How to level a wooden floor without ripping off the boards. Rules and subtleties of leveling a wooden floor Tool for leveling a wooden floor

If indoors uneven wood floor, it becomes uncomfortable to live in it. Boards creak, bend or, conversely, stick out, diverge, forming cracks.

The aesthetics of the room is violated, a traumatic situation is created. On such a floor, it is easy to fall and damage yourself. To avoid serious trouble and improve the condition of the home, uneven floors are leveled. They do it in different ways.

Dry methods

An uneven wooden floor must be leveled if the height difference is more than 5 cm. This uneven floor is visible to the naked eye. The surface may slope in any direction. In another case, the boards are unevenly arranged, in waves: one protrudes, the other sinks, bends. There are several options for eliminating unevenness in the floor using a dry method.

Installation of minilag from bars (tape support)

Tape support is one of the most reliable methods for leveling uneven wood floors. The method is used for height differences from 3 to 10 cm. The timber serves as a lining under the boardwalk. It should be of different thicknesses in order to be evenly spaced in the direction of increasing slope. For ease of installation, craftsmen use pieces of plywood rather than wood.

To install the minilags correctly, a preliminary calculation is carried out and the readings are checked with a meter level. The distance between them corresponds to the thickness of the sheets made from wood waste.

It is not recommended to lay sheets that are too thick to level an uneven wooden floor:

they are heavy and inconvenient for do-it-yourself installation;
create additional load on the floor and base.

Beams of different sections and sheet products are screwed to the wooden base of the floor with self-tapping screws. The fasteners should be of different lengths as the distance to the boards varies. Minilags are fixed across and along the boards. It is important to mark the sheets as accurately as possible according to the points of drilling holes.

Installation of leveling point supports (scabs)

If indoors uneven wood floor, you can eliminate the defect and align it with the help of point supports, which are called shabashi. They are installed under sheet products in the form of a grid. In this case, cells are obtained, the dimensions of which are determined by the thickness of the sheets.

Such dimensions of the cells will not allow sagging in subsequent operation.

Since the supporting "posts" are located pointwise, they make a careful marking on the sheets and screw in self-tapping screws at the points. Additionally, the sheets are fixed to the very base of the floor, choosing longer fasteners.

Methods for leveling uneven wood floors without screed are highly effective. After leveling work, the surface acquires an ideal shape and holds the topcoat well. 8-10 cm - a difference in height, at which it is better to dismantle the old floor and lay a new base with the replacement of the lag.

Wet screed method

For minor irregularities (up to 3mm), the wooden floor can be covered with acrylic putty or sealant. Before work, the boards are primed to protect the wood and ensure better adhesion with the leveling compound. The composition is applied in a thin layer, distributing it evenly along the pre-made marks on the walls, along the lighthouses.

It is important to know: the thickness of the layer determines the amount of time it takes to dry. To prevent the putty from cracking over time, PVA glue is added to it. After the mixture has dried, the surface is sanded.

If uneven wood floor has a slope of more than 3 mm, is used. This is not quite the right way for a wooden base. The screed creates a significant load on the base and floors. It is most possible when the boards are laid on concrete or brick posts, reinforced concrete supports. The need for it arises, for example, when using tiles as a topcoat.

To level an uneven wooden floor using the "wet" method, use dry mixtures with components that provide the screed with elasticity and special strength. These include various plasticizers and synthetic fillers.

Before applying the leveling compound, check the wood floors for ventilation. If it is not there, then holes are drilled in certain places on the surface, and decorative grilles are installed over the topcoat.
The boards are covered with plastic wrap, which performs the function of waterproofing. The tree is afraid of water. And with a wet screed, this liquid is used to dilute the dry mixture.
The leveling compound is poured in portions onto the surface and evenly distributed using a special rule. You can work gradually, filling in small areas.
After the screed has dried, it is sanded and primed.

A wet screed on a wooden base is rarely made. The main reason is the incompatibility between wood and leveling compound. Wood is mobile, and the cement mixture is static, therefore, over time, it can crack and crumble.

When choosing a method for leveling an uneven wooden floor, they are guided by the specific conditions of the room. It is important that in subsequent operation the surface does not deform, and the finish coat does not deteriorate.

Comfortable living in a house depends on many conditions. These include the quality of the finish and the general condition of the surfaces, including the leveling of uneven wood floors.

Plank floor leveling.

Some old houses from the times of Stalin's and Khrushchev's buildings still have rough wooden floors. Over time, the floorboards rot, loosen and begin to creak. And during the repair, in order to tear off the defects of the old uneven floor, they use a new coating in the form of a laminate or linolem.

But before laying a new floor, it is recommended to align the sub-floor with sheet material. You can do this procedure yourself without involving construction specialists and at minimal cost. For leveling the floor, it is best to use plywood, since the fiberboard sheets will eventually take the shape of an uneven floor and waves will appear again. Plywood is indispensable for the material used to level old wood floors.

It has a relatively low weight, is strong enough, resistant to stress and water, well polished, and has no unpleasant odor. The material does not change its properties with changes in temperature and humidity.

In order to carry out the procedure for leveling the wooden floor, it is necessary to prepare the tools and materials that will be needed in the process.

plywood sheets;
roll insulation;
screwdriver and self-tapping screws;
jigsaw;

Preparation for leveling the wooden floor in the apartment

Initially, it is necessary to check the state of the communications that are laid under the floor, since after the completion of the work there will be no free access to them.
Next, you need to get rid of various irregularities that are very characteristic of a wooden floor.
Fasten, and, if necessary, replace old, rotten, squeaky boards.
As additional insulation, if the floor is initially cold, you can use a roll of mineral wool insulation.

Prepared sheets of plywood are laid on the floor and in order to assess the strength and reliability of the coating, you should walk on it. In the course of such tests, additional defects may come to light that can be corrected at the moment without dismantling the floor. If it turns out that the floor is sagging, then it is necessary to additionally put pieces of fiberboard in these places.

The most optimal and reliable fastening of plywood sheets will be fastening with self-tapping screws, which at the initial stage of fastening do not need to be driven in to the end. In places where plywood sags, fastening is unacceptable. After fixing the sheets, you need to carefully walk through the made flooring again.

This is necessary in order to check how firmly and correctly the sheets fit together. If the result of the test is satisfactory and pleased, then all the screws will be driven to the end, tightly drowning the cap in the tree.

After fixing the sheet material, the caps of the screws and the seams are putty with acrylic sealant. The advantage of such a putty is that even if the boards and sheets bend a little, the sealant, due to its high plasticity, will not collapse and spill out.

After finishing the installation of plywood sheets, you can start laying another linoleum or laminate flooring.

Leveling an uneven wooden floor - video

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Wooden floors can look very attractive and beautiful, and they retain heat quite well. However, a significant drawback is the frequent and easy subsidence, the formation of cracks on it. Only special treatment methods help to cope with these problems and prevent their occurrence in the future.

Peculiarities

The need to level a wooden floor is often due not only to the desire to make it more aesthetically pleasing, but also to improve the comfort of life. It is very inconvenient, and sometimes unsafe, to walk through rooms, different parts of the floor of which have different heights. Also, do not forget that improving the properties of the floor extends its service life and allows less frequent major repairs, spend less money on replacing damaged boards and planks. All hard floors have a clear design scheme, and if it is violated, it will not perform its functions. Wear is rapidly accelerating, and in the near future you will need to re-solve the problem of arranging new flooring.

You can level the floor in various ways, but they should be chosen not for simplicity or convenience, but for practicality in specific circumstances. Laying plywood is often practiced, but similar results can be achieved with the help of putties based on PVA glue, self-leveling mixtures. Very strong distortions of the geometry of the floor in the house or in the apartment will have to be eliminated by creating lags.

It so happens that the removal of the previous coating is very difficult or even impossible without the complete destruction of the structure. Then you need to leave them in place and level the floor with a plane or grinders. This situation most often arises in a private home, since in apartments, if wooden floors are made, then they are much more perfect.

During grinding, a huge amount of dust inevitably appears, so special measures must be taken so that it does not get into neighboring rooms, does not spoil furniture and other valuable property.

Laying sheet materials

A crooked floor can be corrected using plywood sheets, and with the simplest method, logs are not needed at all. The perimeter of the walls is framed with bosses (they will allow you to maintain a gap of 20 mm without taking a tape measure all the time). Between plywood sheets intervals of 0.3-0.8 cm should be left, so that at the first slight movement or temperature rise, the rough layer is not deformed. The sheets should be laid with a gap, all the following are half shifted in comparison with their predecessors.

It is imperative to fix the sheets with self-tapping screws, and it is best to immediately make holes in the right places. In another method, the perimeter of the room is filled with logs, as a result of which a strip base appears. The break-up and intervals are done according to the same principles, but be sure to first lay out the sheets, without fixing them, and just look at the result. This will make it clear whether there is enough material and whether its dimensions are correctly estimated. All those blocks that should be applied in the next step are numbered.

The transverse jumpers must be fixed with self-tapping screws, then the evenness of the installation of the lags and supports is verified, after which the frame is already attached to the base. Now you can lay and fix plywood, and on top of it - laminate or linoleum. Plywood can also be laid on top of the point supports of the "cobs".

The size of each scoop is determined by how uneven the floor is in a given room. Laying the lining is necessary more often, since their reliability is less than that of lags. The basic scheme of actions is the same, the difference is expressed only in geometry. When using a leveler (sander) to correct individual defects Always wear gloves and a respirator for maximum protection.

If parquet is laid on top, and the logs creak, professionals often recommend pouring them with a screed with expanded clay. This solution works no matter how insulated your home is. Alternatively, you can make a screed for sheet materials on top of an insulation or soundproofing layer. As a lining under the main floor layer, there is nothing better than plywood, and chipboard, and even OSB, inevitably lose to it. Using a plate, it is impossible to use it, like plywood, as a front covering in a pinch.

Chipboards have a very important advantage - they are noticeably cheaper and, with all the economy of the structure, make it as convenient and high-quality as possible. Work begins with attaching products to beams, the cross-section of which may not be significant, only 30 mm. Each beam is horizontally aligned and fixed to the old foundations. After 800 mm, they are attached to the boards using self-tapping screws. Larger spacing may cause the coating to buckle.

For chipboard, the required compensation distance from the walls is 20 - 30 mm. The panels are laid with a run-up, shifting them by 0.4 m (not strictly), and adjacent mutually sheets can be shifted only in the middle of the beam, otherwise sagging will occur.

If you use a tongue-and-groove type of slab, you can not make any gaps and form a monolithic layer.

Screed

Leveling with screeds is a very old technique, but still quite effective. Professionals believe that expanded clay is no less suitable for this than a cement-sand mortar. Moreover, such a solution turns out to be easier and reduces the specific load on the floors. Even in private houses this is very important, but there is no question of apartments. To prepare the solution, take a part of Portland cement of the M400 category into three parts of sand and eight parts of expanded clay. Beacons are placed at 0.5-0.6 m from each other, and the solution is poured over them so that a screed of 80-100 mm is obtained.

To make the base even, you will have to cover it first with polyethylene, wrapping the ends of the film on the wall just above the expected layer thickness. The material is laid with overlap, and all its borders are pasted over with construction tape for the highest strength. Be sure to use a reinforcing masonry mesh (raised by 30 - 40 mm above the base). There should be two layers, the solution must be compacted and its outer surface is leveled. If you do not want to prepare the screed yourself, use one of the standard expanded clay concrete mixtures, which are not too difficult to find on sale.

Scraping and putty are more perfect than pouring, they will help to cope with minor deformations, but if you want to eliminate solid defects, you will still have to use sheet materials.

Always first analyze the real state of the floor and its base, and only then choose the method of forming the retaining structure.

Mixes

Self-leveling mixtures are better than conventional screeds in that they spread by themselves and form a layer of the same thickness. You don't need to make any efforts, you just need to strictly adhere to the technology. The slightest irregularities and depressions will be covered. But a very uneven floor cannot be corrected in this way, because maximum height of pouring the mixture - 20 mm... If there are more defects, you will have to use lags.

Floor levelers are divided into two key groups: the first is intended for rough finishing, and the second is for finishing, which allows you to lay any kind of coating. The main properties are given by gypsum or cement, to which mineral and polymer components are added to guarantee increased mechanical resistance. It is not difficult to recognize a coarse leveling material, it is always a mixture with coarse grains, and the fraction determines how thick a layer of the mixture can be applied to a sagging floor without fear of cracking.

The final mixtures, upon contact with water, become more plastic, they are easy to distinguish by their accelerated spreading. First, the surface is cleaned and sanded, then a primer is applied to the subfloor (preferably moisture-resistant compounds that can penetrate deeply). Then waterproofing (polyethylene) is placed, covered with a reinforcing mesh (fixed as carefully as possible), and only then the final mixture is poured. To smooth out the drops, to eliminate air from the layer, spike rollers are used. How long it takes to wait for the result depends on the specific composition used.

Leveling with self-leveling mixtures allows you to stop using beacons and save enough time.

But on the other hand, a lack of experience or poor knowledge about a particular drug can become a problem. After all, if you violate the basic rules of its use, an expensive tool will be wasted pointlessly.

Mastic (rubber, bitumen or polymer) is most often used if there is no need for finishing the coating. In addition to leveling the tree, it allows you to focus on its color and relief, shine. Improves protection against moisture penetration and sunlight, from mechanical defects. An alternative is often the use of putty, which is made in an artisanal way from PVA and sawdust. The resulting composition is very cheap and at the same time very durable, capable of filling absolutely all cracks and unnecessary gaps of old floors.

Please note that when laying laminate flooring, such a solution does not guarantee the required strength, so you will have to put sheet materials on top. Most often, pouring is done several times, but they wait until the previous layer dries up.

It is advisable to lay the front sheet layer on top of the rough coating, screwing it to the base with self-tapping screws. They will help to strengthen areas that are not tight enough to the logs.

Prepare the tool before pouring any mixture. You will definitely need a container for preparing the required composition, as well as a perforator or drill with mixing nozzles. Using a notched trowel up to 100 mm long, roll out the layer to an even thin state. The size of the trowel teeth must correspond to the size of the layer to be treated. It will be correct to fill single large gaps with polyurethane foam, and not resort to other methods of leveling, do not refuse to fill.

Looping

The putty helps to cope with minor irregularities, the composition of the mixture is just sawdust and polyvinyl acetate glue. The cost of work will be relatively low, and the created base is quite possible to put laminate, linoleum and even the best types of parquet on top. There is no need for logs and other auxiliary structures, which makes the work progress noticeably easier.

Start by removing the existing coating and thoroughly cleaning all contaminants. Further, the surface will need to be sanded, and all those boards that sag under load or creak need to be reinforced with self-tapping screws. The same is done with lags; then they nail the slats, which will act as beacons. Only after all these actions can the putty be applied and leveled using the rule.

The applied composition will dry in approximately 48 hours; after making sure of this, you can begin the following work.

