How to make a concrete floor on the ground

It often happens that the old floor with lags rot, and the new one has nothing to fix. And maybe in the garage sagging floor. What can you think of in this case? In this article we will explain how to make a concrete floor on the ground. Works need to be done correctly and then you will have no problems in the future.

In what cases is the concrete floor on the ground?

Low-rise building, in contrast to multi-storey urban buildings, often does not have a hard floor on which to install various floor coverings. In the absence of lower intermediate rooms, for example, a basement or basement, the only option for floor installation is the arrangement of the building structure directly on the ground.

Design

The floor along the ground in a vertical section is a multi-layer construction, resembling a kind of construction cake. Generally it looks like this (bottom to top):

1. Reason - compacted soil.
2. Sand pillow - used sand fines. Stacked using tamping operation. Designed to create a leveling layer having a thickness of up to 10 cm.
3. Crushed stone layer - apply fractions of size 30–70 mm. The height of the layer is 10–15 cm. It prevents the creation of a capillary effect, which ensures the rise of moisture from the soil mass to the concrete base. Mounted with a seal through manual or mechanical tamping.
4. Waterproofing - designed to create a membrane layer that prevents wet layers from coming into contact with insulation and the main layers of the concrete base. Together with this function, it prevents the cement milk from leaving the mortar to the lower layers (crushed stone). It is carried out from a polyethylene (greenhouse) film and roofing material laid in several layers.
5. Roughing screed - performs the function of an intermediate concrete base. Designed to create a layer that distributes the load on the lower layers, serves as a support for insulation.
6. Insulation - creates an intermediate obstacle that prevents the passage of cold into the room. It has a low thermal conductivity.
7. Finishing screed - made of concrete grades 300-400. It is laid with the use of reinforcing elements - building mesh with a wire thickness of 3-5 mm or bars of reinforcement O 6-8 mm. In the latter case, the laying is done crosswise with fixation at the points of junction by means of knitting wire or welding. Layer thickness should not be less than 10–15 cm.
8. Flooring - it is, depending on the design decisions, wooden floor or plywood on adjustable pins, laminate or parquet flooring and other similar products.

Floor creation conditions

In the manufacture of concrete floors with their own hands, you must consider a number of factors:

• groundwater level;
• ground base composition;
• operational loads.

Groundwater

Such a phenomenon as the presence of groundwater is ubiquitous - it occurs on the plain and on rocky soils. It is impossible not to take into account this factor - otherwise there will be constant humidity in the room, dampness, mold, fungus will appear. The appeared unpleasant smell, will testify to the begun rotting. Concrete base, saturated with moisture, will lose its strength properties and quickly collapse.

To determine the depth of groundwater there are several ways:

1. Geographical - visually determined the location of the house. A hill or a rocky hill clearly indicate that the level is much lower than 2–5 meters from the upper edge of the earth. The presence of a building on a plain near a water body indicates a high probability of the location of the groundwater level at a level of 1–2 meters from the surface. The same probability may occur when the house is located in a valley between the hills.
2. Neighborhood - information can be gathered from neighbors living in the area.
3. Official source - The necessary information is in the local topographic and geographical institutions located at the local design organizations.

Soil composition

The characteristics of the earth foundation are important for calculating and determining the future construction of a concrete floor. Dense, solid rocky soil will reduce the overall thickness of the base structure and save money. In the presence of soft chernozem, it is necessary to produce an additional complex of works to remove the upper layer, rich in vegetable components. It is necessary to cut off before the appearance of clay soil (it has a gray-brown shade). In the latter case, the consumption of gravel, which compensates for the thickness of the removed land layer, significantly increases.

Operational loads

Static and dynamic loads attributable to the base determine:

• the thickness of the rough and finishing screed;
• size and quantity of reinforcement;
• brand of concrete used for laying the floor.

For example, the use of heavy furniture, stationary sports equipment, will require the use of valves with a diameter of 6 mm, a concrete pad thickness of 100 mm and a grade of concrete of at least M-400.

Installation of concrete base

Creating a floor construction in a private house or garage is divided into several intermediate steps:

• delivery of necessary building materials and tools;
• preparatory work;
• arrangement of the concrete base.

Materials

Such building materials will be required:

• sand - fractions up to 2–3 mm with clay additives, but without garbage biological inclusions can be used for bedding; Concrete is prepared using washed or river mineral filler;
• crushed stone - preference should be given to a granite look with dimensions up to 70 mm; for concrete it is recommended to use fractions of 20–40 mm;
• plastic film with a thickness of not less than 200 microns;
• roofing material - it is better to use products that have stone dusting;
• bitumen mastic;
• boards up to 20 mm thick;
• warming material, for ease of use, it is advisable to use solid types, for example, penoplex;
• construction mesh or reinforcement.

Preparatory work

The list of these events includes:

• removal of excess layer or soil containing soil (soil);
• surface leveling;
• compaction of the surface layer using a manual device or a mechanical vibrator;
• complex marking work.

Device order

The device of a concrete floor is carried out in several stages:

1. The formation of a sand cushion is carried out by scattering the prepared sand over the entire earthen surface. Alignment is done by metal rule. Compaction of the sand mass is made after its wetting.
2. The crushed stone layer after leveling is also subjected to the process of tamping, but without moistening.
3. Waterproofing - a combination of polyethylene film and subsequent layers of roofing material is used. At low groundwater levels, only one type of insulation material can be used. Fixing the polymer coating is carried out using adhesive tape, roofing material with bitumen mastic.
4. Roughing screed укладывается из бетона марок М200–М300. Используется готовая покупная смесь или замешивается на бетономешалке по месту производства работ.
5. Insulation - монтаж производится в несколько слоев, без образования стыков и создания нахлестов над нижними уровнями.
6. The reinforcing mesh is laid on supports, at least 2-3 cm in size.
7. The finishing screed is made of concrete grades M300 – M400.

In the presence of materials and preliminary calculations, it is possible to equip a concrete floor in a private house in 3-7 days, taking into account the setting of the intermediate concrete layer.

Video

Watch a video about making a concrete floor on the ground: