Align the floor with your own hands

Leveling floors is an integral part of any major overhaul. During the operation of living spaces, wooden logs are cracks and deformed, the coupler is knocked out and cracked in places, and overlapping slumps. Thanks to modern technologies, everyone can level the floor with their own hands, even without having the appropriate experience and skills of the builder.

Basic alignment methods

For leveling floors in a residential house or apartment 4 methods are used:

• cement-sand screed;
• dry screed;
• self-leveling compounds;
• raised floor from plywood or chipboard on logs.
  

  Cycle

In addition, for leveling of individual defects on the wooden floor, a bark and acrylic putty are used. Semi-dry and wet screeds are justified where the floors are in very poor condition, and the differences in height are 5 cm or more. The drawback of this method is the long drying period of the substrate;The advantage of the screed is the high strength and durability of the coating.

If the difference in height is not more than 3 cm, special mixtures for leveling can be used. They create a perfectly flat surface in a matter of hours, strong, resistant to moisture and temperature changes.

Raised floors are the optimal solution in those cases where it is required to quickly repair a wooden base. Of course, the logs should be in good condition, otherwise you will have to completely change everything and do the coupler.

Determining the floor level

Before you begin, you must accurately determine the floor level. It is most convenient to do this with a laser level: visually determine the highest point of the floor, put the device on it and turn it on. A red line appears on the perimeter of the room;if it is continuous, you can draw a marking on it with a pencil. If the line overlaps in certain places, the point is not selected correctly. The instrument is rearranged and the integrity of the laser line is checked again.

If there is no laser level, you can use the water level - cheaper and more affordable. The process of markup in this case will take more time, but the result will be almost the same. To perform markup, you need an assistant, since you can not hold both ends of the tube by yourself. So, take in hands a transparent polypropylene tube and fill it with water. It is very important that air bubbles do not form inside the tube, and if it does happen, they should be released.

Markup is done as follows:

• 2 people clamp the ends of the tube in their hands and stand in the corners of one wall;
• holding the hand at a height of 30 cm from the floor, open the tubes and attach them to the wall;
• as soon as the water stops, mark with a pencil its level on the wall;
• also put the marks in opposite corners and in the middle of each wall;
• visually allocating the highest point on the floor, conduct a flat horizontal line from this point to the wall and make another mark;
• is then measured by a tape measure the distance from the bottom mark to the top;
• moves all the top markup points down to the required distance;
• connects these points in one continuous line with the help of padding.

Folding is done as follows: take the marking cord, pour blue in the box, carefully shake and pull the cord between the marks. Then pulling it with his fingers, they release it sharply. On the wall there is an even line of blue, which is the new level of the floor.

Leveling with cement screed

For the screed, you will need:

• sieved sand;
• cement;
• mixing tank;
• shovel;
• aluminum profile for beacons;
• rule;
• level;
• dry gypsum.
  

  How to make a cement screed

First you need to prepare the surface: dismantle the old coating, remove debris, dust, repair deep cracks. Next, mix the gypsum and distribute it in small portions along the wall, retracting 20 cm from it. Then do the same at a distance of 70 cm from the wall, and so on until the end of the room. The beams are laid on the solution from the profile, having their parallel lines. With the help of the construction level, the beacons are set horizontally, simultaneously watching the markings along the perimeter of the room. The profile surface must be level with the markup.

To accurately determine the horizontal, the building level must be laid across the profile, capturing not two, but three beacons at once. If necessary, the profile is pressed into the solution or, conversely, raised. Having installed all the beacons, the work is suspended until the solution dries.

When the gypsum grits well, proceed to knead the screed mortar.1 part of cement M400 or M500, 4 parts of sifted sand are poured into the container and thoroughly mixed. Then, in small portions, water is poured in and mixed until uniform. The ready-made mortar must be thick enough to crawl off the shovel with a common mass. The floor is slightly moistened and spread the cement mixture between the beacons, starting from the far corner. To level the mortar, the rule is laid across the two profiles, pressed with both hands around the edges and leads to a uniform motion.

Use of the dry screed

For leveling the floors with a dry screed, you need:

• ruberoid, pergamene or polyethylene film;
• chipboard;
• mixture of expanded clay and sand;
• damper belt;
• self-tapping screws;
• metal profiles;
• adhesive;
• rule;
• ramming;
• screwdriver.
  

  Dry screed

Step 1. Surface preparation

Prepare the roughing base: remove the worn coating, remove dust and debris, blow out foam deep cracks in the floor. The grooves are filled with cement mortar and left to dry completely. Fine gaps are sealed with waterproof sealant. With the help of a laser or water level, the floor markings are made.

Step 2. Waterproofing the floor

Then the base is covered with a roofing paper or a film, laying the material overlap by 20 cm. The joints must be fixed with adhesive tape. Waterproofing should go to the walls and overlap the line markings for a couple of centimeters. If necessary, polystyrene or polystyrene plates are laid on the film.

Step 3. Fastening the soundproof tape

The damper belt not only perfectly muffles sounds, but also prevents deformation of the floor covering due to temperature fluctuations. It is made of foamed polyethylene and is produced in rolls. The tape is cut so that its length is 10 cm longer than the perimeter length, and the width corresponds to the thickness of the leveling layer plus 2-3 cm. Attach the damper tape to the double-sided scotch or immediately acquire the edge material on the adhesive base.

Step 4. Floor leveling

The gypsum solution is mixed and with it the fixing beacons are fixed on the floor. The distance between the beacons should be less than the length of the rule, usually 40-50 cm. The surface of the beacons is equal to zero level, utaplivaya in solution or raising the edges of the profiles. Next, pour dry mixture onto the floor and level with the rule. The minimum thickness of the leveling mixture is 5 cm;If necessary, in this layer lay wiring. After leveling, the dry screed is compacted with a ramming or thick board, and then checked with a building level.

Step 5. Installation of GVL plates

GVL plates are an integral part of the leveling layer. They protect the dry mixture from punching, wetting, shear and other deformations. In order not to damage the surface of the screed during the installation, separate pieces of plates are laid under the feet and move only along them. These plates have on the ends of the grooves, facilitating the laying of the material. On the sheets intended for laying under the walls, cut the folds. Turning the trimmed side of the slab to the wall, the opposite edge is smeared with glue and the next fragment is inserted.

To prevent the sheets from burrowing into the dry mix, they should not be moved heavily on the surface and pressed against the edges. In each subsequent row, the seams between the slabs must be staggered. After installation, the joints are glued with glue, and then reinforced with screws with an anti-corrosion coating. Screws screwed at a distance of 10 cm from each other, and on one sheet it takes about 20 pieces. Hats of self-tapping screws should be well deepened into the surface of the plates. Finally, the sharp edges of the film and the soundproof tape are cut with a sharp knife.

Using self-leveling compounds

With slight differences in height, the alignment method with special mixtures is perfect. Surface preparation is carried out as standard: remove the coating, dust, debris, seal gaps and cracks in the floor. Thoroughly primer the base and allow it to dry completely.

The mixture must be diluted strictly according to the manufacturer's instructions, otherwise cracks in the coating may appear or the composition will too quickly solidify and not spread.

The ready mix is ​​poured onto the floor and immediately rolled out with a special roller. You can also use a conventional or toothed wide spatula. As this solution dries quickly enough, it is impossible to interrupt the process of leveling or to tighten it. If the working area is too large, you should divide it into longitudinal sections and fill in alternately.

Leveling of wooden floors

You can make a flat, reliable floor without the use of a screed. To do this, dismantle the old coating, clean the surface of debris and dust. Cracks are closed with a solution or blow out with foam. From the dense dry boards with a cross section of 40x100 mm, cut logs and fasten them to the base with anchor bolts. The distance between the lags is 30-40 cm. Each lag is checked by the building level, if there are horizontal deviations, lay mounting wedges of different thickness under the boards.

Between the logs, transverse spacers are inserted from the beam and screwed with screws. The distance between the spacers should be equal to the width of the sheeting. As the skin is used thick plywood or chipboard, pretreated with antiseptic composition. So, on top of the log lay plywood, fix it with screws, fill the seams with a sealant.

If the old coating is strong enough, and the irregularities are almost invisible, you can level the floor without removing the boards. To do this, the surface is vacuumed, remove the exfoliated paint, carefully ground. Using the level determine the irregularities, then dilute the acrylic putty and apply evenly to the problem areas. After drying, the soiled places should be treated with fine-grained sandpaper. The top is covered with plywood or chipboard with a thickness of 2 cm.

The above methods will help to cope with the repair of the floors in the home, which means significant savings. Any of the described options has a simple technology and does not require special equipment. If you follow the instructions, accurately and accurately perform each process, everything will necessarily work out.

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