Laminate is an unpretentious material and can be laid on almost any surface. The main thing is that it is prepared - the floor must be level so that the laminate does not deform during operation. Thus, preparing the floor for laminate implies precise...
How to level a concrete floor under laminate
Can be equipped in apartments whose floors are made of reinforced concrete slabs. It allows you to get an almost perfectly flat surface. Leveling a concrete floor is carried out in two main stages. Currently development construction technologies truly rapidly, and therefore today, instead of the traditional screed device, the surface is prepared and leveled using special mixtures called self-leveling floors. Despite this, installation technologies have remained virtually the same.
Instructions
Let's take a closer look at the process of preparing the floor for laminate.
Stage one
At the first stage, rough, so to speak, rough leveling is carried out. The mixture laid at this stage makes up most of the thickness of the entire screed. To carry out this procedure, mixtures with large fractions of components are used. If there is peeling or weak concrete, cement or carpet adhesive, or remnants of previous coatings on the floor surface, they must be removed and the surface cleaned. Otherwise, the prepared floor will have air bubbles, which will significantly impair the adhesion of the base mixture and leveling mixtures.
The rough leveling work itself is carried out as follows:
Mark the required thickness of the screed using a level
Along the perimeter of the prepared room there is a mark required thickness screeds using a level.
Making bases for beacon slats
Slides are being created concrete mortar. A system of level beacon slats is installed on these slides.
Installation of beacon strips
After this it is prepared cement mortar. It consists of seventy-five percent sifted sand and twenty-five percent M-400 cement. Using a drill equipped with a special attachment, the solution is mixed in a suitable clean container.
Mixing cement mortar for screed
Keep in mind that when preparing a self-leveling mixture, the dry component is poured into water. We recommend using the prepared mixture immediately, since diluting the thickened mixture with water is unacceptable. We also recommend paying attention to the shelf life of the mixture intended for arranging the screed. It can be limited.
Focusing on the lighthouse slats, we fill the screed.
Pouring the solution
After this, we level it, resting the ends of the rule on the lighthouse slats.
Alignment by beacons
When mixing and pouring cement mixture Air bubbles often form in it. They need to be removed. To do this, the screed is rolled with a needle roller.
Needle roller for self-leveling floor
If the floors are made of monolithic concrete, know that they have very high absorption. Therefore, it is recommended to treat such floors twice. To obtain a level surface, be sure to mark a horizontal level. The foundation is poured only after the beacons are installed.
Stage two
After rough leveling, the final leveling of the floor is carried out. To do this, the rough layer must be completely dry. For final leveling, fine-grained mixtures are used. These mixtures have a liquid consistency and are applied in extremely thin layers, spreading almost evenly over the floor surface and creating an almost perfectly smooth and even surface.
Final alignment concrete floor
Leveling wooden floors under laminate
Wooden base
The process of leveling old wood floors is somewhat more labor-intensive than leveling concrete floors. One solution is to completely remove the old wood covering, but this process will be quite labor-intensive and quite expensive. As a rule, in some places the boards protrude, in others, on the contrary, they sag. Read about it here. Let's consider other methods.
Cycling
This method will not completely solve the problem, but if you need to quickly level the floor, it is quite acceptable. Scraping is carried out using a scraping machine and a manual scraper (in hard-to-reach places).
Scraping a wooden floor
The looper cuts quickly enough upper layer wooden floor, and allows you to get a fairly even coating in a short period of time. As a rule, when sanding, a new coating is not placed on the old floor; instead, the floor is covered with several layers of varnish.
Using plywood and chipboard
This option is practically optimal and inexpensive. Chipboard or plywood is laid on the old wooden floor. The optimal thickness is twelve millimeters. To improve the thermal insulation properties, we recommend placing it under a layer of these materials. Since sheets of plywood or chipboard can sag, you will need to equip a good, reliable support system. Beacons are installed on self-tapping screws, and logs are installed on beacons.
To fix the plywood, self-tapping screws with a countersunk head are used. This technology has one drawback - it will raise the floor. But it's not so scary, because maximum height the rise is only three centimeters.
If the room has high ceilings, it is possible to use special floor systems equipped adjustable joists. In this case, the floor can rise up to ten centimeters.
Laying a foam polyethylene backing under the laminate.
Now you know how to level a laminate floor. If you follow all the instructions given in this article, you will get an excellent laminate flooring that will last for a very long time.
An impeccably leveled subfloor plane is the main condition for many years of impeccable service and aesthetic appeal of the laminate laid on top of it. Those who want to know how to level a laminate floor can receive several equally correct, technically sound answers. It all depends on the type of base and the preferred floor layout. The choice of optimal technology, in turn, is focused on the size of the budget, the limits of time consumption and labor costs.
Leveling is a mandatory preliminary stage of the full process of laying laminate flooring. If there are even minor defects on the base surface, the locks will become loose due to unevenly distributed load, annoying squeaking will become a concern, and over time the panel may crack. In order to prevent the consequences, they make a screed of a concrete or wooden base, on which laminate is most often laid.
Methods for leveling a concrete base
A concrete subfloor is often a dismal testament to poor quality construction work. cement screed or slabs, the flat surface of which is the ceiling of the room below. Fundamentally, the choice of technology for leveling a cement base is focused on the condition of the base surface, which determines the amount of labor costs and the amount of financial costs.
If the leveling was done professionally, but managed to last a couple of decades, the destruction of the upper cement layer of the intensively loaded floor plane still occurred.
