Laying a laminate on the wooden floor with your own hands

When repairing an apartment, there is often a situation where old plank floors need to be covered with a new floor covering, for example, a laminate. Specialists from repair organizations, in this case, assure that before laying a laminate, it is necessary to completely dismantle the old coating and make a new concrete screed, leveling the floors. However, dismantling and screeding works are often much more expensive than a new coating, so the question arises: how to lay a laminate on a wooden floor without dismantling it?

Let's try to understand the requirements imposed on the surface for laying the laminate. The surface must be level, the height difference should not be more than 2 mm per 1 meter of floor length in any direction. Sex should not sag. If these requirements are not met, there is a risk with the load to break the laminate lock, resulting in the integrity of the floor will be broken, there will be cracks. Also, the substrate for laying the laminate should be firm, dry, cleaned of debris. Based on these requirements, it is necessary to inspect the wooden floor and, if necessary, prepare it.

Checking and leveling the floor

First you need to carefully inspect the floors. Old wooden floors, repeatedly painted with paint, often have a convex surface of boards - this is due to the many layers of paint in the center of the board and the partial destruction of its edges. Also, they can have slots of different widths. If the board is relatively new, sheeted, tightly fitted, the floor surface is usually flat, without changes.

Check that the floorboards do not bend, if there is no creaking when walking, also make sure that the boards are tight at the place of fastening to the logs, and the logs themselves did not fail or sag. In addition to the irregularities, the floor may have a significant slope towards the corners or centerroom, it is checked using a laser or bubble level. This deficiency also needs to be corrected before laying the laminate.

The old board with a large number of swings can be aligned in two ways:

To cut it, use an electric car or a machine for leveling the parquet;
Finish with plywood, thickness of plywood from 8 mm.

If the floor has a significant slope, you will need to align it with additional guides and trim the plywood.

If the floor boards bend, you need to check the status of the log. To do this, determine the location of the passage of the lag, in which the deflection is observed, and cut out part of the board. This can be done with an electric jigsaw, and its fabric is better positioned at an angle so that the cut out part forms a narrowing to the bottom. The cut out part of the board can easily be put back without additional fastening. Through the hole obtained, the logs are inspected, and in the event of their sinking, a wooden wedge is slaughtered under them until completely leveled.
The floor sprocket makes sense only if the boards are tightly fastened and do not have a significant slope in any direction. Before you level the floor with an electric gun, you need to eliminate the creaking, fixing the boards on the logs with the help of long screws. Screws can be screwed in both the holes from the previously removed nails, and next to them. Hats of self-tapping screws and nails must be drowned to a depth of about 2 mm. The leveled floor is carefully swept, impregnated with an antiseptic for interior works or linseed oil and dried. After that, the floor can be laid laminate. The direction of installation should be chosen so that the joints of the laminate are perpendicular to the floor boards - this will reduce the possible deflection.

Technology of floor leveling with
electric gun If the boards have small numerous differences, but the overall slope of the floor is satisfactory, the floor is covered with plywood 12 mm, fixing it directly to the boards. To exclude squeaks, it is necessary to fix the plywood with long self-tapping screws through the boards to the logs - thus, all layers of the floor will be tightened in a qualitative way.

Technology of flooring with plywood
Small humpbacks, dips and irregularities can be corrected with pads of pieces of plywood or bar, laid under plywood sheets. If the irregularities are significant and reach 5 cm, the floor will have to be leveled using guides from the bar. It is necessary to calculate in advance the necessary number of bars of different thicknesses in order to make it easier to adjust the height. Pre-cut the plywood, laying it on the old wooden floor. Joints of sheets of plywood are drawn on the floor with a marker - this will facilitate the laying of the bar. The bar is fixed to the floor with self-tapping screws with a minimum step of 50-60 cm, at the same time it is necessary to place the support bars in the places where the plywood sheets are joined. For additional noise and heat insulation, the space between the wooden floor and the plywood can be filled with a heater, for example, with mineral wool. Plywood is fastened on self-tapping screws with a cone-shaped bonnet, dipping them level with the surface. The clearance between plywood and walls should be 3-5 mm. It should be remembered that leveling the floor in this way will cause it to rise relative to the level of the rest of the floor in the apartment, and, possibly, will require replacement of the doors.

Sample of floor leveling with

bars Video - how to lay a laminate on a wooden floor

Laminate laying

Veneered or leveled floor is ready for laying laminate. Under the laminate is necessary a substrate of expanded polyethylene. The substrate is necessary in order to avoid knocking the laminate on the substrate. The thickness of the substrate is from 1 to 3 mm, but in the process of operation it has the property of caking, so there is no special point in buying a thick substrate. The substrate is laid on the floor by butt, joints are glued with building tape to fix it on the floor. In addition, you can fix the substrate with adhesive tape around the edges.

Technology of laying a laminate on a substrate of foamed polyethylene
The laminate must be kept in the room for 2 days before laying, so that it can acquire the temperature and humidity of the room. Before laying, you need to determine the way of laying: parallel to the light, perpendicular to the light or diagonally. Diagonal laying requires a more thorough fit, and is recommended for narrow spaces to visually expand them. Usually the laminate is laid perpendicular to the window - so the joints are less noticeable.

Before laying we can withstand the laminate at home 48 hours
After selecting the direction of laying, you need to measure the distance between the walls and calculate the number of laminate boards, as well as the width of the last board. If the width of the last board is less than 1/3, it is advisable to begin laying the first row of boards cut in half. Sawed pieces of laminate are useful for the last row.
Laminate can be of three types: with locks such as "Click", "Lock", as well as glue laminate. Fastening of the lock "Click" occurs when the board is installed at an angle of 45 ° to the previous and snap lock. This system is collapsible. Lock "Lock" is fixed by tapping lightly on the opposite end of the board until it clicks, and the spike of the laminate is inserted into the groove. Tapping the laminate is necessary through the bar so as not to damage the groove. Glutinous laminate is often used in wet rooms, for its fastening use special glue.

The technology of the correct joining of laminate
Laying the laminate with the lock "Click" is produced in rows. First, fasten the ends of the boards of the first row, align the row in place and wedge the laminate between the walls using thin rails. This is necessary to create a gap that regulates the thermal expansion of the coating. Collect the second row in the same way and, placing it at an angle to the first, lead it into the lock, then lower it and the lock snaps into place. So continue laying to the end of the room.

Laminate technology with "Click" lock
Laminate with lock "Lock" is laid loose - this will help to fix the boards in a single surface. To do this, measure the length of the board, the length of the room, calculate the number of boards in one row. If, as a result of the last board, about half remains, then it is used at the beginning of the next row. If the length of the room is laid flat number of boards without a remainder, then in each second row, one board is cut in half, beginning with a half-board laying. Between the wall and the coating also leave a gap of 3-5 mm, installing there a wedge from the rack.

Laminate fastening technology with lock Lock
The adhesive laminate is laid using the same technology, but the groove joint of the groove is glued with glue, and after laying the boards are fastened with the tape temporarily. After laying the wedges are removed and the plinth is installed.

Technology of laying glued laminate