Using a plane, it is easy to remove a croaker, a depression that has appeared somewhere locally. If the board is concave, instead of instrumental processing, elastic putties, sealants or paste based on a combination of PVA with wood flour are used. Please note that mechanically treated substrates must be protected with varnishes or enamels from further destruction.

Scraping works well only if the floor is not cracked, not swollen, not exposed to the invasion of wood-gnawing beetles. If there is at least one of these problems, the damaged areas must either be replaced or repaired. Not only surface grinders, but also parquet drum grinders help to carry out processing quickly. But in hard-to-reach places it is more correct to use manual loops or angle grinders, their characteristics in such cases are invaluable.

A liquid separator, sometimes used instead of films, should not form an oily crust. Therefore, when choosing it in preparation for scrapping or another method of leveling the floor, you need to make sure that the substance will be well absorbed.

In order to determine how uneven the floor is, you need to determine the floor marks in all corners, in the middle of the walls and in the middle of the room (if the room is very large or the floor is very uneven, then more marks are needed). The easiest way to do this is with a two-meter building level. the different measuring instruments used for this purpose are set out separately.

If the floor marks are at the same height

(plus or minus 5 mm does not count, however, it all depends on how demanding you are, you can not count the difference of 1-1.5 cm), which means the floor is even. And if the height differences do not exceed 2-3 mm, then such a floor does not need to be leveled at all with sheet materials.

You can putty such a floor 1-2 times with acrylic putty or acrylic sealant... The main advantage of acrylic putties is high plasticity, even if the boards bend a little when walking on the floor, the putty will not collapse. If the volume of work is not large, then acrylic sealant sold in syringes for a construction gun will do. The floors must be primed with an appropriate primer before applying the filler to improve adhesion to the boards. It will look something like this:

You can download a more complete version of this video, video size 60 Mb, wmv format.

In this case, it was necessary to level about 1.5 m 2 of the floor. For large volumes, it is better to buy acrylic filler for wooden floors in buckets, however, the principle of applying the filler will not change. By the way, in this way you can level the floors for painting and even under varnish, for example, parquet floors (of course, if they are in good enough condition), but then you need a tinted sealant. However, buying a tinted sealant for the color of wood is now a small problem, although the choice of colors is not very large and they cost much more than white acrylic sealant, but still.

Before laying linoleum or carpet, it is advisable to grind the putty surface.

The main disadvantage of acrylic putty is its low strength. Therefore, instead of acrylic putties or sealants, you can use a putty mixed with PVA glue. If the thickness of the applied layer does not exceed 1-2 mm, then you can use a finishing gypsum putty mixed with PVA glue. With a greater thickness of the applied layer, you can use a gypsum starter putty mixed with PVA glue or sawdust mixed with PVA glue. The main disadvantages of this method: the putty is very difficult to immediately apply in an even layer due to the extreme stickiness of the putty (PVA is a very good glue), so the putty surface will have to be sanded for a long time to get an even surface.

The thicker the sealant or putty layer, the longer it will take to dry. therefore, if the unevenness of the floor is more than 3 mm and there are a lot of them, then you cannot do without a screed or laying sheet materials. You can see separately how the linoleum was laid on the floor, leveled with putty beforehand.

2.1. On the old wooden floor, you can lay plywood with a thickness of 8-20 mm, or chipboard, OSB, MDF.

You can also use gypsum fiber sheets. In this case, the top of the wave will serve as a support (like a lag) for the new floor covering. With a board width of 10-20 cm and a uniform distribution of waves, a plywood thickness of 8-10 mm is sufficient. If the waves on the boards are through one board or the width of the boards is more than 20 cm, it is better to use thicker plywood (in the picture below).

Picture 1... Easy leveling of the wood floor.

It makes no sense to use fiberboard for leveling the floor, since over time the fiberboard will take the shape of the floor and waves will appear again. In principle, the thickness of sheet materials can be greater, but the thicker the sheet materials, the more expensive and, most importantly, heavier they are. I prefer moisture-resistant plywood, for kitchens and hallways in stalinkas and Khrushchevs, it is irreplaceable, but it costs more than other sheet materials. Sheet materials are attached to the wooden floor using screws or self-tapping screws. To drown the head of a screw or self-tapping screw, a sweat is done. Sheet materials are attached to the boards at the top of the wave (see figure). After screwing the sheets, the joints of the sheets and the caps of the self-tapping screws are putty with acrylic sealant. If you have high-quality plywood with a good texture pattern, the plywood joints are neat and well-fitted and the sweats are evenly distributed, then you can choose an acrylic sealant of the appropriate color and simply open the plywood with varnish.

Sometimes, if the old wooden floor is relatively flat, but there are small "holes", then you can try to level the floor with plywood using polyurethane foam. I myself did not level the floors in this way, so I made a description of this method in a separate article.