Grinding as the simplest leveling method
Minor differences in surface level can be eliminated by grinding. To process a large room, you can order the services of workers from a repair organization who perform this type of leveling using specific grinding machines. You can simply rent equipment from the same organization. It is enough to bring a screed that is not too damaged in a small nursery or in a home office to the required performance by sanding it with sandpaper.
The polished surface is first coated with a primer, which forms strong crystalline compounds in the top layer of the base. However, sanding work is often completed by pouring a self-leveling mixture.
Pouring self-leveling mixture
Not too cheap, but quite operational method used to level cement floors with differences in relief up to 0.5 cm.
- If multi-stage pouring of a self-leveling screed is not planned, it is not necessary to mark the level and set beacons. But to indicate the height of the screed, it is recommended to determine the highest point of the floor using a laser device or level gauge and make marks on the walls up to which the mixture will need to be poured.
- Before pouring, the base surface is primed and a layer of waterproofing is applied to it.
- The self-leveling mixture, prepared in strict accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions, is poured into a small strip and leveled with a spatula.
Note. It is better to prepare the mixture in small portions, since 15 minutes after preparation it loses its plasticity and begins to harden. Batch preparation and sequential processing of areas will eliminate the possibility of wasted material consumption.
After applying the screed to the entire surface of the base floor, you should take a technological break, giving it time to completely cure. It is 3 or more days. Polymerization of the mixture must take place without drafts or temperature fluctuations; heating devices and forced ventilation devices must not be turned on.
Traditional screed made of sand and cement
A cement-sand mixture for leveling is used if significant differences are detected. For this purpose, use factory dry compositions or homemade mixture from 1 part of cement, 3 equal parts of sand and water, the amount of which allows you to obtain a consistency similar to thick sour cream.
- Level marks are placed on the walls, determined by a laser device or a simple level gauge.
- Lighthouse guide rails are installed on a clean, dry floor.
- The screed is placed between the guides, then the solution is leveled using a rule or a special transverse lath.
- After a couple of hours, the surface is additionally rubbed with a wooden trowel.
- A day later, the lighthouse slats are dismantled and the remaining holes are sealed with a solution similar to the screed, flush with the leveled surface.
The cement-sand leveling layer will gain maximum strength only 28 days after completion of the work. During this period, the screed must be moistened twice a day, protected from drafts and covered with polyethylene. However, the lengthy, labor-intensive process is relatively inexpensive.
The main advantages of cement-sand screed are the porosity of the structure, which provides excellent sound and heat insulation, minimal shrinkage due to the limited amount of water and the availability of manufacturing materials. And how to make such a screed with your own hands and technologically correctly, we will tell you in the material:.
Laminate can be laid on a screed if its humidity is not higher than the limit of 5%. If the humidity does not meet these conditions, lay a layer of waterproofing and lay a cork backing.
Dry screed with gypsum fiber board, plasterboard sheets, chipboard, plywood
To level a cement floor using the dry screed method, logs are installed, that is, a structure is constructed from timber to which gypsum fiber sheets, plywood, particle boards and similar material are attached:
- Markers of the planned floor level are set.
- A waterproofing layer is laid on the rough surface.
- A floor system is being constructed on joists; the rules for its installation are described in the corresponding article.
- The logs, pre-aligned horizontally by placing wood chips and trimming off the excess, are attached to base floor dowels or anchors.
- One or several layers of material selected for the installation of a dry screed are laid on top of the logs. The sheets and panels are fastened with self-tapping screws.
Note. Factory-ready systems with control devices will help simplify and speed up the construction of floors on joists.
The technology is applicable if the height of the ceilings allows it to be reduced by 10 cm or more. The advantage of the technology is the ability to lay laminate flooring immediately upon completion of the work.
Leveling a wood floor
A wooden floor with noticeable defects and gaps must be disassembled, damaged elements replaced, loose boards firmly nailed, driving the fastener heads deeply into the material. After which you can:
- build a dry screed along the joists by analogy with the method described above, using a vapor barrier material instead of a waterproofing layer;
- lay plywood, gypsum plasterboard, plasterboard sheets directly on the wooden floor;
- sand the wooden floor.
How to level a floor with plywood is described on our website:. Step-by-step instruction performance of work.
Information about floor leveling methods will help you decide on the priority screed technology. The owner himself is free to decide what is more profitable for him: reducing costs, minimizing labor costs or increasing the pace of repairs. Knowing the advantages of each leveling method guarantees a competent choice of the most appropriate option.
Many consumers are interested in how to level the floor under the laminate so that it meets the requirements of the manufacturers flooring material. The base to be leveled varies, so there is no clear answer. Read on to learn how to best prepare various surfaces under the subsequent laminate flooring.
What are the main requirements for the mounting surface?
Laminate is a piece of plates that are assembled into a continuous floor surface thanks to locking connections. The material is final, that is, it is not subject to further finishing. The peculiarity of the plates is their rigidity - they cannot take the shape of the base. If the base surface is not smooth enough, the structure of the material is subject to increased load, which leads to premature wear and mechanical damage to the laminate during operation.
Irregularities in the base also affect the quality of the connection of the locks. The seams between the plates laid on uneven areas of the floor will diverge, and if there is significant curvature, the connecting devices will break. Hence the main requirement for the mounting surface - evenness . The permissible curvature of the floor base should not exceed 2 mm per linear meter in all areas of the room.
