How to level a floor under a laminate: methods of leveling with concrete screed, self-leveling mixture, plywood or chipboard, putty. How to level a laminate floor yourself using wood boards

Laminate flooring is suitable for almost all rooms. It is durable at correct operation, aesthetically pleasing, quick to install with your own hands and relatively inexpensive. However, the base underneath must be level so that the coating slats do not begin to creak after a couple of months. Therefore, you should figure out in advance how to level the floor under the laminate so as to avoid problems with the laminate finish later. And for leveling, you can use several technologies; for each room there is always its own optimal method.

Leveling a concrete floor

The easiest floor to install laminate flooring is concrete. Usually this interfloor covering, which does not have serious flaws in the form of potholes, bumps or inclination towards one of the corners of the room. The finish can be placed on it immediately without preparation. But if the listed defects exist, then the concrete base will have to be corrected before installing the decorative coating. And the leveling method here is chosen based on the scale of the identified deficiencies.

Methods for leveling a concrete floor

Leveling the concrete floor:

• grinding;
• repair with cement mixtures;
• gypsum or CPS screed;
• bulk solutions.

The first option refers to dry work and is used when there are no peeling areas, potholes or other similar depressions on the concrete base. Using sanding, you can only cut off small slopes and bumps up to 5 mm high in order to quickly make the base more even and ready for laminate.

The second method is designed to get rid of holes, recesses for wires or pipes and cracks in a concrete slab. That is, where it needs minor repairs. Screeds and polymer self-leveling mixtures are already a complete preparation of the base for laminate flooring in the presence of serious irregularities.

Floor structure structure

Grinding

To polish concrete, you need a special Grinder with an abrasive wheel. You can also use a grinder with an attachment to level the floor in this way, but it will be difficult to achieve particular evenness with its help. The slightest pressure in the wrong place will lead to the appearance of a completely unnecessary depression. It will then have to be additionally repaired with cement mortar or self-leveling mixture.
The main disadvantage of this method is the abundance of dust during grinding. You cannot begin such work without a respirator and safety glasses. The concrete suspension formed in the air is dangerous and harmful.

You should protect yourself from this dust in advance, otherwise leveling the floor under the laminate yourself by sanding may well end in being sent to the hospital. Here, as with gas equipment, before installation it is worth first studying all the nuances of its operation. If there is such a unit in the house, you need to take care in advance of the question of what to do if the gas boiler or fireplace goes out. The slightest mistake in handling such explosive equipment can end in disaster.

Floor leveling options for laminate flooring

Partial leveling of the floor with repair mixtures

Repair with cement-sand and gypsum mixtures allows you to quickly prepare a subfloor without involving external craftsmen and without using a screed. Laminate does not require perfect evenness. It is enough to level the base so that there are no differences in height of more than 2–3 mm. And if there are only a couple of cracks and/or potholes on it, then a quick repair with mortar will be the perfect way preparation of the concrete base.

Step-by-step instructions for using the mixture

For this alignment you only need:

• trowel (trowel);
• bucket for mixing the solution;
• water;
• mixture - ready-made cement or gypsum or cement with sand.

It takes from a couple of hours to a couple of days for a thin layer of solution to dry completely. If you choose a wet or semi-dry floor screed, you will have to wait two to three weeks. And when quick repair The laminate can be laid the very next day.

Screed

The screed can be wet (with pouring liquid concrete mortar) or semi-dry (with laying and compacting a cement-sand mixture with minimal addition of water). In the first case, you will have to wait longer for the concrete to harden, and in the second, a grinding machine is required. And it would be difficult to call such a method dry; working with cement and sand always involves a large amount of accompanying construction dirt.

It is recommended to use a screed only when uneven floors. When installing laminate flooring in an apartment, it is better to immediately abandon this technology. In order for the rough concrete base to be reliable, it must be poured with a layer of at least 2 cm. But usually this is 4–5 centimeters, which inevitably “eats” the height to the ceiling and “reduces” the room.

Types of screeds for laminate flooring

Self-leveling floors

Leveling the floor with a self-leveling mixture based on gypsum or cement is a simple and fairly quick way to prepare the base for laminate flooring. However, such solutions often have to be poured in several layers, waiting from 2 days to 3 weeks for each of them to harden.