If the elevation differences at the floor marks do not satisfy you, then you have to tinker. You need to make a support for the new base at one level. This can be done in 2 ways:

2.2. Tape support - minilags from a bar.

This method is good if you need to level the height difference from 3 to 10 cm. True, for the timber was at the same height, wooden lining of different thicknesses are used - shabashi. Usually shabashi are made from plywood of different thicknesses, but they can also be made from short blocks using an ax or chisel. Where it comes to millimeters, roofing paper or any other thin waterproof material is used. The distance between minilags depends on the thickness of the sheet material and in principle requires engineering calculation , but as practice shows for plywood with a thickness of 12-14 mm and for chipboard, OSB with a thickness of 16-18 mm, the maximum distance between minilags is 35-40 cm.For plywood with a thickness of 16-18 mm and for OSB with a thickness of 20-24 mm, the maximum distance between minilags 50 cm.This logical series can be continued further, but it is difficult to lay thicker sheet materials even together, and the load on the floor will again increase, it is good if the floor is reinforced concrete or on metal beams, but you need to be careful to increase the load on wooden beams. With large differences in height, it is convenient to use a bar of different cross-section, where the difference in height is small, a bar of a smaller section is used, but it is also necessary to fix it to the floorboards more often, then a bar of a larger section is used.

Picture 2... Aligning the wooden floor with minilags.

Minilags can be mounted both across the boards (in the picture above) and along (in the picture below). Here it is important to accurately mark the sheets (determine the places for the holes) so as not to drill unnecessary holes.

For clarity, photos 1 and 2 show the transition from the old wood floor to the new doorway coating. The floor was leveled with waterproof plywood, in some places the shabashi supports, mainly along minilags made of bars of different cross-sections, the total height difference of the old floor was more than 6 cm.

Photo 1... View from the corridor. (increase)

Photo 2... View from the room

2.3. Point support - shabashki.

This method is suitable if the elevation differences are not very large. A point support is less reliable than a tape support, therefore, scraps for sheet materials should be placed more often, so that a mesh with a cell size of 30-35 cm is obtained for plywood with a thickness of 12-14 mm and for chipboard, OSB with a thickness of 16-18 mm. For plywood with a thickness of 16-18 mm and for OSB with a thickness of 20-24 mm, the cell size is 40-45 cm.

Of course, both with a tape support and with a point support, you can make more distance between the supports, but in this case the new floor will be too susceptible to dynamic deformations, in other words, it can sag when jumping and dancing, and even when walking.

After the base of the floor is leveled, it is quick and pleasant to lay the topcoat on it, whether it be parquet, linoleum, carpet, PVC tiles. Just don't forget about the ventilation of the underground. To do this, in one of the corners (where the old ventilation was), after laying the topcoat, a hole is drilled and a small ventilation grill is placed.

If the height difference of the old wooden floor is more than 8-10 cm (and this happens), then it is better to remove some of the boards and replace them with sheet material.

The floor can be leveled with a wet screed.

But only if you are absolutely sure of the strength of the wooden floor, for example, if the floors were immediately made under the screed, or these are wooden floors on a reinforced concrete floor, with logs on brick posts, while the logs and the distance between the logs and the thickness of the floorboards are selected in such a way as to ensure minimum floor deflection at design loads. The fact is that cement screeds work well in compression and much worse in tension, this can lead to the fact that the cement screed on a wooden floor will collapse or ceramic tiles glued to such a screed will flake off. For leveling wooden floors, special dry mixtures with plasticizers and fillers are used, which provide the screed with maximum strength and elasticity, for example - Vetonit 3300. Such a screed is applied in a layer of no more than 1 cm, before applying the screed, reinforcing fiberglass mesh is stuffed on the wooden floors and the floors are primed. If the unevenness of the floor exceeds 1 cm, then such a screed will not help. Theoretically, an ordinary cement screed with a thickness of 5-7 cm with a metal reinforcing mesh can be made on a wooden floor, in this case the load on the floor will immediately increase by 75-100 kg / m2, therefore, before making such a screed, you must first check the bearing capacity overlap. To protect the wood from the effects of water from the screed, a plastic wrap is laid on the wood floor.

But in any case, regardless of the leveling method, we must not forget about the ventilation device for wooden floors so that the floors do not rot. The underfloor space must be ventilated. Previously, for this, in one of the corners of the room, a hole was drilled in a board with a diameter of about 50 mm and a decorative grill was stuffed on top, or a ventilation duct was made in the wall and a decorative grill was nailed to the wall. Such lattices look something like this:

Figure 3. Ventilation grilles for wooden floors.

If you had such grilles on the floor or on the wall, then do not rush to cover them up or paste over with wallpaper.

In general, old wooden floors, with cracks, paint stains, knots, chips, chippings and other defects - this is incredible steepness and super style, now more and more people, tired of the straight lines of modern design, want to lay a parquet board on a perfectly smooth and even screed. stylized as old wood floors warped by time. This pleasure is not cheap, so before you sew up wooden floors, think about whether you need it?

Questions related to leveling a wooden floor for laying laminate flooring, as well as a recipe for preparing a putty mixture from Ruslan, I took out in.

When renovating private houses, apartments, you usually have to create new flooring. At the same time, there is often a problem with carrying out additional work to eliminate irregularities and defects in the base. The article will tell you about how much it costs and how to properly level a wooden floor with your own hands without tearing off the boards.