The laminate is laid on the substrate in a floating manner. It means that flooring is not fixed rigidly to the base, while a deformation gap remains from the walls along the perimeter of the assembled layer. This circumstance explains another requirement for the base - horizontality. On an inclined surface, the coating will gradually “slide” towards the lower wall and rest against the obstacle, which will lead to the impossibility of thermal deformation of the plates and their gradual destruction.
In addition, the mounting surface must be durable and dry (the laminate delaminates and becomes unusable when exposed to high humidity). These requirements for the foundation dictate the choice of possible preparation methods. work surface for installation of this flooring material. Typically, rough bases for leveling under laminate are:
- old concrete (cement-sand screeds);
- floor slabs (in apartments and some private houses);
- wooden flooring along the joists.
Screeds and floor slabs are of a similar nature, so the methods for their preparation are often identical. Let's consider what technologies are applicable to level them.
Screed from “wet” cement-sand mixtures - how to create?
Self-prepared cement-sand material or a solution of ready-packed mixtures (levelers) can be used as a material for leveling surfaces. Their method of application is approximately the same. It is more financially profitable to prepare the solution yourself, but it is inconvenient to do this in apartments of multi-storey buildings, where it is preferable to use packaged mixtures. Levelers are easier to lift to floors and mix the working solution (use a regular construction mixer or an appropriate drill attachment).
These materials are used for the manufacture of screeds with a curvature of the base relative to the horizontal from 1 to 8 cm. In order for the product to be manufactured to meet the requirements, before pouring the solution, guides (beacons) located in the same horizontal plane are installed, and after partial setting of the mixture, grinding is carried out, leveling out minor irregularities . The technology for installing screeds from these materials involves the following steps.
- 1. Preparation of the base surface, including cleaning of debris and dust, removal of exfoliated material.
- 2. Waterproofing the base, which consists of covering the base surface with a dense plastic film or roll waterproofing materials.
- 3. Aligning the guides at the level of the intended surface of the floor base.
- 4. Filling the solution between the beacons and leveling it according to the level of the installed guides.
- 5. Removing the beacons (one day after pouring), filling the resulting depressions and grinding the entire surface.
It is intended to be used on a dry basis, so you need to wait until the “wet” screed dries. It is not necessary to wait 26-28 days for the cement to fully mature (crystallize), since the load on the prepared base is not critical.
Leveling with semi-dry solutions - what are the advantages?
Nowadays, semi-dry mixtures are increasingly used for screeding. Their difference from classical solutions is in the low percentage of solvent and the use of plasticizers that reduce the surface tension of water, which makes it easier to mix the components of the semi-dry solution and their better wetting.
The prepared mixture has a crumbly consistency and does not release free moisture. Thanks to this feature of the solution, there is no need for waterproofing measures. The second advantage is the almost unlimited thickness of the screed, which makes it possible to reduce the plane of the floors of all rooms to one horizontal level with significant initial differences in the levels of the floor slabs (typical for apartments in multi-storey buildings old building). Third positive feature– ease of creating a flat surface that meets the requirements for laminate flooring.
How to level a laminate floor using semi-dry mixtures? The technology is simple and includes the following sequence of actions.
- 1. Preparing the base (the same as described for a regular screed).
- 2. Installation of beacons.
- 3. Preparation of the mixture (usually a special mixer is used, but a regular concrete mixer can also be used).
- 4. Layer-by-layer backfilling and compaction of semi-dry mortar so that the material ends up slightly higher than the guides.
- 5. Next, as a rule, remove the excess layer of the mixture that rises above the guides, and smooth the surface.
Semi-dry screed is much stronger than classic screed, does not shrink, and dries faster. Already on the 3-4th day at room temperature and above it is possible to lay the finishing floor covering. When leveling floors with sand-cement screeds of any type, installation is required damper tape along the perimeter of the walls, which would compensate for linear deformations of the base of the floor when the temperature changes.
Self-leveling materials - if there is curvature
If the floor slabs or the previously made concrete screed have a slight curvature in the horizontal projection (up to 3 cm), it is more advisable to use special leveling mixtures, which, during the process of pouring them, independently form a flat horizontal surface. These are so-called self-leveling solutions, although this material is often called self-leveling floors.
Dry ready-made mixtures are sold packaged in paper bags of 20 and 25 kilograms and involve preparing the working material by dissolving it in water and mixing with a construction mixer. The solution, prepared according to the manufacturer’s recommendations (indicated on the packaging), is poured onto the concrete base, spread with a notched trowel, and then rolled with a needle roller. Last operation necessary to remove air bubbles that reduce the strength of the material.
The use of self-leveling materials, despite their comparative high cost, is justified when leveling slight curvature of the base surface. After pouring, the solution quickly sets (1-2 hours) and dries (a day or two), which significantly reduces forced technological interruptions in repair work.
Dry methods for preparing the base - 2 options
These include laying various slabs on installed joists and dry screed using technology Knauf. Both methods ensure the creation of a base surface that meets the requirements for subsequent laying of the laminate without the need to take a break to dry the material used. The first method involves installing wooden blocks with a certain pitch, depending on the nature and thickness of the material laid on top. The following are used as leveling boards: OSB, plywood, chipboard.
