Adjustable floor on logs: mounting features

Modern ways of leveling the floor can dramatically reduce time and effort. If earlier only a concrete screed was used for this and waited for it to dry for several weeks, today you can start finishing the premises immediately after alignment. Adjustable supports for floor lag allow you to raise the level of the surface to any height, hide under the floor covering of communication and at any time to change the set parameters. The dry floor screed on the adjustable lags passes quickly and neatly, unlike working with classic cement mortar. If you want to level the floor in a couple of hours, we'll tell you how.

Adjustable floor device

The installation of the floor on adjustable logs consists of the installation of the log itself and the attachment of a rough floor covering to the floor. The device lag in this case is very interesting and opens a lot of opportunities for home masters. However, first let's talk about the features of use and the device of adjustable floors.

The flooring can be made of any materials with sufficient strength, hydrophobicity and durability. Very good in this regard has proved moisture-resistant plywood and drywall. However, the final choice still depends on the type of flooring and the requirements for its installation. Plywood, for example, is suitable for laying laminate, parquet and linoleum. If you want to tile the floor with tiles, then the flooring is better made of moisture-resistant plasterboard, DSP or similar materials. For wooden floors, choose a grooved or planed board.

Adjustable floor on the lag is perfect for both residential and office buildings. It can withstand strong loads of up to 2.5 tons / m², so technology is often used in the construction of shopping centers and gyms. Long service life - about 50 years - allows it to compete with its main competitors( floor on ordinary lags, concrete screed, dry screed).

There are several types of adjustable floors defined by the supporting element:

1. Logs are an excellent alternative to concrete screed. The technology allows you to raise the level of the floor by 5 cm or more. The remaining space at the bottom can be used for laying utilities, additional insulation( if you live on the first floor) or soundproofing( if there are noisy neighbors in the apartment below).Installation takes a minimum of time and effort with all the necessary materials and the simplest tools( drill, hammer, wrenches).
2. Plates - instead of lag on the lifting elements, attach the plates. The maximum level of raising the floor is 3 cm. This method is suitable in cases where you need to quickly level the floor or insulate it. To hide communications downwards it will not turn out - too there is not enough place. There will fit only thin wires and cables - from the phone, the Internet, etc.
   

Advantages and disadvantages of the adjustable log

Every year there is more and more innovation, which has a lot of advantages, but, unfortunately, only rare exceptions are without shortcomings. Consider the advantages and disadvantages of using adjustable logs of wooden floors.

Advantages of adjustable floors:

1. The design makes the floor surface perfectly smooth and eliminates any horizontal changes.
2. Logs can be mounted even on a crooked base.
3. After installation under the floor, there is a free space of 5-25 cm, which can be used with advantage.
4. For assembly and installation, you will only need a screwdriver and a circular saw - no glue mixtures or mortars.
5. You can make an even floor in just a few hours.
6. Adjustable supports give a rigid fixing of a new flooring with a base.
7. The cost of an adjustable floor is almost the same as that of a concrete screed, that is low.
8. After installing the floor, you can immediately start laying the floor covering.

Determining factors in the choice of adjustable floors for many are low cost and elementary installation.

Disadvantages of adjustable floor on logs:

1. With time, such floors begin to creak. This can be prevented even at the stage of installation, carefully removing the surface of the overlap after making holes. Another point - dowels must be driven to the limit, so that the racks are not subsequently loosened up. But this will only delay the appearance of the creaking. Avoid it because of the physical characteristics of the wood from which the logs are made - it "breathes", narrows and expands from temperature changes, shrinks and swells with moisture.
2. The second disadvantage is that if you need to raise the floor level, say, 15-20 cm, then the sound of the steps on it will be very loud. Correct it will help a thick sound-absorbing lining and heat-insulating mats. This will increase the cost of work, but it will make the floor warmer and quieter.

Assembly features

Adjustable lugs can be made on their own or buy an already complete set of floors. The main thing in the design is the control mechanism, which makes it possible to level the surface with absolute accuracy. Ready systems are quite expensive, and it is not always possible to find them, so we suggest considering the option of creating an adjustable floor on the lags with your own hands. To do this, you will need the most common materials that can be found in any construction shop.

There are two options for adjusting the adjustable floors, each of which has its own nuances, but the complexity of mounting in both cases is approximately the same. Both methods give an equally qualitative result, if all the requirements of the technology were met, so the choice depends purely on personal preferences and opportunities.