If concrete floor only needs to be leveled to get rid of a slight slope or fill numerous small potholes, then bulk method alignments can be used. But in other cases it is better to prefer something else.

advantages of self-leveling floor for leveling

Leveling a wooden floor

If the base is made of boards or is old parquet, then screeds and self-leveling mixtures are not recommended. Solutions prepared using water are strictly contraindicated for wood. Even with good waterproofing, moisture is still able to reach it.

The wooden floor is leveled for laying laminate in three ways:

1. Flooring layer made of plywood or chipboard.
2. Puttying cracks with special means.
3. Surface scraping.

If the base has differences of more than 5 mm or individual boards play, then you will have to lay fiberboard sheets or chipboard. Otherwise, you can get by with minor repairs by quickly filling and/or sanding the existing wooden surface.

Leveling materials

Plywood

Using plywood or other wood-based panels increases the cost of floor installation. However, in this case the base turns out to be smooth and simply ideal for laminate flooring.

It is not worth making such a flooring from lumber in an apartment. Even if it is located on the ground floor, it is better to lay good insulation under the laminate on a concrete floor to avoid the finish becoming damp. But for a cottage this is the most best option alignment.

Step-by-step instructions for leveling a floor using plywood

Putty

It is recommended to use putty or special sealant only when it is necessary to seal holes from fallen knots, cracks and seams between individual boards. The wooden surface itself cannot be completely or partially leveled using these products. This layer will not last long on wood.

Cycling

To loop wooden floor, you will need a special hand sander, wood scrapers and sandpaper. This is the most labor-intensive and difficult to do-it-yourself leveling technology. But in this case, the rough base ends up being very smooth and completely ready for installing the laminate.

Comparison of methods

When preparing the subfloor for laminate flooring, the main thing is not to rush. Often, inexperienced installers strive to quickly lay the finish, without waiting for the concrete in the screed to dry or anything else used for minor repairs solution. As a result, condensation accumulates under the laminate, causing harm to it and the base below.

The second point is the lack of experience in handling special tool. There should not be any particular difficulties when working with a grinding or scraping machine. However, certain skills are still required to work with this technique. The rest of the difficulties in preparing the foundation with my own hands rarely causes.

Step-by-step instruction

Conclusion

It is quite possible to level the floor under the laminate yourself. There is nothing critically complicated here. The main thing is not to rush. It is better to initially wait until the base becomes dry after repair and preparation, rather than reapplying the topcoat later.

Read about our other materials:

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 preparation of the surface and its leveling is carried out 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 of concrete solution are created. 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, however 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 for short period time to get a fairly even coating. 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. Optimal thickness- 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 this is not so scary, since the maximum lifting height is only three centimeters.

If the room has high ceilings, it is possible to use special floor systems equipped with 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.

Floor leveling is not mandatory procedure before laying the laminate. But in most cases you can’t do without it. To check whether this needs to be done in a particular case, you should use a tape measure to measure the gap between the floor and the ruler over the entire area of ​​the room.

If this indicator is more than 2 mm, it is necessary to level the floor. The choice of technique that will be used for this depends on which floor requires manipulation - wooden or concrete. It also matters what materials and tools the master has.

There are also taboo materials that are undesirable to use. These include chipboard sheets. Under influence external factors they emit harmful formaldehyde.

It is also important to determine the strength of the floor so that it can withstand the entire structure.

Do I need to level the floor for laminate flooring?

If you still have doubts about whether you need to spend effort and money on leveling the floor, you should take into account several features of this coating:

1. Laminate flooring can easily bend under the weight of a person. If there are voids underneath due to an uneven floor, it may crack over time.
2. The locks between the panels may come apart if the floor is uneven. As a result, moisture will get under the laminate and it will deteriorate from the inside.
3. Large differences in the surface threaten swelling and cracks.
4. Panels may creak.
5. A person will feel the instability of the laminate.

As a result, the laminate will not last long and will soon have to be replaced.

To be sure that the surface leveling procedure is necessary, you should first perform several manipulations:

• analyze the floor for chips, potholes, and obvious unevenness;
• identify concrete “waves”;
• determine whether there are relief differences in the floor.

If one of the listed signs has been identified, then it is necessary to level the surface.

You need to carefully and slowly inspect the floor. If the wrong decision is made, the floor will either begin to “walk” underfoot over time, or money will be wasted on purchasing materials and time to level the coating.