For laminate, they prefer to use OSB boards that meet the requirements for surface quality in all respects, are more affordable in terms of material costs and are the most convenient to use. After installation, this material does not require additional processing, is resistant to microorganisms (rotting, mold) and durable. If it is necessary to insulate the floor between the joists, lay thermal insulation material. There will be no difficulties with laying pipe communications (sewage, water supply, heating).
A dry screed is a surface consisting of gypsum fiber boards fastened together, laid on a leveled bedding made of fine expanded clay. This solves two problems at once: creating a durable surface and insulating it (soundproofing). Installation is done as follows:
- 1. Removable metal guides are installed in accordance with the horizontal level.
- 2. In the intervals between the exposed plates, fill in expanded clay, lightly compact it and level the bedding according to the level of the beacons.
- 3. We take out the guides and fill in the resulting voids in accordance with the total area.
- 4. We lay special gypsum fiber boards equipped with interlocking joints on the formed bedding.
- 5. We connect the finished fragments to each other using locks.
- 6. Having covered the entire intended area with slabs, we additionally fix the seams with self-tapping screws.
As a result, a durable, smooth and insulated surface is quickly formed, suitable for laying laminate or other flooring. The disadvantage of dry screed is its lack of moisture resistance and comparative high cost.
Preparing a wooden floor for laying laminate flooring
The floor surface formed by boards installed along joists is not always suitable for laying laminate flooring even after preparation. In order not to waste effort and money on useless activities, it is immediately necessary to find out the state of the starting wooden surface. To do this, take a spirit level () and a rule 2 m or more long. If significant curvature (depressions, convexities) or a large deviation from the horizontal plane is detected, it is better to abandon the idea of leveling the board surface as unpromising.
When the surface is generally flat and horizontal, and the boards are strong and not rotten (single problematic floorboards can be replaced), such a wooden floor is suitable for preparing it for the subsequent laying of laminate flooring. How to level a wooden floor under a laminate so that it meets the requirements? There are two ways:
- grinding (scraping) of the surface to achieve compliance with the required parameters;
- leveling the floor by laying hard slabs of the same plywood or OSB over the surface.
The first method is very labor-intensive, but can be much cheaper if you carry out the scraping yourself, using a handy tool (hand scraper, plane). There is an option to rent scraping machine. In this case, the floor will be leveled perfectly; the process will not take much time and effort, but you will have to pay for equipment rental. Leveling with boards is done quickly (cutting, laying, fixing to boards with self-tapping screws), but with the cost of purchasing them. After laying OSB or plywood, the surface is not ideal, but with allowances for the use of a thicker underlay, it is generally suitable.
Laminate is one of the most beautiful, popular, modern and high-quality floor coverings. Laminate flooring is suitable for residential apartments, offices and other administrative and public buildings. Floors covered with laminate delight owners with an extremely aesthetic appearance, durability, and strength. In addition, it is very pleasant to walk on laminate flooring barefoot. But before laying the laminate flooring, you need to perform some preliminary procedures. We are talking about leveling the floor.
Leveling the floor: what is it for?
Laminate flooring is very demanding regarding the evenness of the surface on which it will be laid. The specificity of laminate boards is such that for their correct connection and many years of high-quality service, a completely flat floor is required.
With all its advantages, laminate flooring has one drawback: it does not smooth out existing floor unevenness; it requires a fully prepared and level floor.
But if you still neglect this stage and lay the laminate on the existing floor, what will happen? In this case, no matter how high-quality the laminate is and no matter how carefully you lay it, it will not please you for a long time with its beautiful appearance.
- Laminate panels will begin to sag under the weight of human weight if there are voids underneath them as a result of being laid on a raised surface.
- The interpanel seams will begin to move apart, the inner surface of the laminate will be unprotected and thus moisture will be able to easily penetrate to it. This will soon lead to delamination of the inner side of the panel.
- The locking mechanism of laminate panels will not be able to cope with excessive loads. Over time, the locks of the laminate will become loose and, in severe cases, may crack.
- In particularly critical situations, if you lay laminate on a floor that has very serious unevenness, it may swell or the panels themselves may crack.
- When walking on laminate flooring, the panels will creak.
All these signs can appear together or separately, but in any case, the appearance of the room and the laminate itself will be hopelessly damaged.
Therefore, the answer to the question of whether it is necessary to level the floor under a laminate flooring is clear - just level it and nothing else. There are many ways to accomplish this task.
The maximum permissible deviation from a perfectly flat surface is 2 millimeters.
Application of different materials
You can level the floor with different materials. The choice of material depends on several factors. Let's consider what properties the most popular leveling materials have and on what coatings they are recommended to be used.
This material can be used if you need to level a wooden floor. A good and easy to implement option for budget repairs. The disadvantage of this method is that the putty often has to be applied in several layers when the unevenness is deep and one layer is not enough. As a result, it is necessary to thoroughly dry each layer before applying the next one, which means a lot of time.
Putty - a budget option, however, the leveling process using this material takes longer A very popular material for leveling wooden floors. It is inexpensive, quick and easy to install, and covers all existing defects. You need to pay attention to a couple of nuances - do not use plywood sheets with delaminated edges and ensure the same level of humidity in the sheets and the room itself.
Plywood is the most popular material for leveling wooden floors Used on concrete floors. It is good for initial leveling, when it is necessary to close significant cracks, potholes, depressions in concrete and other noticeable flaws, but it is completely unsuitable for a finished floor, so another layer of mortar is poured over the screed - thin, giving a smooth and perfectly flat surface. It has low thermal insulation properties, therefore, to make a concrete floor warm, you need to lay a backing layer on top of the finished coating. The disadvantages include the fact that the screed mortar is very heavy and creates a large load on the concrete slabs.
