A quality floor is not only the installation of a beautiful and durable finish coat.
It is necessary to properly prepare a foundation for it, which can be done in two ways: leveling the floor with plywood or "wet screed".
Each of them has its own advantages, but the most popular among amateurs to do everything with their own hands got the first method.
Plywood screed is of two types:
- Bound - represents a single whole with a base;
- Floating - does not connect to the base.
In the first case, the plywood is fastened to the base with fixing screws or nails.
In the second sheet more often put on lags and connect with them.
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Now about everything in more detail.
Contents:
- Basic preparations
- Advices in operation
- Service prices
Basic preparations
Start the leveling of the floor with plywood with a selection of material.
The market offers many of its varieties, differing in properties and characteristics, price range, purpose, etc.
The main criterion of choice is moisture resistance, which is one of four classes.
The most expensive of these, FOF, has found wide application in industry, three others( FB, FSF and FC) - the choice of private builders. All of them are ideally suited for flooring.
The most moisture-resistant - PSF plywood, but it can start to release toxic substances with a sudden change in ambient operating conditions.
Less toxic and acceptable at a price - the FK class, which has become most common when the floor is leveled with plywood by one's own hands.
Four different types of plywood are also distinguished, which are marked with 1-4 numbers.
As a finishing flooring, plywood of the first grade is often used, as it does not have surface defects. It is sufficiently sanded and varnished.
For paving floors, plywood of grades 2 or 3 is perfect.
Plywood without lag is widely spread without special efforts and labor-intensive preparatory work.
This installation technique saves considerable time, but requires the base to be pre-aligned.
There are two possible ways of fastening the sheets:
- On the glue;
- Adjustable method.
In the first case, the sheet of plywood is fixed to the adhesive solution. It is good, when the base has no significant differences in heights, a screed has already been applied to the floor.
However, it is necessary to start the work only with a slight moisture of the screed.
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For its determination, a small part of the floor is covered with a sheet of film and pressed with brusks.
If there is no condensation under the polyethylene - you can proceed with installation. The second method is more labor-consuming, complex and is used extremely rarely.
The most common option - leveling the wooden floor with plywood on the adjusting posts.
It is carried out by mounting wooden pads under the bottom and involves laying the sheets in two layers. The first layer is about 2 mm thick, the second layer can be slightly thinner.
Technology of this type allows you to withstand high loads.
Especially popular is the leveling of the floor under the plywood laminate.
It does not interfere with natural ventilation and vapor tightness, reducing the significantly negative effect of moisture on the expensive coating.
Tips for using
Before you begin to level the old floor with plywood, you need to purchase all the necessary building materials and prepare tools( jigsaw, level, drawing accessories, etc.).
Consider two types of grounds:
- Boardwalk;
- Concrete.
Alignment of the plank floor with plywood is possible in several ways:
- Without lag mounting;
- With the arrangement of belt supports;
- On the lags.
The first method was described above. Plywood is attached to the surface with adhesive.
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The second method is more time-consuming. It implies the installation of plywood on self-adjusting belt supports.
For their manufacture, studs are used, One side they screw into the floor. Then several nuts with washers are wound on top of it - they will serve as stops for the sheet.
Having installed the necessary number of studs, over the whole area, the plywood is laid on top and the necessary level is set with a wrench.
The third method is one of the most common and is used in those where the roughing surface has many different irregularities.
At first, lags are mounted on the floor and plywood is screwed on top of them.
If it is necessary to level the concrete floor with plywood, the base must be well prepared.
Any unevenness will cause scratching, reduce the operational life of the finish coat.
The two most common methods for laying plywood sheets on a concrete foundation:
- On glue;
- On the logs.
The answer to the question what should be the thickness of plywood for floor leveling can not be unequivocally given.
It largely depends on the quality of the foundation and the loads that will be on the floor.
The most optimal option is to use sheets with a thickness of 16 to 20 mm.
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If the layer is more than 20 mm, the plywood is laid from two layers( the lower layer must be thicker than the surface layer).
Service prices for
For those who do not want to mess around and spend their time, it is suggested to hire a construction team.
The price offered by the market for leveling the floor with plywood is about 5 y.that is, for a square.
Preparation of a plywood base for a laminate will cost a little more - from 10 y.e.
