Alignment of walls by lighthouses: we learn to put beacons under plaster with our own hands

In order to achieve an ideal condition of the walls after the cladding works, they must be prepared very well and aligned beforehand. The best way to level the walls is to use beacons. This process is fairly simple, but it has a lot of nuances, without knowledge of which it is impossible to produce a quality alignment. In this article, we consider the alignment of walls on lighthouses: we learn to put beacons under the plaster with our own hands.

Surface preparation

In order for wall leveling with plastering to be of the highest quality, the old plaster layer must be completely removed to the very base. If you do not want to do this, you need to conduct a thorough examination of the wall surface in order to identify obvious defects or areas where there are significant unevenness or plaster falling off. In such places it is necessary to remove the old coating.

First of all, you need to carefully inspect all surfaces of walls. In the presence of deep depressions they need to cover with a layer of plaster. All depressions must be aligned with the rest of the surface, the height differences may be only in the range of 5 to 12 mm. Small protrusions are required to be axed. Do not trust your eyes, it is better to use the laser level or conventional threads. On both sides in the walls near the ceiling you need to screw in the screws and tie the plumbs to them to the floor. Between them, you must pull a horizontal thread, at the ends of which there are sliding nodules. It will need to be moved from top to bottom along the entire wall, marking problem areas with a pencil.

Preliminary work of

After all the rough work on the preparation of walls has been completed, it is necessary to carefully wall the wall from dust and dirt with a broom or vacuum cleaner. After that, it is treated with a primer, which protects the surface from excessive absorption of moisture. In addition, it will prevent the appearance of fungus and mold. Selection of the primer mix is ​​carried out depending on what material was used for the construction of the wall.

Sometimes it is necessary to use reinforcing mesh for plastering, especially in the kitchen or in the bathroom, because ceramic tiles will be glued there. This need also arises when there is a plaster layer of more than 10 mm. The reinforcing mesh is fixed by dowels or directly to the solution.

Installation of beacons for plastering

Beacons are called special limiting planks, which are necessary for the master to orient himself when laying a layer of plaster. Their installation takes a lot of time, but allows you to make basic work much faster and easier with a high quality result. It is possible to distinguish several varieties of lighthouses, which are used most often. The most common is a metal beacon, which is an even profile, which is also called a beacon rack. It has a height of 3, 6 and 10 mm. This device has several advantages:

• Fully ready for use.
• Installs on the wall very quickly.
• It does not require drying, therefore plastering can be carried out immediately after installation.
• It is most convenient to use metal beacons during work on small planes.
• Fastening by dowels.
• Such lighthouses are sold in any store of construction materials.

. However, the beacons of the metal profile have a number of serious drawbacks:

• In the process of manufacturing or transporting a large number of beacon racks undergo deformation and distortion.
• When plastering a large area, it is very difficult to achieve a flat surface, since after the solution hardens, the upper edge of the beacon may remain above it. To hide this defect, you need to grind the protruding part or apply one more layer of plaster.
• When leveling walls with gypsum, these beacons will have to be removed after the end of the work, and the formed irregularities should be sealed separately. This must be done for the reason that the metal reacts with the gypsum and is able to emit rust.
• The profile of the metal is not very strong, so to strengthen the structure it is necessary to spread it over the entire length with a solution that can fall off after drying.

Another kind of lighthouses are made from a pipe. Beacons made of a metal pipe have a high strength, which makes it impossible to strengthen it by means of a solution along the entire length. This feature makes it possible to begin finishing on the day of installation of lighthouses. Since the solution fills completely all the space under the beacons, the screed becomes more durable and does not fall apart into pieces during the solidification process. As such beacons can be used not only a round tube, but also rectangular or square profiles. This is even more preferable, since such products are more reliable and even. From the screed they can be removed the next day. The disadvantage of such beacons is the possibility of buckling them in the extraction process.

The simplest are beacons made of a plaster mix or cement. When using them, there is no need to purchase additional materials. They allow to achieve an even surface not only on a small, but also on a large area. The disadvantage of cement beacons lies in the fact that it is quite difficult for an unprepared person to expose them.

How to mount beacons for plastering

Not only the beacons themselves can be different, but even the ways of fixing them. Metal profiles are installed in two ways. The first method involves fastening beacons using dowels, and the second using a solution. To fasten beacons with dowels, you will need self-tapping screws and dowels. To level the rope level, to drill a hole punch. Well, the necessary number of lighthouses themselves.

The process of installing metal beacons is carried out according to the following algorithm:

At the beginning, vertical marking is applied, which looks like lines that are located at a distance of 80 - 100 cm from each other. The very first line should be about 20 cm from the edge of the wall. In order to conduct it smoothly, you need to use a plumb line or a building level.

On these extreme lines, drill several holes at a distance of 30 cm between each other to a depth of 8 mm. In these holes drive dowels, coinciding with them in diameter. You can use the outdated method, which involves hammering holes in the chinks. Then screw the screws, but not completely, which will allow later to adjust the level. The surfaces of the self-tapping screws are leveled and put on them beacons on which the beacons themselves are attached.

Having fastened exactly two vertical profiles along the edges of the wall, it is necessary to stretch a rope between them, which will show all the projecting zones. With the help of screws it is possible to easily adjust the thickness of the plaster layer. Then the remaining beacons are installed in a similar way and adjusted by screws. After all the lighthouses are installed, you can decorate the wall with plaster. This method is noteworthy in that it makes it easy to adjust the thickness of the plaster.

To fix metal beacons with mortar, you will need sand, cement, gypsum, beacons, and a building level. For marking, you can use the rule or a suitable flat rake. With these tools, it is easy to check the curvature of the wall. Then you need to mix a very dense cement-sand mortar and add gypsum to it to shorten the setting time. This mixture is applied in small portions along the length of all marking lines. Beacons are attached to it. Mounting of lighthouses is carried out after checking by plumbing or building level. For the final fixation after full equalization, another layer of mortar is used. The median lines are filled in the same way. Theoretically, this process is not complicated, but in practice it is rather problematic without the availability of skills.

To install cement beacons, you need to follow the following procedure:

From the ceiling and walls retreat 30 cm and drive into this point a nail whose hat is from the wall surface at a distance comparable to the thickness of the plaster layer. The plumb line is attached to the nail and descends to the level of 10 cm from the floor. The second nail is clogged about 20 cm from the floor at the location of the cord.

The same goes for the beacon on the other side of the wall. When all four of the nails are driven in, you need to pull the ropes between the top and between the bottom so that they do not touch the surface of the wall. If nevertheless there are points of contact, the nails will have to be pulled out a little and set to a new position when using plumb bobs. The middle beacons are installed similarly.

Then you need to prepare the solution and apply it directly to the nails so that it hides the hats. After the solidification begins, the knife needs to cut off the excess solution. When the beacons are ready, they need to put a rule, and the space under them must be filled with a solution. When the solidification starts, the rule must be removed. As a result, an even surface of the guides from the solution is obtained, which has the form of strips along which the wall will be plastered.

. Application of the plaster mixture

. The next step is to apply the plaster mixture to the wall. First of all, the thickness of the plaster layer is determined. If it is more than 10 - 15 mm, then the whole process should be divided into two stages. In the course of the first approach, it is necessary to pour a solution onto the wall and level it so that the upper surface does not reach the plane of the beacons by about 5-10 mm. After the first layer of the solution has dried, the final finish can be started. On the walls, a solution is placed in a slightly larger quantity than necessary and leveled with a rule resting on the plane of the beacons. The tool is moved from bottom to top, making swinging movements from side to side. In no case can the rule be removed from the guides during this movement. Ideally, the surface will be flat after the first pass.

The removal of the corners between the ceiling / floor and the wall is done only after the entire main surface is seized,but it must remain wet. For removing corners a special trowel is used. The beacons are removed after the wall has dried completely. The furrows that remain after them are filled with plaster mortar using a level that slides along the already prepared sections of the wall. If you intend to paste ceramic tiles on the wall, the profile can be left in the wall.

Final work of

As a result of the work carried out, we get a fairly flat surface of the wall. However, such a wall can only be used for laying tiles, and then it will need to be primed. If it is planned to carry out facing works with other materials, then it is necessary to grind the surface of the wall with a putty. This will help to level the walls to a perfectly smooth state. In the beginning, the starting filler is used, the layer of which is applied according to the instructions of the mixture manufacturer. If the walls are painted or thin wallpaper is applied on them, then the finish putty is needed, which is rubbed with a special trowel, which causes the walls to be perfectly smooth.

If you decide to level the walls in your apartment or house, then the best option would be plastering on lighthouses. Do this work yourself, if you take into account the recommendations that were given above.