Floor leveling screed Used on concrete floors when final leveling work needs to be done. Spreads independently over the entire surface of the floor, eliminates all minor flaws, and when dry gives a perfectly even coating. However, it is completely unsuitable for use on very uneven concrete bases, since it spreads very thin layer, which will not be enough to fill all more or less noticeable irregularities.
A very popular material endowed with many useful qualities. Expanded clay is very light, so when used, the load on load-bearing and supporting structures will be minimal. At the same time, it has high strength and can last long years. Provides good sound insulation, does not support combustion (fireproof), environmentally friendly, chemically inert (does not enter into chemical reactions with other substances and materials, does not release anything into the environment). A floor covered with expanded clay has heat-retaining qualities, so you will never freeze. In addition, it is not afraid of rotting, fungus or mold, and is widely available in any construction stores and has a low cost.
Expanded clay has excellent heat-retaining properties Substrate
Material such as underlay is also used to level the floor. The use of this material is advisable if the irregularities are no more than 4 millimeters. In this situation, it is impossible to lay the laminate directly on the floor, but at the same time it is too expensive to carry out more thorough leveling work. In this case, the use of a substrate will be quite sufficient to achieve the required degree of leveling of the relief. Substrates come in several varieties:
- Cork;
- Cork-bitumen;
- Polyurethane foam;
- Polyethylene;
- Foamed propylene.
For greater evenness, you can also lay the underlay on an already leveled floor. It is inexpensive and will not cause damage to the owner’s pocket, but will ensure more reliable preservation of the underside of the laminate panels.
Comparison table of materials
| Material | pros | Minuses | On what floors is it used? |
Inexpensive Simple workflow | Takes a lot of time Each layer must be dried | Wooden | |
Cheapness Ease and speed of installation Reliable hiding of all existing defects, regardless of their severity Eco-friendly | Combustible Prone to rotting Afraid of moisture | Wooden Concrete |
|
| Fills large and deep floor defects well Inexpensive | Does not allow for fine alignment Very heavy Doesn't retain heat well | Concrete | |
| Ideal for smoothing out small defects Used for final floor leveling Uncomplicated workflow | Not suitable for leveling large depressions and differences in the floor | Concrete | |
| Very light Durable Good sound insulation Good thermal insulation Fireproof Environmentally friendly Chemically inert Does not rot Low price | Concrete | ||
Substrate | Cheap (except cork) Versatility (can be used on any type of floor) Soundproofing Moisture insulation | High cost of cork; Loss of elasticity over time in polyethylene Susceptibility to combustion, toxicity and limited service life of polypropylene foam (up to 10 years) | Any types of floors |
Step by step instructions
Concrete floor
Concrete flooring is very common in our homes and public buildings. And almost always such a floor has more or less serious unevenness and other defects, including chips, cracks, differences in planes, cavities in the form of shells, concrete sagging, potholes, crumbled and peeling areas. All these defects must be corrected if you intend to lay laminate flooring.
Leveling a concrete floor is carried out in two stages: first, rough and large unevenness is eliminated using cement-sand mortar(screeds), and then final leveling is performed with a self-leveling mixture, which fills all the smallest cracks, smoothes out the slight relief resulting from the application of the previous solution, and gives semi-final ideal evenness.
If your floor is fairly level, you can immediately use a self-leveling mixture. But in this case, the original floor covering should have minimal unevenness, since the layer of such a mixture is thin and does not eliminate serious defects.
Cement-sand screed
This is what the sequential scheme of work looks like when leveling a concrete base:
- First of all, we remove from the concrete floor all traces remaining from the previous coating. We remove paint stains with solvents or drying oil; oil stains must be annealed.
- A cement-based working composition is used to fill potholes and cracks. Sludges of concrete are removed using a hammer drill; small ones can be left - they will be hidden with a screed.
- The entire concrete surface is treated with a soil solution.
- Then you need to decide on the height of the future screed layer. For this, a level is used and marks are made on the walls along the entire perimeter. We place the beacons in accordance with the level (we use slats for this), securing them with a solution.
- Next, a screed mortar is prepared, consisting of 75% sifted sand and 25% cement M 400. The consistency of the mortar should be such as to prevent it from spreading ahead of time.
- The resulting solution is poured onto the floor and leveled in accordance with the beacons.
- When the screed has set, we remove the beacon strips. We also fill the resulting holes with the solution, giving time to completely set.
This completes the rough leveling of the floor.
When mixing the screed, you should pour the dry ingredient into the water, rather than pouring water over it.
If the solution thickens, it must be thrown away. A solution diluted with water loses its properties, and such screed becomes of poor quality.
Video: leveling the floor with cement screed
Now comes the turn of the “jewelry” leveling of the concrete floor. Self-leveling mixture is a special solution that spreads over the floor and is optimally distributed so that the result is a completely flat and smooth surface.
Otherwise, such mixtures are called self-leveling, self-leveling floors, floor levelers, seamless polymer floors.
- The mixture is prepared in strict accordance with the instructions, after which it is stirred using a construction mixer.
- The concrete floor is poured with the prepared mixture.
- If the room has a large area, the floor is divided into sections and each is poured in turn, but the entire room must be filled with the mixture at one time, i.e., part of the room cannot be postponed until the evening or the next day.
- After pouring, you need to go over the solution with a toothed roller so that there are no air bubbles left in it.
Self-leveling mixtures look dry after just an hour, but further work should begin after at least three days. It is prohibited to change the proportions of dry composition and water at your own discretion. Self-leveling mixtures dry quickly, so your actions must be precise and quick, but without haste. The mixture should have a temperature of +10 degrees and above, and the room temperature should be the same.
Now your floor is ready for laying laminate, however, for greater comfort and safety of the laminate panels, you can also lay a backing.
Video: leveling the floor with a self-leveling mixture
This method is quite simple to implement, but it cannot be called cheap. Expanded clay has many attractive properties, so it is often preferred among all leveling materials. If you decide to level the floor under the laminate with expanded clay, the sequence of your actions will be as follows.
- Before laying expanded clay, the entire floor surface is covered with a film that provides a waterproofing effect. The film should extend onto the walls by at least 10–15 centimeters.
- Next, an edge strip is placed around the entire perimeter, the width of which should be equal to the height of the future expanded clay layer or exceed it.
- Then sheets of superflooring, gypsum fiber board, chipboard or plywood are laid on expanded clay distributed over the entire area of the room.
- Each new sheet is attached to the already laid ones using special glue and screws. It is necessary to observe a step of 10 to 15 centimeters.
- It is also necessary to ensure that there are no cross seams, for which the sheets are laid in a checkerboard pattern.
- Superfloor sheets (gypsum fiber board, plywood) located near the walls must have a cut rebate. This is necessary in order to provide a double layer of material near the wall.
- After the entire area of the room is covered with superflooring, the underlay is laid, and the laminate is laid on it.
Video: leveling the floor with expanded clay
Wooden floor
Leveling a wooden floor under laminate is both easier and at the same time more difficult than concrete. It's easier because wooden base much easier to process than concrete; and more difficult - because today a single universal method for leveling wooden floors has not yet been invented. Depending on the nuances of a particular wooden flooring, different methods are used.
Leveling the floor with plywood before laying the laminate is very good decision in terms of financial costs. This method is used when the wooden floor has many different defects. When choosing this leveling method, keep in mind that the humidity level in the plywood sheets and in the room where you plan to lay the laminate must be the same. This is achieved by wetting the plywood with plain water, after which you need to leave the sheets to dry in this room.
Before starting leveling work, it is necessary to carefully check the condition engineering communications, running under the floor; At the same time, the insulation also needs to be checked. This work is carried out in advance, because after the laminate is laid, it will be very difficult to get to the communications. Also, we should not forget that air should circulate freely under the laminate boards. Sheets of plywood intended for leveling should have a thickness of no more than 50 mm.
To successfully level the floor with plywood, you should have a screwdriver, self-tapping screws, laser level, PVA glue and the actual plywood sheets.
First of all, you need to install beacons, for which simple self-tapping screws are used. We screw them in throughout the entire floor, observing the desired height. The frequency of beacons depends on the thickness of the plywood: the thinner the sheets, the more often beacons should be installed, and vice versa.
Next steps:
- To install the logs, you will need plywood strips, slats or boards, whose thickness is about 3 cm. They are attached using a special glue for wooden parts or self-tapping screws. Sometimes there are gaps between the joists and the old flooring; they need to be filled with pieces of plywood coated with glue. The pieces are prepared in advance.
- For greater convenience, it is better to cut plywood into square sheets of 60 square meters. centimeters. At the same time, try not to allow the edges of the resulting squares to separate. If the edge is delaminated, it is not recommended to use this square; it is better to take another one.
- Then the entire surface should be cleaned of dust and dirt - both those that were already there before and those formed as a result of these manipulations.
- Plywood squares should be placed on the joists only after all the glue has completely dried. When laying plywood, care must be taken to ensure that the sheets are joined strictly on the joists, and also not to allow four sheets to be joined at the seams at the same time.
- After this, all the necessary protrusions, arches and other holes are cut.
- Now comes the turn of self-tapping screws with an invisible head - with their help, sheets of plywood are secured to the joists.
To avoid protruding screw caps, you need to take care of this in advance. To do this, we drill and countersink the places of their future location.
Please note that the plywood sheets should not be placed end to end. There should be a distance of several millimeters between them so that temperature fluctuations do not cause their deformation.
Putty
Another budget method leveling the floor for laying laminate. Using a mixture of sawdust and PVA-based putty, you can level a room with a fairly large footage, spending very little.
First of all, you need to prepare the floor by cleaning it. The sawdust that will be involved in the leveling process should be moistened so that it does not dry out too quickly, otherwise it will draw moisture from the putty. The sequence of actions when leveling the floor with putty mixed with sawdust looks like this.
- Using a level, you need to fill the floor with beacons - ordinary wooden slats.
- Then the space between the slats is filled with a mixture of PVA putty and sawdust. In the case when one layer is not enough to level out the existing depressions, several layers are applied, each of which must be given time to dry completely. The thickness of each such layer is a maximum of 20 millimeters. Under no circumstances should a new layer be poured if the previous one has not completely dried out.
- During work, the horizontalness of the resulting surface must be constantly checked with a level.
Despite its efficiency and ease of execution, this method takes a lot of time, which is associated with the mandatory drying of each layer.