Necessary materials and tools for leveling the floor

The main materials that will allow you to properly level the floor are cement and sand. But modern market construction materials offers craftsmen to purchase already ready-made mixtures. They have a number of significant advantages:

• have soundproofing properties;
• keep warm;
• have strong bonding properties.

There are dry mixtures separately for concrete and wooden floors. There are also these types:

1. Primers - designed to prepare the surface for leveling.
2. Repair - to eliminate serious defects and flaws.
3. Sealing - for sealing cracks.

The master will also need the following tools:

• construction beacons (they need to be placed for screeding);
• building level;
• mixer for mixing the solution;
• kneading container.

In addition to tools and materials, it is advisable to enlist support. Otherwise, the task may turn out to be overwhelming. This is especially true for the period when the screed will be poured.

It is important not to skimp on materials. Then it will be much easier to achieve results.

How to level a concrete floor under laminate

Often a concrete floor seems like the ideal surface for installing laminate flooring. But even that can be uneven. To level it, you first need to remove the old coating, clean the surface of debris, dust and concrete chips.

There are three ways to level a concrete floor:

1. Using a concrete screed.
2. Thanks to the self-leveling mixture.
3. Using plywood and chipboard.

Leveling with concrete screed

This method can be called ideal if the floor has serious unevenness and flaws. To level the floor using this method, you need to install special “beacons”. It is also better to do the work with an assistant, because one person cannot cope with pouring a concrete screed.

The algorithm for leveling a concrete floor using a screed is as follows:

1. Use a level to identify the highest point of the floor. Mark a line along the perimeter to which the screed will reach.
2. The cord should be pulled tight to mark this line.
3. Install beacons. They need to be strengthened with slides of concrete mortar. During their installation, you need to constantly monitor their horizontal level. If inaccuracies are identified, they must be corrected promptly.
4. Mix the solution. To do this, you need to mix 1 part cement, 3 parts sand (necessarily sifted) and water. You need to get a homogeneous mass. To get this, it’s best to take a drill with a special attachment and mix the ingredients thoroughly.
5. Focusing on the “beacons”, fill the screed to the level that was noted earlier.
6. Align the screed. This point is very important; it determines whether the procedure will be carried out efficiently.
7. Use a needle roller to remove bubbles from the concrete. They need to treat the entire concrete surface.
8. Now you need to let the floor dry. In the meantime, you need to lubricate it with water for two days. You need to moisten it moderately.
9. After two days, remove the “beacons”.
10. Places where there were “beacons” should be filled with fresh concrete mortar and rubbed down to the same level as the floor.
11. Cover the floor with polyethylene and do not open it for two weeks.

When this time is up, check whether the screed is completely dry. After a positive result, you can begin laying the laminate.

Using a self-leveling mixture

This option is optimal if the floor does not have serious unevenness. There may be minor defects or differences within 5 mm. The advantage of this method is that you do not need to waste time and effort on installing “beacons”. This is one of the most modern and effective ways level the floor.

In this case, completing the task step by step means:

1. Set the highest point of the floor using building level.
2. Mark the line up to which the mixture will be poured.
3. Prime the surface with a special mixture.
4. 4. Waterproof the floor.
5. Prepare a self-leveling mixture using the information from the instructions.
6. Pour the resulting mixture to the level that was marked.
7. 7. Level the surface with a spatula.
8. Knead a portion of the mixture again, pour it in and level it out. Doing the work in parts occurs due to the fact that the mixture quickly becomes unusable. If you do not fill it immediately, then after 15 minutes you cannot use it.
9. Leave the surface to dry. This will take approximately 3 days. At this time there should be people in the room comfortable conditions: there were no drafts and it was warm.

When the floor is completely dry, you can think about laying laminate. If the floor humidity is low (less than 5%), then installation can be done immediately. If this indicator is higher, then you should first use waterproofing and a cork backing so that it absorbs moisture.

This method of leveling the floor is also suitable for a single master. All stages of the process are clear, they are not difficult to perform if you refer to the specified algorithm.

Leveling with plywood or chipboard

This method is suitable for a room with a high ceiling. The essence of the process is that a dry screed is used. The plywood is not laid on the floor, but on the joists, which must first be installed. As a result, the height of the room decreases by 10 cm.