If the old floor is crooked and unattractive, the floor needs to be replaced. Before that, the masters recommend aligning it. Why do this?

The quality of laying any facing product depends on the degree of evenness of the base.

Soft surfaces (such as carpet, linoleum) allow for small differences in height. But if possible, it is better to eliminate all defects. Rigid materials (such as laminate, parquet) need a perfectly flat base. The slightest irregularities lead to the fact that the structure cannot withstand the applied load, swells up, and wears out quickly. If the differences are large, then the laying of the parquet will not work, then we insulate.

Over time, even a high-quality wooden coating deteriorates: holes, cracks form in it, the structure rotts and bends.
Leveling the subfloor allows you to achieve the following:

no drops when walking around the apartment;
aesthetic appearance of the final finish;
ensuring normal operating conditions for the finished floor, thereby extending its service life.

Ways to create a flat floor

There are different ways to create a flat, linoleum or parquet floor. Each of them has its own characteristics, pros and cons. To understand which option is better to choose, you should consider the characteristics of each.

Masters offer the following methods for leveling the old sagging floor, without disassembling the structure itself:

To understand the best way to align, it is necessary to divide all irregularities into significant (from 2 to 10 centimeters) and insignificant (from 0.5 to 1 centimeter). If the differences are small, you can get by with putty, scraping, flooring of sheet material (fiberboard, chipboard, OSB, plywood). Significant defects are eliminated with cement mortar or laying sheet products on logs.

Smoothing the surface with plywood

The easiest way to execute is the one in which no lags are needed. The work is not difficult. It is carried out according to a previously drawn up scheme.

The algorithm for how to level the floor with plywood is described below and on the forum:

Install bosses around the perimeter of the walls.
Spread plywood sheets with a gap of 0.3 to 0.8 centimeters. The indent is made in order to prevent bends during thermal expansion, material movements.
Fasten the sheets with self-tapping screws or screws at the top point of each product. To simplify the work, experts advise making holes in the plywood in advance.
Putty the space between the slabs.

Sometimes lags are additionally applied. They are installed along the walls using jumpers and self-tapping screws. It turns out a tape support. The material is spread from above and attached to the lags.

When working with plywood and logs, it is important to remember the following:

you can hide communication under the material;
before use, the purchased sheets must be acclimatized (kept in the room where the installation is planned for several days);
it is advisable to make small holes for ventilation in the plywood floor;
lags increase the floor level up to 10 centimeters;
plywood is allowed to be used as a final coating.

Smoothing with liquid self-leveling compounds

Mixes for creating a self-leveling floor can have a different composition (polymer, epoxy, methyl methacrylate). The coating is frost-resistant, plastic, able to withstand temperature changes. Therefore, it is suitable for finishing unglazed balconies, loggias.

Here's how to align correctly:

Wet floor screed

The stores sell ready-made screed solutions. But they are expensive. Therefore, it is best to cook it yourself. To do this, sand, water, gravel and cement are mixed in a certain proportion. The batch must be tight.

Instructions on how to level with a wet screed are presented below:

clean the base from dirt;
cover the existing irregularities with cement;
install beacons;
pour the prepared solution into the cells between the beacons;
even out the mixture;
pour wet sawdust on top;
let the screed dry.

The advantages of a wet screed are water resistance, high strength. Since the layer is thinner, the fill is not particularly reflected at the height of the room. The disadvantages are that a lot of labor is required. The solution dries for a very long time. The resulting floor is characterized by low sound and heat insulation.

Floor leveling putty

For work, you need a mixture of PVA glue and sawdust. You will also need a sander. Before starting the putty, you need to prepare the room: remove furniture, clean the floor.

There are some subtleties of work that you need to know about in order to align qualitatively:

It is necessary to apply the composition so that it rises above the wooden surface. Indeed, during drying, shrinkage occurs.
Do not putty at sub-zero temperatures. In this case, the solution loses its elasticity.
The moisture content of the processed board should not exceed 12%.
The putty should be applied carefully using a spatula.

Loop and instructions for its use

Scraping is done if it is planned to cover the boards with varnish or paint.

It can be carried out manually and mechanically. The first option is the most time consuming and difficult. Therefore, it is better to use a dedicated machine. Work should be done with protective gloves, earmuffs and a respirator.

Loop instructions:

If the wooden base is smooth without deformation, it is considered that the scraping was successful.

Thus, there are different ways of how to level the floor yourself with wooden joists. The choice depends on the degree of damage, the finishing material, the budget of the owner of the apartment. Minor defects are eliminated by puttying, scraping, using plywood or fiberboard sheets. Large differences are removed with a wet screed or self-leveling mixtures. See below for a video on the topic.

The floor is the basic element in the interior of the house. Along with windows and doors, furniture and lighting, the condition of the floor plays a key role in creating a cozy and comfortable living space. Therefore, work on this important element in a house, apartment or in any other space should be done efficiently and responsibly. And especially careful approach is required for wooden floors.

Features: pros and cons

It was wooden products that were most popular at all times. First of all, because wood is a symbol of warmth and reliability, besides, it is incredibly pleasant to the touch and as if "alive". Wood itself is a durable material, however, and over time it is capable of losing its attractiveness, deforming, bending, sagging, crumbling and cracking. But this is not at all a reason for stupor and bewilderment.

Many owners, in order to hide the flaws that have appeared over time, prefer laying any modern coatings on a wooden base. It can be laminate, tile or linoleum. For this, of course, it is necessary to maximize the characteristics of the floor, and more specifically, to level its surface so that the new coating falls on it without any difficulties and defects.

Even with minimal technical skills, the work on leveling the floor covering can be done by hand, choosing the most acceptable from the many methods.

Assessment of the condition of the floor

Resuscitation and restoration of an old wooden base is much easier and cheaper than completely replacing the coating. The duration of its service depends on the coefficient of curvature. Often, connection locks lose their strength over time, cracks begin to form, where dirt and moisture collects. Therefore, before you start leveling and laying a new coating, it is necessary to conduct a complete analysis of the rough wood floor.

To determine the degree of damage, you need to walk along its surface and examine in detail almost every centimeter. Perhaps remove some boards and check the condition of the lag. It happens that when examined, rotten boards are found worn out by insects, in this case, most likely, a complete or partial replacement of the floor will be required.

If, after checking, it turns out that the problem lies only in peeling paint, in pits and bumps, if the boards and logs are in a tolerable condition, without rotten and cracked areas, if the floor does not sag underfoot under load, then restoration work will take place with minimal costs time and effort.

It is very important to determine how much the floor deviates horizontally. Usually, the operation is performed using a laser level, which is set at the highest corner in the room and indicates the difference between the horizon line and uneven areas of the surface.

If the boards sag and stagger under your feet, you need to scroll the wooden floor.

If, upon examination, gaps between the boards wider than 8-10 mm are found or the degree of slope of the surface from a flat horizontal line is very obvious, the surface of the sagging floor must be laid with sheet material, for example, chipboard.

Materials and tools

First of all, in order to level the floors, it is necessary that all the necessary tools are always at hand. If the work is done in a large room, experts often recommend dividing it into several squares and leveling each of them separately. It's good when more than one pair of hands is involved in the work. This will save you hassle and time.

The choice of the necessary tools depends on the type of alignment work.

The standard set is usually:

tape measure (for taking measurements);
levels (hydro and laser);
steel brush (for cleaning the surface from flaking in hard-to-reach places);
brush-brush (for cleaning debris at the base of the floor);
spatula (tool for leveling mortar on a plane);
trowel (for leveling the cement-sand mass);
puncher (for drilling in wood);

electric drill (for preparation of the leveling agent);
needle roller (for rolling self-leveling material);
hacksaw (for cutting wood);
planer (removes small wood chips, leveling uneven surfaces);
screwdriver (for screwing in and out screws).

Using PVA and sawdust

Leveling the surface using PVA glue and sawdust is a modern and convenient method that does not require large costs and enjoys good characteristics and reviews among builders. Before starting the process itself, it is necessary to clean the floor and nail the beacons on the laser level. Further, the sawdust must be slightly moistened and mixed with glue. The mixture should be of medium thickness (should resemble sour cream).

After that, the resulting mass must be poured between the beacons and leveled. If the surface is not smooth the first time, it may be necessary to apply several layers of the mixture. The layer should be at least 1-2 cm. There can be any number of such layers, the goal is to make the height differences as small as possible. Before applying each new coat, it is important to wait until the previous coat is completely dry. As you can see, the method is simple and practical.

Putty

With the help of a properly selected putty, you can hide all cracks, wipe out seams and irregularities, as well as ensure a long service life of the wooden floor. This leveling method is used not only in case of a desire to install a new floor covering, but also for the purpose of cosmetic repairs. Today there is an extensive selection of putty mixtures that have a color that matches the color of a real wood coating.

The putty may differ in its composition, but there are a number of general requirements, which include:

Elasticity. This will allow the mixture to evenly fill all gaps and holes in the surface.
High adhesion percentage(adhesion) of the putty to the wood. This will eliminate the possibility of delamination of the coating and guarantee it a long-term service.
Uniformity. The composition must be completely homogeneous mass, without the presence of foreign impurities.
Fire resistance. This property of the putty mixture guarantees the safety of the wooden floor in case of fire.
Antiseptic properties. Protect the surface from the formation of fungi and mold, which are harmful to wood and human health.

Mastic

Mastic is a material that is applied over a wooden floor. Performs both leveling and protective function. One of the advantages of this material is its antibacterial property. The mastic is applied to the surface in several layers and gives it a glossy shade. If the task of the owners is the restoration of wood flooring and restoration, improvement of its appearance, then one of the best means of achieving this goal is rubbing the floor with mastic.

Now on the construction market, you can observe a huge variety of this product. The mastic can be sold ready-made, or it can be in the state of a blank, which must be mixed with other ingredients and, for example, with warm water. Also, the material comes in different colors, and it can be transparent. According to their composition, wax, water-based, turpentine and water-soluble mastics are distinguished.

To apply the material to the floor surface, you will need a paint roller, which will help the solution to be evenly distributed over the area of the room. The composition can be applied in several layers, so its protective properties will be higher.

Of course, a product based on a natural composition has the best qualities. It will take only 2-3 days for such a mastic to dry completely, besides, it is much easier to update it.

Polyurethane foam

Polyurethane foam is a great way to combat squeaky floors. Wood, as mentioned above, is subject to environmental influences. Changes in temperature, humidity - all this, over time, contributes to the fact that wood boards begin to creak underfoot. The use of polyurethane foam will help not only get rid of the defect, but also insulate the wooden floor in the house.

To do this, after general cleaning of the surface and fixing the boards to the logs, it is necessary to drill holes in those places where there is the most creak. Further, through this hole with the help of mounting foam, the empty space of the above floor is filled, which contributes to the reliable fixing of the boards from below. It is worth noting that the drilled holes should match, or better - be slightly wider than the diameter of the foam nozzle.

An important point is not to overdo it with the injection of foam, so that the surface does not rise with a so-called hump.

Expanded clay

Expanded clay is a material based on a natural composition. It is able not only to level out even the most hopeless options for an uneven surface, but also to soundproof and insulate the floor. Expanded clay is an environmentally friendly material with fire resistance, durability, strength, resistance to temperature extremes, antibacteriality and affordability.

For the correct laying of the material, it is necessary to carry out preparatory work:

The first is cleaning the room from debris, filling up the gaps and strengthening the boards.
Further, it is necessary to waterproof the base in order to prevent leaks and damage to the screed.
Along the walls, a damper tape is attached directly to the waterproofing, which is necessary to compensate for possible expansion of the materials during work.
To maintain an even level of the screed, beacons are installed.
Now it's about laying expanded clay.

Expanded clay is laid on a base prepared in advance so that the layer does not reach the top of the lighthouse. The layer is leveled and compacted well. The evenness of the resulting layer can be checked with a level. If you are satisfied with the result, you can apply a solution over the insulation.

Sometimes, in order to avoid shifts and deformation, the repairmen fill the expanded clay with special cement milk and leave it to dry for a day before hardening, after which they cover the expanded clay "pillow" with a solution

Another way is dry leveling of the floor using expanded clay. This method is perhaps the simplest and does not take much time. Dry expanded clay is laid at the level of the lighthouses and evenly distributed. A layer of 3-4 cm is enough to get a stable coating. Sheets of the material of your choice (OSB, chipboard, plywood sheets, etc.) are laid on the formed expanded clay "pillow".

Slabs

In this case, the floor is leveled by laying special plates on a wooden surface.

OSB boards are sheets formed from compressed wood chips using an adhesive mixture. There are 3 types of chipboard: OSB-2, OSB-3 and OSB-4, each of which is intended for use in certain conditions, has a different thickness and properties. It is important to determine which of the materials is right for your case. It is worth noting that in comparison with chipboard, OSB boards have a high percentage of strength and differ in maximum thickness. The material also guarantees heat and sound insulation.

The material is fastened by nailing it with nails of the required length to the supports located at a distance of about 30 cm from each other. You can lay OSB on the logs themselves or using a point support. In the second case, the more often the supports are located, the more resistant the surface will be to use. It is imperative to eliminate gaps at the junction of the canvases and canvases themselves with the walls.

To obtain a durable and even surface, a GVL coating is often used. GVL-coating is a floor leveling technology by covering plank surfaces with gypsum fiber sheets. The product contains reinforced gypsum and cellulose. This composition guarantees high density and strength of the finished product, the ability to withstand severe mechanical stress. The material is moisture resistant and retains heat perfectly.

The way the gypsum fiber is laid depends on the quality of the substrate. Most often, additional leveling material is used. Sheets are laid in 2 layers, where the first is attached to the slats, and the second is glued over the first.

For reliable fastening of the board to the base, special self-tapping screws are used. Working with self-tapping screws ensures a long life for the wood floor.

And when buying such a tool, you should be extremely careful. Savings in this case are a guarantee that soon there will be a need to repair the wooden floor again.

The size of self-tapping screws can vary considerably. The choice of the appropriate size depends on the thickness of the floor covering.

Self-leveling mixtures

Self-leveling mixtures are mortars that are designed for filling the floor, and are also one of the best and fastest leveling agents.

There are several types of leveling mixtures:

Fast hardening. It is used if it is necessary to quickly solidify the solution. Can be applied in both thin and thick layers.
Finishing. They are used at the end of the work, just before the final finishing of the floor. The applied layer thickness should be no more than 5 mm. It is worth paying attention to the fact that the time for complete drying of the solution is much less than the drying time for the screed.
Thick-layer. Here the name speaks for itself. If you apply a thin layer of this type of solution, then the effect of the application will hardly be noticeable.
Special. This solution has the greatest strength and is used in small quantities for filling cracks and crevices. The mixture contains special elements that increase the percentage of wood adhesion to the base.