The wooden subfloor can also be scraped, this is a quick and easy way. Sanding work is carried out using a sanding machine, but hard to reach places can be processed with a hand scraper. Sanding is resorted to when the condition of the original floor is quite good and the boards do not have serious irregularities. A scraping machine is not capable of removing pronounced floor relief, but with minor defects she will do an excellent job. This method is suitable for both parquet floors and regular wood floors.
Before starting the scraping process, all furniture, paintings, chandeliers and other interior elements are removed from the room. If something cannot be taken out, these items are covered with film, and the edges of the film are fixed with tape. Entrance door the room is being removed because the floor in this area also needs repairs. To prevent debris from getting into the corridor or adjacent rooms, you need to seal doorway polyethylene. To ensure proper ventilation, be sure to open the windows.
The floor is inspected for various defects. Detected chips and cracks are puttied. Empty spaces between floorboards are also puttied or filled with sawdust. If individual boards are in very poor condition, they must be replaced with new ones. You should also make sure that the nails are deep enough into the floor. If the caps still protrude, you need to use a hammer and deepen them.
A wire brush will help remove old varnish or paint. After brushing, the floor is treated with a sanding machine to consolidate the effect and finally remove any remaining paint and varnish. You can also wipe the floors with mineral spirits. Then the floor must be thoroughly washed. This can be done with plain water or an alcohol solution. Don’t skimp on water – every last speck of debris must be removed. After washing, you need to give the boards time to dry, so don’t start following works if the floor is not completely dry.
Take care of your funds personal protection. Looping produces a lot of dust and noise, so you will need a respirator (a regular cotton-gauze bandage will be of little use), safety glasses, and thick clothing with a closed collar is also advisable. long sleeve. Good construction headphones or at least earplugs will help with noise. In addition, the scraping machine produces quite noticeable vibrations, which will require special gloves to dampen. However, you can use regular thick mittens instead.
Handling the scraper requires some skill: it has a lot of power, and during operation you will constantly feel that the machine is trying to escape from your hands.
So, all the preparatory activities have been completed, and now you proceed directly to scraping. The work sequence looks like this:
- Load the sander with coarse sandpaper and turn it on. The scraping process begins by inserting coarse-grained belts into the machine; before each successive layer the grain size decreases.
- Start looping from the corner, carefully moving in a straight line to the opposite wall.
- When you reach the wall, turn around and start moving back. You must shift in such a way as to capture the raw space. Your movements around the room will resemble a snake.
- Each new floor strip is processed slightly overlapping with the already processed area.
- During the looping process, it is best to hold the cord from the device on your shoulder - this way you will prevent it from getting under the machine.
- Remember to keep an eye on the sandpaper as you work. If the area is large, then the tape will probably wear off before the room is completed and will have to be replaced.
- Also sandpaper needs cleaning during scraping. You can clean it by fanning it with a broom or cloth. The dust collector also needs to be checked and cleaned.
- Having completely covered the entire area of the room and are about to start looping a new layer, keep in mind that each time the layers are made perpendicular to the previous one.
- Passing final stage, move parallel to the laid boards.
If the belts at the beginning of the work roughly smooth out uneven areas and remove the remaining paint, then fine-grained belts carefully sand the surface before finishing the sanding process, giving it smoothness and shine.
After completion, the floor should be thoroughly swept or, even better, use a vacuum cleaner. Finishing touch– treatment with white spirit. The scraped floor is sufficiently even and allows you to safely cover it with laminate. But for greater evenness, softness and neutralization of possible micro-irregularities, it would not be superfluous to additionally lay a substrate under the laminate.
Video: leveling the floor by scraping
So, as we see, in no case should you neglect leveling the floors before starting to lay laminate flooring. The service life of your laminate flooring will depend on the quality of the procedure and the correctly selected materials, which means your nerves, cleanliness and comfort in the house, the ideal evenness of the floors and the good mood of all household members. Spend a couple of days on this procedure and enjoy a perfectly executed repair for many years!
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Flooring made from laminated pressed panels can last for ten years, even without cosmetic maintenance and repairs, but under one condition - the base under the laminate must be conscientiously leveled in the horizontal plane with the greatest possible accuracy before the installation process begins. Leveling the floor under the laminate will take several days, but there is no need to rush, as in this case rushing can be much more expensive.
Methods for leveling the base for laying laminate flooring
Leveling or leveling the floor plane, in fact, is one of the most labor-intensive and painstaking stages of laying laminate flooring. Before deciding how to level the floor under the laminate, you should remember that the laminate itself is just thin laminated fiber boards; how accurately the load is transferred to the concrete or wooden base determines whether the locks will come apart and whether cracks will appear in freshly laid flooring.
You can level the floor for laying laminate using one of the classic methods:
- Laying an auxiliary or subfloor made of gypsum fiber boards, plywood or OSB;
- Performing a concrete or dry screed on the treated base surface;
- Using a self-leveling self-leveling compound.
For your information! The main task of leveling the floor is to eliminate the trim or slope of the base for installation of the future laminate.
Otherwise, the laid laminate flooring will gradually slide under one side over time, which will lead to the opening of the locks and swelling of the lamellas. Large lumps and humps on a concrete surface or plank floor it is necessary to cut off, the small change is partially compensated by the soft substrate.
Leveling technology largely depends on what type of floor the coating is intended to be installed on. The most labor-intensive process is the preparation of a wooden plank floor. Sometimes for selection the best way How to level a wooden floor under a laminate takes more time than laying the coating itself.
An easy way to level the surface of a wooden floor
In very rare cases, the surface of a plank floor can be used directly for laying laminate boards. Even a freshly laid wooden floor always “plays” on the joists, does not have a perfectly flat surface, and most often, in the process of gaining natural humidity, the joists and boards were deformed, which led to a deviation from the original position.
The easiest way to level a wooden floor is in the following sequence:
- The gaps between the boards are sealed so that none of the floorboards is suspended;
- The surface is trimmed and polished so as to remove curvature and bring it as close as possible to a horizontal position;
- A subfloor made of OSB boards or plywood is laid.
Advice! Many craftsmen try to level a wooden floor by completely sanding the surface in the manner of parquet sanding, without further laying the subfloor.
In this way you can level the plank floor good quality with an ideal horizon, while trimming the surface will require a professional grinding machine with in-line horizontal level control. In addition, for such cases it will be necessary to lay a special leveling underlay under the balsa wood laminate.
It still won’t be possible to perfectly align the boards horizontally with regular sanding, so in order not to weaken the floor, use a sander to cut off the most protruding edges of the joints and parts adjacent to the walls. Next, the sanded parts are painted with a protective compound, and subfloor slabs are laid.
Ways to level a concrete floor for laying laminate
The technology for laying laminate flooring was originally developed exclusively for laying on a prepared concrete surface. Therefore, if the concrete does not have obvious defects in the form of a blocked horizon, the easiest way to level such a floor is by grinding, pouring or laying rough and intermediate coatings. But, before leveling the floor under the laminate without screed, it is necessary to perform a control measurement to ensure the exact geometry of the concrete surface.
Beforehand, the concrete is carefully trimmed and cleaned of humps and bumps visible to the eye, debris and dust are removed. After this, the most high point surface, and from it, using a building level, a horizon line is drawn along the perimeter of the side walls. If the difference in the height of the sanded floor does not exceed 2 mm, you can lay the self-leveling underlay and begin installing the laminate.
Otherwise, the floor under the laminate will have to be leveled with a screed, poured or backfilled with insulation.
Leveling the floor by pouring a barrier layer
It’s easier and faster to level a concrete floor under a laminate using concrete screed or filling with self-leveling mixtures. Leveling technologies are similar in many ways, but they have their own nuances and features. The most difficult stage in both cases is the installation of beacons or profiles, along which the top layer of fill or screed under the laminate is formed.
Before installing the screed, the concrete floor is laid roll waterproofing, with the panels overlapping by at least 10-12 cm. The joints are glued with mastic, and the edges of the insulation along the perimeter of the room are raised and overlapped onto the wall to a height equal to the double thickness of the future screed. The perimeter of the room and the concrete surface under the waterproofing overlaps can be additionally treated with a primer.
After waterproofing, you will need to install, level on the walls and secure the beacons from the profile with alabaster. To prevent surface cracking, the screed is always reinforced with a thin reinforcing mesh. For the screed, concrete is prepared based on M500 cement with washed sand, a ratio of 1:3 and the addition of a surfactant in the amount of 20 g per 10 liters of water.
When forming a screed concrete mixture gradually throw it onto the moistened floor and pull it out with a lath - usually from the far corner towards the entrance to the room. The first layer of concrete is rough; after laying it is lightly compacted to improve adhesion to the base of the floor. The second layer is more liquid; a polyvinyl acetate emulsion is added to the concrete so that the surface on which the laminate will be laid is as smooth and even as possible.
Self-leveling solutions are poured in two layers. The first layer is required in order to level and compensate for all defects and recesses on concrete floor. Before pouring, beacons are installed in the form of pin chips.
The dry mixture is diluted with water according to the recipe and mixed vigorously using an electric mixer. It is necessary to mix quickly and efficiently; as the water binds, the mass of the solution accumulates a large number of air bubbles and becomes quite liquid and fluid. The surface is filled with a self-leveling mixture and promptly leveled with a special tool in order to quickly remove the bulk of surface bubbles.
The solution has the consistency of thick jelly, but hardens quite quickly. Filling with the second layer must be done with a time interval of no more than 10 minutes, otherwise delamination of the base under the laminate will not be avoided even with a light load.
The self-leveling material reaches its final working strength after two days. At this time, the floor under the future laminate must be covered with film to prevent drafts and sunlight.
Backfill screed for laying laminate flooring
You can level the floor for laminate installation using a subfloor made of OSB or gypsum fiber boards laid on a layer of expanded clay. The technology allows you to get a leveled floor under laminate in just one working day.
Initially, you will need to lay waterproofing and install slats mounting profile, which will serve as beacons. The distance between the slats is maintained within 35-40 cm. The space between the profiles is filled with expanded clay, leveling the poured layer. Next, two layers of OSB boards are laid on the glue so that the joints of the layers are spaced as far apart as possible. Thus, a warm and hard floor under the laminate is obtained. The joints between the plates are sealed with acrylic wood putty and after 3-4 hours they are cleaned with emery cloth.
You can also level the surface for laying the laminate using thick sheets of plywood and wooden joists laid directly on the primed concrete floor. In this case, the distance between the joists is reduced to 15-20 cm, and each of the joists must be aligned and fixed with self-tapping screws to a board packed around the perimeter of the wall.
Conclusion
The best way to level the floor for installing laminate flooring is to use self-leveling and bulk bases. In this case, the subfloor is light and durable, and the supporting surface has the ability to redistribute the load, which only increases the durability of the laminate flooring.