A positive result in this case is possible only when the logs are located according to the horizontal level. If there are depressions, then wedges need to be placed, and excess bulges should be trimmed off.

To level the floor using these methods, you need to follow these steps:

1. Using a building level, mark to what level the floor will reach.
2. Execute preparatory work: lay out waterproofing, sound insulation and shock absorption.
3. Install logs. You can purchase them ready-made and make them yourself using beams.
4. It is imperative to control the distances: there should be 3 cm from the walls, and 40 - 50 cm between the logs.
5. Secure the joists with dowels.
6. Lay out sheets of plywood or chipboard. You should leave a gap between them of 0.2 - 0.4 mm.
7. Secure the sheets with self-tapping screws. You should adhere to a step of 50 - 70 cm.

The big advantage of this method is that the laminate can be laid immediately. This is a significant time saving, which is what attracts craftsmen.

There is also another “dry” way to level the floor - using dry mixtures.

The algorithm of actions will be as follows:

1. Cover the floor with polyethylene to create waterproofing.
2. Cover the corners with edge tape. It will absorb sound.
3. A dry screed is made and leveled.
4. Plasterboard and plywood are laid on top in two layers.
5. Secure the sheets with self-tapping screws. If drywall is used, then optimal step- 50 mm. If other materials are chosen, then the screws can be mounted further away from each other.

The dry method was also liked by craftsmen due to the fact that there is no need to waste time preparing the solution. As a result, the floor is leveled, the room is isolated from extraneous sounds, and additional waterproofing will prevent the materials from losing their appearance and properties prematurely.

How to level a wooden floor

Leveling a wooden floor can sometimes be very difficult. If the boards are severely damaged or rotten, then they must be replaced. After this, level the surface. You also need to do the same with lags.

If at first glance the structure seems strong, you still need to tear off the board and check the joists for strength.

If all the elements are in order, then it is enough to use one of the options for leveling a wooden floor:

• scraping;
• using plywood or chipboard;
• puttying.

Cycling - the right way make a wooden floor smooth

If we are talking about leveling a wooden floor, then a proven way to do this is scraping. To do this, they use a special machine that will make the wood smooth and even. The procedure can be carried out without equipment, manually. But this is hard and long work that will take more than one day.

Before treating the surface with a machine, you need to check all the screws and nails that are driven into the wood. Any bulges of this nature must be eliminated: hammered in with a hammer and rubbed. Otherwise the machine may break.

The point of sanding is that the machine removes the top layer of wood, making the surface perfectly flat. The manipulation must be carried out carefully, without missing part of the surface.

The next stage is cleaning the floor from dirt and dust. After this, you can lay the laminate. Looping allows you to quickly level the floor and get excellent result. But there is also a minus - the cost of the machine. Not everyone will be able to purchase it, given that it will not be useful often.

In this case, you should think about renting it.

Using plywood or chipboard

This option is implemented in the same way as when leveling a concrete floor. The main difference is that the logs are laid on wood and secured with self-tapping screws.

Between the joists a layer of waterproofing, insulation and sound-absorbing material. This way the floor will not only be smooth, but also warm. Neighbors will also appreciate such enterprise, because there will be less noise.

Puttying

This procedure must be carried out using sawdust and PVA glue. This option is considered the most budget-friendly, but it can only be used if the floor does not have serious unevenness.

Craftsmen are also attracted by the fact that puttying does not raise the floor too much, thereby not “eating up” the space in the room.

Puttying with sawdust and glue should be carried out in stages:

1. Install the “beacons” and secure them with nails. This device will allow you to monitor the level. If there are no deformed boards or other flaws, then the “beacons” can be abandoned.
2. Mix sawdust and PVA glue so that the mass resembles thick sour cream.
3. Pour the mixture into the space.
4. The mass settles quickly, so you need to fill it at least 2-3 times.
5. Wait for the surface to dry.
6. Lay thin plywood (5 mm thick) on top of the dried layer and secure it with self-tapping screws.

It is useful for a novice master to know the specifics of the procedure for leveling a wooden floor. Such recommendations include:

1. The floor must be thoroughly cleaned of dirt and dust. Therefore, it is best to use a vacuum cleaner, brush and other cleaning devices.
2. Many important communications are located under the floor. To avoid harm, they should be secured and, if necessary, insulated.
3. The laminate is laid on long years, therefore it is rational to do everything to make it comfortable to walk on. To do this, you need to insulate the floor.
4. All nails must be combed - this is the main point of the preparatory stage.
5. It is important not to skip the puttying and sanding stage. Then the surface will become even smoother and more even.
6. There should be no voids between the floorboards. Otherwise it will come through them wet air under the floor As a result, the wood will quickly begin to deteriorate and you will have to completely replace the flooring. You can close the voids with wooden strips, which must first be lubricated with glue.
7. If scraping is chosen for the procedure, the master must be prepared: have special glasses, a respirator, and earplugs. It is important to close the windows tightly, and it is best to seal them with electrical tape.
8. Looping involves starting work from a corner. You need to move diagonally. After this, go perpendicular to the previous path.
9. To smooth out uneven surfaces, you need to use sandpaper. It is better to opt for fine-grained.

If the wooden floor is completely rotten, then it needs to be torn off entirely and the concrete base leveled. After this, lay the laminate according to the already known scheme.

Leveling the floor is not an easy task. The choice of technique depends on many factors: the height of the ceilings in the room, the surface topography, its problematic nature and dilapidation.

You also need to pay attention to the training of the master and the presence of assistants nearby. If we talk about durability, then laying laminate flooring on a concrete floor is considered more reliable. Even after many years have passed, this design will hold up. But it’s better to work with this surface with an assistant to do everything perfectly.

Wood is easier to process, but there is no complete certainty that moisture will not get into the middle and ruin the base over time.

Leveling the floor will require additional expenditure of time and money on purchasing materials, but you can be sure that the laminate will fit perfectly and will last much longer.

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 that for them 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 inside panels.
• 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 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 renovation. 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

Applies to 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 concrete plates.

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 a very uneven concrete base, since it spreads in a 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 he has high strength, can last for many 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, is widely available in any hardware 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 carried out with a self-leveling mixture, which fills all tiny cracks, smoothes out the slight relief resulting from applying 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 concrete base:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. The entire concrete surface is treated with a soil solution.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. The resulting solution is poured onto the floor and leveled in accordance with the beacons.
7. 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.

1. The mixture is prepared in strict accordance with the instructions, after which it is stirred using a construction mixer.
2. The concrete floor is poured with the prepared mixture.
3. 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.
4. 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.

1. 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.
2. Further along the entire perimeter there is edge tape, whose width should be equal to the height of the future expanded clay layer or exceed it.
3. Then sheets of superflooring, gypsum fiber board, chipboard or plywood are laid on expanded clay distributed over the entire area of ​​the room.
4. Every new leaf attached to those already laid using special glue and self-tapping screws. It is necessary to observe a step of 10 to 15 centimeters.
5. It is also necessary to ensure that there are no cross seams, for which the sheets are laid in a checkerboard pattern.
6. 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.
7. 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 a lot of various 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 of the utilities 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 floor, maintaining the required 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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. After this, all the necessary protrusions, arches and other holes are cut.
6. 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 sawdust and PVA-based putties, 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.

1. Using a level, you need to fill the floor with beacons - ordinary wooden slats.
2. 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.
3. 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. The entrance door to the room is being removed because the floor in this area also needs to be repaired. To prevent debris from getting into the corridor or adjacent rooms, you need to seal the doorway with 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 and long sleeves is also desirable. 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 that's it preparatory activities completed, and now you move directly to scraping. The work sequence looks like this:

1. 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.
2. Start looping from the corner, carefully moving in a straight line to the opposite wall.
3. 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.
4. Each new floor strip is processed slightly overlapping with the already processed area.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. Also, sandpaper needs to be cleaned during sanding. You can clean it by fanning it with a broom or cloth. The dust collector also needs to be checked and cleaned.
8. 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.
9. Passing final stage, move parallel to the laid boards.

If the belts are roughly smoothed at the beginning of work uneven areas and remove the remaining paint, then fine-grained belts carefully sand the surface before completing 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 good mood all household members. Spend a couple of days on this procedure and enjoy a perfectly executed repair for many years!

My name is Elena. Hobbies - music, literature, attending concerts, dancing, photography/photoshop, learning to edit videos, regional studies, European history and North America, history of Catholicism, bicycle, writing different stories, sometimes stories and poems, sometimes modeling from plasticine and polymer clay.

