How to level uneven wooden floors do it yourself: technology (video)

The quality of floors and the comfort of staying in a house or apartment are always closely interconnected. A lot of inconvenience and trouble deliver uneven wooden floors. They creak, make unpleasant, annoying sounds. Poor flooring - a prerequisite for the emergence of housing traumatic situations, not to mention the fact that uneven wooden floors look extremely untidy and unaesthetic. Is it possible to correct such a defect? To level a wooden floor with their own hands, without resorting to the help of professionals of construction and repair work, is not easy.

Simple Techniques

There are plenty of technologies for leveling wooden floors. Their diversity is due to the fact that since the moment when humanity began to use wood for interior decoration of a house, there was a problem how to level the wooden floor. One of the first options would be a cement-sand mortar screed. This is a classic method of leveling a wooden floor. However, it is not universal and unique. The level of deformation of the floor can be different. Therefore, you should first pay attention to the levels of differences in the wooden floor and only then make a decision on which method it should be leveled.

We put in order the wooden flooring

The screed will help solve the problem of leveling a wooden floor if the level of its covering starts from 5 cm. Leveling a wooden floor with a cement screed will not cause problems if you follow the process technology correctly and purchase quality materials. This type of screed solves another equally important question: in its application, any type of flooring will last much longer and be more reliable in operation.

Raised floors are no less a popular way of leveling a wooden floor with their own hands; it is considered the simplest and most convenient for residents of the house, since it does not cause discomfort that work with cement-sand mixtures brings. Inexpensive plywood is the main component of raised floors. However, as experts assure, with the help of raised floors, it is possible to level the floor only in those cases when the level of deformation of the coating is relatively small.

About applied mixtures

Before proceeding with leveling the surface of the coating, care must be taken to acquire quality materials and leveling compounds. The latter are widely used in their own hands to eliminate floor deformation. The best and practical option are fiberglass leveling compounds. They are reliable, easy to use and are used not only to adjust the floor covering with their own hands, but also in other wood-related interior work.

As for the wet screed, special mixtures are used to level the flooring, containing various additives that give the substance such a property as fast setting. Of course, these two types of mixtures used for leveling the floor are not limited. There is a whole class of self-leveling mixtures. They are very practical, as the alignment of small defects of the floor with your own hands will be reduced to the correct application of the substance on the coating itself. But we must be careful, because their excessive concentration is quite capable of significantly spoiling the floor.

And such mixtures have another major drawback. Through their use, it is possible to level the wooden floor with small irregularities and defects. For example, cracks and grooves up to 3 cm in depth on the floor. When purchasing self-leveling mixtures, it is necessary to pay attention to the time of their hardening after application to the wooden floor. If you need to level the coating on a large area, you will have to buy limiters and resort to a cell-phased, step-by-step floor leveling algorithm, when, after completing operations in one area and solidifying mixtures, work is transferred to another, etc.

O dry and wet ways

If you prefer dry leveling, be sure to clean its base from dust and traces of paint, putty and other substances. Lags are constructed from unplaned boards. For them, the meter length of boards is usually recommended. Lags, with the help of which the alignment takes place, are fixed with anchors. Here both a professional and novice master, who has decided to put in order the entire coverage, will need a building level. With its help it is easy to control the quality of the coating plane, knowing that this plane should be strictly horizontal.

In order to match the required level, the leveling of the slopes and drops is carried out using ordinary small wooden wedges. The next step is to install the crates, without which it is impossible to significantly fix the wooden floors. On logs, screws fix bolts, then lay sheets of plywood. Alignment on this technology does not exclude the use of chipboard. What else you need to pay attention to? The flooring with which the leveling will be performed must be treated with an antiseptic, so that the wooden floor can be used longer. For the treatment of seams remaining on the floor, a sealant is used, the high quality of which can also increase the service life of the flooring.

To level wooden floors with a wet screed is more difficult, it will take more time, but it will last longer.

The algorithm for starting work is the same - the floors are cleaned of debris and traces of building materials. The surface is primed. If it has cracks, they are covered up. The next stage is mixing the leveling solution. Bulk layer before installing wooden floors, must thoroughly dry. And only then installation of a wooden layer of a floor covering is possible. The room where the wooden floor is leveled must have a constant air temperature. There are often situations when it is impossible to properly level the wooden floor precisely because there are drafts in the building.

The floor is an integral part of the interior decoration of the house. Old wooden floor can be updated very simply, without resorting to sophisticated technology and materials. The main thing is when the floor is leveled, do not rush and perform all operations in stages. The floor plays the role of heat-insulating, heat-saving coating in the house. However, if it is made of wood, then it needs extra care. The earlier it is noticed that the floor has acquired irregularities, cracks and depressions have appeared on it, the easier it is to fix the flooring and extend its service life. Walls, ceiling and floor are a kind of hallmark of the tenants. A neglected floor will speak better than any words about the true attitude of the owners to their dwelling.