How to choose a self-leveling floor

For several decades, self-leveling floors are used in the industrial sector and not so long ago began to be used in everyday life. We can see such a floor in kindergartens, hospitals, laboratories, schools and at various enterprises. Bulk floor transforms any room and thanks to it it gains popularity. More recently, designers began to use this type of floor in the design of apartments and country houses.

Which self-leveling floor to choose? First of all, it is necessary to determine the purpose of the room and where the floor will be poured. If the premises will be significant load on the floor, it is necessary to select a mixture that will cope with this task. For a home, an inexpensive self-leveling floor is most often selected, less resistant to heavy loads. For the office you need a stronger coating. Laboratories, chemical plants, hospitals use a solution that does not react with chemicals.

What is a self-leveling floor

Bulk or liquid floor - this is the floor, which consists of polymers. There are epoxy, polyurethane and methyl methacrylate bases. The latter are used very rarely. This is because their cost is high compared with other self-leveling floors.

Polyurethane and epoxy compounds are considered more popular and cheaper. Among the proposed liquid floors can be seen matte, semi-gloss, semi-gloss and glossy options.

The main advantages of a bulk floor:

1. Easy to clean. This type of floor meets all the requirements of purity and sterility. During wet cleaning the water does not fall into the base of the floor, which cannot be said about other types of coatings. Microbes, fungi and various bacteria do not breed on this floor. Self-leveling floors are completely sealed.
2. Liquid floor does not accumulate dust on its surface.
3. The optimum lifetime, which can reach 20 years or more with proper installation and good care. The self-leveling floor does not respond to the action of the sun's rays, it is durable and resistant to abrasion.
4. Liquid floor has no joints and seams, which is very convenient for mechanical cleaning.
5. This floor is not flammable, that is, fireproof. It is resistant to chemical reagents, for example, alkali, oil, gasoline, etc. The base has antistatic properties and is environmentally friendly.
6. In case of severe contamination, the self-leveling floor can be cleaned with aggressive detergents and solvents.
7. Mixtures of self-leveling floors are applied relatively quickly. At the end of the day the floor can be exploited.

Among the listed characteristics of the self-leveling floor, we note some minuses:

• In the future, such a base is very difficult to dismantle.
• In the room where the floor is filled, constantly need to control the level of humidity.

Note! Some types of self-leveling floor can be scratched, thus spoiling the appearance.

Often, when buyers are interested in this type of floor, their main issue is the appearance, which will always be perfect, because you can choose any color for the most unusual interior. Under the finishing base 3D drawings are applied or the floor is made in several colors at the same time, so you can zone the room.

The technology of applying a liquid base

Every homeowner wants a self-leveling floor to decorate his apartment (or house), while differing in excellent quality.

Note! For the application of liquid floors used a special tool, which is unlikely to be useful later in the household. Therefore, when calculating the cost of self-leveling floor made by yourself, you need to take into account the cost of purchasing the tool.

You can apply a liquid coating yourself, but first you need to know how to choose a self-leveling floor, about it just below. First consider the main stages of application:

1. Grinding concrete floor.
2. Removing dust from the surface.
3. Installation of the draft layer.
4. Putting the basis.
5. Fill the finishing mixture.

Polyurethane mixtures

Polyurethane solution is a one-component blend that looks more like a gloss paint. Hardens such a floor at a temperature of 15 degrees above zero. If you decide to purchase this particular solution, then the cost should be calculated based on the fact that the material consumption at optimum concrete moisture will be 1.25 kg / m? with a layer thickness of 1 mm. This composition hardens within 24 hours. The polyurethane base can also be two-component, but after mixing, such a solution must be poured in for half an hour.

Epoxy floor

Epoxy raw materials are two-component and made on a natural basis. Both components weigh about 15-18 kg. The main shade is dull gray, it can be used for the main layer. For the last application, a base color is applied, which is mixed with the dye in the hardware store.

A two-component solution consists of a basic mixture and a hardener. Components included may vary, depending on which floor you want to end up with. The main mixture is mixed with a drill. This is done in order to avoid delamination. Then the second composition is introduced - hardener and also mixed.

Now apply the prepared composition to the base, and this should be done within 40 minutes - after that the composition begins to harden. During this time, the solution is applied to the concrete screed and rolled with a special roller. Material consumption is calculated on the basis of what is 1 m? about 1.3 kg of solution will go. Curing time up to two days.

Note! The special roller breaks all the bubbles and voids formed, so this procedure should not be ignored.

Which floor to choose for placement

Initially, liquid floors were developed for use only for industrial enterprises. Most often, epoxy solutions are used in factories in workshops where it is necessary to achieve chemical resistance of the substrate. At the same time the floor must withstand abrasive loads, strong vibration, mechanical point shocks, high humidity, high and low temperatures.

Loads that can be fixed at work, in an apartment or house can not be found. Here you can choose the composition depending on the purpose of the room, for example, in the kitchen and in the bathroom it is constantly humid, therefore, appropriate compositions are used for such rooms. For the apartment, you can use both epoxy and polyurethane mixtures.

Video

This video tells how to choose a self-leveling floor:

Video instruction for self-leveling floors BERGAUF - how to choose: