During repairs, it is also necessary to replace the floors. Coating plays an important role in creating the interior, in addition, the use of creaky and bending boards is not the best solution. To save money and effort, it is necessary to simplify the process as much as possible. For example, removing the old coating is a very expensive pleasure. This is best avoided. The following describes how to level a wooden floor without tearing the board. There are several ways, the choice between them depends on how damaged the wooden floor is.
Gender survey
At this stage, you will have to conduct not only a thorough inspection, but also a measurement of the bumps. A wooden floor must meet the following requirements:
- boards should not be damaged by rot or mold;
- the gaps or gaps between the elements should not be more than 5 cm (even if they are less than 5 cm, alignment with plywood will be required, the use of other methods is impossible);
- height differences do not exceed 1-2 cm.
If these conditions are not met, it will be practically impossible to repair and level the wooden floor without changing the board. To choose the alignment option, you need to know the height difference. The following tools are used for measurements:
- building levels (laser, hydraulic, bubble);
- the rule.
The easiest option is to attach a long rail or metal profile to the floor and measure with a ruler. Also, to inspect the wooden floor yourself, you can buy a bubble level in a hardware store. It determines the slope of the board and stands within a few thousand, depending on the length of the case.
The hydraulic level can be made independently. Here you need only a thin transparent tube and water. The disadvantage of such a device is that it is not very convenient to use. The most accurate way to measure a wooden floor is with a laser level. Such a device is used by professional builders, its cost is high, and when using it requires special skills. If you need to align the boards in a house or apartment on your own, there is no need for such accuracy.
Ways to do the work
There are several ways to align, each of which is suitable for different cases:
- Laying a backing made of resilient material It is applied if the irregularities do not exceed a few millimeters. This increases sound insulation. The most commonly used materials are isolon or foamed polyethylene. The thickness is assigned within 2-5 mm.
- For more serious defects, cycling is suitable.. This method is also not able to even out serious differences, but can refine the surface and give it an attractive appearance. Before starting work, the floor is carefully inspected for metal fasteners. Staples and screws will have to be removed, and the nails are recessed into the boards so that there is no likelihood of damage to the looper.
- Putty is suitable for differences in heights of 2-3 mm. Sealants or acrylics are used.
- Bulk floors or cement screeds.
- The most reliable option, which will align the wooden floor with serious differences and crevices, has become plywood or OSB boards. For work, use a material with a thickness of 14-22 mm. There are two methods that can deal with different sizes of bumps.
Putty and plywood should be described in more detail.
Putty
To level the wooden floor with this method, you will need to carry out preparatory work. They consist in cleaning the surface from dust and dirt, priming. The primer layer guarantees a high degree of adhesion of the putty to the wooden surface.
The material to be processed is selected depending on the finish flooring. If you plan to lay tiles, linoleum, laminate or parquet on the boards, then acrylic putty is suitable. When using a wooden floor as a finishing one, followed by coating it with varnish, take a sealant selected for the color of the material.
Acrylic mixtures are characterized by low strength, so you can replace them with other compounds:
- if the layer does not exceed 1-2 mm, putty on gypsum using PVA glue is suitable;
- for a larger layer thickness, a mixture of sawdust and PVA is used.
The disadvantage of this composition is the difficulty of distribution over the surface, therefore, after drying, grinding will be required until complete leveling.
Plywood laying
The most reliable way to level boards. After laying the plywood, you can mount the floor covering (tile, carpet, linoleum, laminate, parquet). There are two technologies for performing work:
- without intermediate supports for drops less than 1 cm;
- with intermediate supports for differences of more than 1cm.
Laying without supports consists in fixing sheets to glue and self-tapping screws. Before starting work, it is necessary to perform the layout of the elements and their cutting. The distance between the parts is taken equal to 2-4 mm, and between the wall and plywood - 8-10 mm. This is necessary so that the sheets do not act on each other, and waves do not appear during the expansion of the material.
Having laid out parts of the flooring, they are numbered. And proceed to mount. The adhesive layer should not exceed 2-3 mm. The composition is applied to the surface to be leveled. Sheets should be stacked with a spacing of at least 10 cm.
After the glue has completely dried, you can proceed with the installation of fasteners. Before starting work, holes are drilled in the sheets for self-tapping screws, which are located at a distance of at least 20 mm from the edge of the part. The mounting pitch is taken within 15-20 mm. After completion of work, the surface of the plywood is sanded with a special machine.
The use of intermediate supports allows you to increase the leveling ability. You can use logs or point points of support (scaffolds). The former can provide higher reliability, and the latter save on materials. It is important to provide for the arrangement of the elements so that the joint of the sheets falls on the place of support. The pitch of the elements is assigned depending on the thickness of the plywood sheet.
- when using a flooring with a thickness of 12-14 mm, the step of the supports should be 30-40 cm;
- 16-16 mm thick - 50 cm.
For OSB and chipboard, other values are accepted:
- thickness 16-18 mm - step 30-40 cm;
- thickness 20-24 mm - pitch 50 cm.
The thickness of the supports is taken on average 15 mm. The width of the boards for the manufacture of lag is 40 mm. Fastening to a plank floor is carried out on self-tapping screws. Attaching plywood to the supports can be done with screws or glue.
When leveling the floor without removing the boards, it is important to make sure that its base is in good condition. If the lags rotted, then none of the techniques described above will help, the result will only be a replacement of the structure.