wooden floor and the subsequent installation of decorative coatings: laminate, linoleum etc.

Tools and materials for work

The list of necessary devices is minimal:

• nail scrap;
• hammer;
• hammer drill, drill, drill;
• screwdriver;
• large bubble or laser level (with a second tool it will be more convenient to detect irregularities).

Necessary materials:

• OSB plate;
• fasteners - red-hot self-tapping screws with a length of at least 45 mm;
• washers for screws (their presence is desirable, but not necessary).

Choosing this method of "resuscitation" of old wooden floors, you need to have an idea about the material used for these purposes in order to choose it correctly. The alignment result directly depends on this.

OSB board specifications

OSB is a construction analog plywood and chipboard. These boards are more durable and perfectly adapted for decoration. Material appeared on the market relatively recently. OSB is made of wood chips, which is laid in 3 layers. They are glued together with special resin-based compounds. In this case, the layer in the middle is laid perpendicular to the other 2. Due to this, the material resistance to stress is formed.

This parameter is marked with a number when marking. The lower the value, the lower the resistance to stress and the effects of destructive factors such as humidity. For example, index 2 means that the OSB-plate is not moisture resistant and is not able to withstand intense long-term loads. And the number 4 indicates that the product can be used as an overlap that will not collapse even when exposed to moisture.

The material for laying on the floor is selected on the basis of the above-mentioned designations in order to form a smooth rough surface. Do not save on the quality of the OSB-plate. This is fraught with the need to lay an additional layer, which is expensive and inconvenient. The best option is an OSB 3 stove.

Often the question arises: "Do you need a substrate for OSB?". From a practical point of view, no. Wood in itself is an excellent heat-insulating material, and if you consider that it is laid on wooden boards, then the substrate is not needed. But sometimes it is still used to achieve the maximum possible soundproofing effect.

Foundation preparation

A properly completed preparatory phase is more than half the success of floor leveling work. First, a thorough study of the wooden surface is carried out. This is done using a bubble or laser level. All protruding as well as staggering parts are marked, so it will be easier to strengthen them.

The next step is to securely fix the boards. Some experts recommend doing this with dowels, but a more reliable option is to pull the staggering elements with screws to the logs. You need to fix the old coating as reliably as possible. To do this, you can use several mounts in one area. The ideal result is when the “walking” fragments of the floor are recessed or are on par with the rest.

Some recommend brushing off an old coat of paint with a grinder. You need to know that this is only necessary in areas where there are obvious swelling of the paintwork. In fact, the presence of old paint is not critical, you can lay plates on it. Thus it is necessary to remove all large contaminants.

Attention! The main part of the preparatory process is fixing the old wooden coating. This stage should be given increased attention.

Preparing OSB for installation

Before fixing the plate, you first need to lay it on the floor in the room. In this case, 3 requirements must be observed:

• There should be no straight cruciform seams, for which the boards are laid apart with an offset of 50%;

• The gap between the wall and the plates should be at least 10 mm;
• Plates should not be adjacent to each other. The minimum clearance between them is 3 mm.

Attention! Slots are needed in order to avoid the “creep” of plates on each other, the deformation of the decorative flooring. This is due to the expansion of the material due to changes in humidity.

Styling process

After all the preparatory work has been completed, it remains only to tighten the slabs to the old wooden coating with self-tapping screws and fill the gap between the OSB and the wall with construction foam. After the foam has dried, it is cut flush with the flooring.

Plates are fixed with screws along the perimeter every 20-30 cm, but this distance can be reduced. Some experts recommend that you prepare the holes first, but with a screwdriver you can quickly and efficiently tighten the screws without first drilling.

Leveling the floor with the proposed method is the simplest, most effective and cheapest. If you follow the instructions, you can do without the help of specialists.

The cost of work

If you decide to entrust the repair to professionals, you need to calculate how much the service will cost. The price of laying OSB on a wooden floor is lower than the cost of installing these plates on logs and concrete. In Moscow, the prices for this type of work vary in the range of 150-200 rubles / sq. m

To decide whether to lay the boards yourself or hire craftsmen, you need to soberly assess your strengths. The following video will help with this, in which the styling process is graphically presented.