How to level a floor under a laminate: instruction
There are a lot of flooring on sale. You can arrange the floor in an apartment or house using ceramic tiles, linoleum, parquet or carpet. But among all the materials there is one that deservedly enjoys a good reputation - this is laminate. It combines many positive qualities, and therefore enjoys great popularity.
Before you purchase and lay laminate, you must properly prepare the base. It should be smooth and durable. Only in this case, the material will last a long time. Before leveling the floor under the laminate we recommend to read the instructions presented in this article.
Level concrete floor
In apartments and houses often found concrete floors. These include any coating made using cement. This may be concrete, reinforced concrete or sand cement screed. In any case, such floors are rarely distinguished by sufficient evenness, and therefore they need special work.
Leveling the floor must be done in several stages. But in the beginning it should be clarified what kind of irregularities are found on similar grounds. It can be:
- all kinds of chips and potholes;
- cracks of various depths and widths;
- crumbling surface and delamination;
- concrete flows;
- the slopes of the plane;
- swings. If they are more than 2 mm, they require correction.
All these irregularities need to get rid of before the installation of laminate. To do this, you must perform the following work:
- First, remove all debris from the surface. In this case, the large elements are assembled by hand, and then you need to work with a vacuum cleaner. This is necessary to remove dust and sand. Also remove (if possible) the old coating. If there are spots of contaminants and paint coating, then they also need to get rid of.
- Now take up major cracks and irregularities. The first ones are filled with sand-cement mortar. Floods, if they have a large height difference, you need to knock down with a punch.
- The next step will be laying the tie. Prior to this, you must walk the entire surface of the primer. This coating will prevent the rapid absorption of water from the applied solution. Then we pour a sand-cement mixture along the beacon profiles.
- Very often, the resulting rough floor has a sufficient evenness. If the surface still has irregularities, then it should be covered with a self-leveling solution. To do this, the surface is ground, ground and filled with the desired mixture.
Before filling the leveling solution, you must wait 14 to 28 days. During this time, the screed is completely dry.
The layer of self-leveling mixture hardens in 3–5 days. These deadlines must be kept. Otherwise, the laminate will quickly become unusable due to excessive moisture.
Wood floor
When installing laminate flooring on a wooden floor, you must carefully examine the base. If the boards are rotten, you need to replace them. Also carefully examine the lags, they should be strong and not have signs of rotting. Before installation, you must additionally secure all the boards with self-tapping screws.
Hats of old nails (and new screws) must be “drowned”. If this is not done, the substrate and the laminate itself will suffer.
To level a wooden floor it is possible several methods. The choice will depend on the magnitude of the irregularities on the surface. If the boards are even and deviations from the horizontal plane are not more than 5 mm, then you can do with laying the substrate. Also, if you have the right tool, it makes sense to do a tsilirovanie. If there are significant bumps, it is necessary to work with a plane.
Apply chipboard
Methods for leveling the floor can be different. But if chipboard is used, then any foundation can be made even. This method is suitable for both wood and concrete floor. Its meaning is that sheets of chipboard (or thick plywood) are laid over the entire area.
On the basis of removed only large bulges. Then sheets are laid on the floor.
If you use plywood for leveling, it is desirable to apply a multi-layer construction. In this case, the sheets are stacked so that the seams in different layers do not match.
Chipboard can also be used when leveling the base with a raised floor. This method is perfect in any situation (highly uneven concrete floor, behavior boards, etc.).
To create a raised floor apply wooden logs. They are mounted on special racks that are attached to the base with bolts. Then the sheets are laid sheets of chipboard (or plywood).
This method has both advantages and disadvantages. The first can be attributed to a perfectly flat surface, dry and quick installation method (water-diluted construction mixtures are not used, which means that there is no need to wait for drying, there is no dirt). The disadvantages include a decrease in free space. When installing a raised floor, you need to raise the logs a few centimeters above the base.
Using other grounds
If the room is laid linoleum, then this is a great option for installing laminate. On such a basis, the coating falls without any preliminary preparation. Of course, if the floor has no differences in more than 2 mm. The main thing is that the linoleum was glued to the floor over the entire area. Otherwise, when installing the laminate it may crumple.
In the presence of a coating of ceramic tiles, you should also monitor the presence of irregularities. If not, then the laminate will lie securely. If the tile is old, then the appearance of cracks on the surface. In this case, they need to be sealed with putty.
If the room was covered with carpet, then it is necessary to get rid of it. This base is too soft. When laying the laminate, it begins to sag, which means it will quickly fail. Also in the villi of carpet will accumulate moisture and dirt. In such an environment, microorganisms reproduce perfectly, the appearance of an unpleasant odor in this case cannot be avoided.