A popular material for flooring is laminate. It is easy to assemble and can be installed without the involvement of specialists, which will save your budget. A wide range of color range will satisfy the most refined taste and wishes of the customer. The length of service life directly depends on literacy. Laminated boards bend under the weight of the load and the weight of people; if there are uneven surfaces underneath, moisture can penetrate into the cracks, which will lead to rapid wear of the coating. Therefore, one of the main requirements when laying flooring– this is a smooth and flat floor surface, without cracks, holes, roughness, bulges, bends and kinks.

Need for leveling

The concrete floor under the laminate must be perfectly flat for the following reasons:

• The presence of bulges and depressions on concrete surface may result in failure lock connections. If concrete floors are not leveled, this will lead to gaps at the joints and cracking of the laminate boards.
• The concrete base has a high level of humidity, which is unacceptable for laminate flooring. Excess moisture enters from the screed through cracks in. To prevent this, you should prepare the concrete base immediately before laying the boards.
• Laying laminate flooring is not possible on a skewed floor or concrete surface with potholes, unevenness and cracks. This will worsen the quality of installation and entail considerable expense. building material. Laminate flooring laid on a deformed base will have a short service life.
• Leveling a concrete floor can be carried out regardless of the quality of the base and the materials used for its construction using CBPB, plywood or self-leveling compounds.

Leveling the base with leveling compound

Before you begin leveling the concrete surface, it should be cleaned of dust and remnants of the previous coating, dirt and construction debris should be removed. Possible cracks and potholes are sealed with cement mortar and the prepared surface is treated with a primer, which will improve adhesion between the materials. Primers reduce the absorption of concrete mortar, which prevents cracking.

The use of leveling compound will allow you to level the floor quickly and easily. The mass is a dry mixture that should be diluted with water. Required proportions indicated on the back of the package. To give the mixture a homogeneous structure, you need to mix it with special nozzles for building mixtures. You need so much water that the consistency resembles thick sour cream, then laying will be done in a layer of small thickness. When working with floors that have a slope, you should use a thick mixture. This leveling compound will allow you to level the floor perfectly evenly. You need to stir the mixture until all the lumps disappear.

Self-leveling mixture

A self-leveling mixture for laminate flooring can be purchased at a hardware store; to prepare it, you need to dilute the finished dry mixture with water. The proportions are indicated on the back of the package. To make a self-leveling mass, you need to pour water into a clean bowl and gradually pour the dry mixture into it. The ingredients should be thoroughly mixed using a drill or a mixer attachment. Depending on the thickness of the screed, make the required consistency by pouring required quantity water. Stir the mixture until all lumps disappear and the color is uniform.

When the self-leveling mixture is ready, begin laying it. Begin pouring the mixture from a high level of the base. The mixture begins to spread on its own over the surface. To speed up spreading, use a wide spatula to spread the solution over the base. Next, level the mixture using a needle roller. When pouring a self-leveling mixture, you should ensure a monolithic coating of each poured portion. When pouring a new part, you need to use a spatula to connect it with the previous poured portion. The joints of the poured mixtures are carefully rolled out. The pouring process requires speed, otherwise the poured mixture will begin to dry out.

The self-leveling mortar sets quickly, but it will take several days to reach its maximum strength.

Monolithic screed

A monolithic screed is used under the laminate when large differences heights of the concrete base. Before starting construction work, the surface should be cleaned of dust, dirt and construction waste. The monolithic screed begins with the installation of beacons and determining the level of the floor being constructed. The step between installed beacons should be 60-90 centimeters. The beacons are fastened using a solution of cement and sand. Beacons can be installed using long self-tapping screws, for this purpose on concrete covering make holes and drive dowels into them. Next, they begin pouring the concrete solution. To prepare concrete you will need:

• three parts cement;
• one part sand;
• half part water.

As a filling, you can use ready-made dry mixtures, which are diluted with water in the required volume. All proportions are indicated on the packaging. The poured solution should be leveled with a rule and, after hardening, the beacons should be removed. Beacons are removed after 24 hours. The resulting cracks are sealed with a new solution. After the solution has set, the surface should be rubbed and covered. plastic film. A layer of polyethylene will protect the poured surface from cracking, and sprinkling the laid concrete with water will help to avoid deformations. The concrete floor will reach its maximum strength characteristics after a month.