Heel pins

The most common method of setting adjustable floor lag. As the supporting elements use ordinary steel pins. Consider briefly the construction of such floors:

1. For logs, a dry pine bar with a square section of 50 mm is required.
2. For an adjustable support, use an M6 stud with two nuts, washers and an anchor sleeve.
3. Drill a hole in the concrete floor of the floor and hammer into it the spacer of the anchor sleeve. Score to the very end so that it is flush with the surface.
4. Screw the lower nut with washer onto the pin - they will be located under the lag.
5. Drill a hole in the leg with a diameter slightly larger than the diameter of the stud.
6. Put the lag on the hairpin.
7. Adjust the height of the lag by screwing the nut underneath it. When it takes the required position, fix it by screwing the upper nut.

Before you begin, make an accurate calculation of all necessary materials in accordance with the floor area. Also it is necessary to prepare a premise - to take out all furniture, sweep and as much as possible to dust a surface of a concrete coupler.

How to make adjustable floors for logs:

1. Place the beams parallel to each other in steps of about 30 cm to ensure sufficient floor stiffness. If you place the beams further, the floor covering can not withstand the load and bend. When arranging the lag, maintain an indentation from the wall of 5-7 cm. At first it is more convenient to put two extreme lags, and then - intermediate ones.
2. Drill holes in the lugs for the studs, making pre-markings with a simple pencil. Select a bit with a diameter slightly larger than the diameter of the stud so that it can freely enter and rotate inside the bar. Since most often for the adjustment of adjustable floors in apartment houses use the M6 ​​stud, the hole diameter for it should be 8 mm. Hairpins should be separated from each other no more than 50 cm.
3. Make a cake on the logs with a perforated drill, whose diameter is several millimeters larger than the diameter of the washer. Cycovka will drown the washer with the nut in the lag and mount the flooring as smoothly as possible. It is logical that the depth of the cicle should be the same or slightly larger than the total thickness of the nut and washer.
4. Using a drill or perforator, make a hole in the concrete screed through the bar. This will eliminate the inconsistency of the hairpins and lag.
5. Beat anchor struts into the holes in the screed and screw in the studs.
6. Screw the nuts onto them and then put on the washers.
7. After installing all the studs, proceed with the installation of the log. Plant the logs in turn and adjust their height, adjusting the position using the building level. The most convenient way to do this is to use the laser level, but you can cope with the usual hydraulic level. As a result, all the logs must be brought to a single plane.
   
8. Fasten the bars by putting on the studs the second washers with nuts and cut the protruding ends with a bulgarian or metal hacksaw.
9. Lay the heat insulation layer and lay the communications. As a heater can be used inexpensive mineral wool, expanded clay or foam.
10. It remains only to attach the flooring to the logs with the help of wood screws.

The most difficult and demanding installation time is the correct installation of anchors. Since the floor slabs are usually hollow, the anchors must be driven very carefully and as tightly as possible. Constantly watch that they do not fall through the plate. The process is complicated by the fact that the floor is reinforced concrete, that is, it has a reinforcing cage. According to the "law of meanness" very often when drilling holes for anchors fall into the armature.

Logs on the corners

The installation of the log on the corners is not fundamentally different from the technology described above, except that the support elements are not studs, but steel corners. This option is suitable in the event that you can not drive an anchor.

Procedure:

1. Check the surface level of the future floor.
2. Place the bars on the floor with a distance of 25-35 cm.
3. Mark the lines of the bars.
4. On the marked lines to the concrete screed, fix the steel corners at a distance of 40-50 cm. Choose the size of the corner, depending on what level you want to raise the floor to. In this case, the corner must be slightly smaller than the required lifting height, because the thickness of the flooring and the finish coat will be taken into account. Otherwise, you have to cut off excess parts of the corners.
5. Attach the beams to the corners, adjusting the position using the construction level.
6. To increase the rigidity of the structure, it is recommended to install additional corners on the back sides of the log.
7. Lay heat insulation and communications.
8. After that, you can mount the finishing floor.

The most difficult part of this work is the installation of extreme lags, which are closest to the walls. A small distance between the wall and the lag does not allow you to "turn around" and fully work with tools. Slightly fantasizing, you can solve this problem quite simply - fix the corner not to the screed, but to the wall. Also, you can skip the bar along the entire perimeter of the room, which makes the adjustment of the floor much easier, make the floor stronger and reduce the laboriousness of the work.

We have described how to work with wooden structures, but these technologies are not applicable for adjustable floors on metal lags. They are used where the loads are too large for wooden elements, for example, in factories, factories, car parks, etc. We hope that our article has helped you understand how to make a flat and warm floor at home easily and quickly.