Floor screed for parquet boards. How to level a floor under a parquet board? Raised floors as an ideal base for parquet boards

The main purpose of the screed is to level the surface on which the floor is laid. According to decades-old manufacturing technology, the slabs that serve as bases for floors in mass-produced houses are made smooth only on one side - the one that will become the ceiling of the lower apartment. The side that is supposed to become the floor is always uneven, with bumps and depressions, and often the ends of metal reinforcement rods stick out from it. In addition, differences in floor level in an apartment often reach 10 cm. Even a non-specialist understands that no quality coating can be laid on such a surface.

Floor screed for parquet can be produced different ways, for example, consider several options:

Self-leveling floor
In European technology, special self-leveling mixtures are used for the production of screeds - the so-called self-leveling floors. A layer of expanded polystyrene is often placed under these mixtures for additional noise and heat insulation, and a polymer film is laid on top for additional waterproofing. This floor dries much faster than a regular screed (in about 10-15 days), depending on the thickness of the screed. You can lay tiles, laminate and carpets directly on the self-leveling floor. For styling piece parquet A layer of plywood is required. In addition, the self-leveling floor layer has a very small thickness (from 25 mm), which is especially convenient in apartments with low ceilings. The excellent qualities of this floor have made it very popular with a small difference in height in the room.

Combined option
In this option, a second layer of European self-leveling mixtures is placed on the primary screed - a concrete mixture. Waterproofing made of rubber or bitumen mastic, and on it, of course, plywood. Parquet, laminate or carpeting are, in turn, laid on plywood. Naturally, plywood is not needed for ceramic tiles. Such a floor will cost much more, but its performance properties will be much higher.

Dry floor screed for parquet
It consists of slabs of gypsum-containing substance with a waterproofing coating, which are laid on dry backfill or polystyrene. In this case, dry backfill has a leveling function. The slabs are laid overlapping each other to cover all joints and provide the necessary rigidity. This type of screed has significant advantages. First, it does not require drying. You can lay the flooring without waiting 30 days, as in the case of using traditional mixtures, but the very next day. Secondly, it is much lighter than traditional concrete mixtures. Now, with an optimal screed thickness of 3 to 7 cm, one square meter you have to lay from 60 to 140 kg of mixture. Agree, this is a very serious load on the floors and load-bearing walls at home: for apartments, with total area 100 sq. m, you will need to lay at least seven tons concrete mixture. The disadvantage of dry floor screed is the fear of moisture and leaks.

Determining the height of the screed depends, firstly, on how horizontally the base of the future floor is made, and secondly, on the finishing floor covering. After all, if you plan to use various floor coverings in your house or apartment - parquet, linoleum or ceramic tiles- it is natural that the height of the screed for parquet and the height for tiles will be different. The height of the screed must be calculated for each type separately in order to ultimately obtain a perfectly flat floor. Therefore, the choice of finishing floor covering must be decided in advance so that the height difference can be compensated by the height of the screed.

Step-by-step instructions “Do-it-yourself screed for parquet”

As already mentioned, the height of the screed under the parquet depends directly on the unevenness of the base, and in order to perfectly level it, you need to bring the zero level. If you have a laser level in your arsenal of tools, then no difficulties should arise - just turn on the device and use the beam to make marks on the walls.

If there is no laser level, then use a spirit level; you should immediately note that a linear or rack level (carpentry tool) is not suitable for this.

We display the zero level

The zero level is marked immediately in all rooms of the house or apartment. To determine the zero level, place a mark on the wall at an arbitrary convenient height, usually 1.2-1.5 m from the floor level. Then, using a level, mark all the walls, at least two marks per wall. When using a laser level, this work will take several minutes; with a spirit level you will have to tinker longer.

As a result, we get marks around the perimeter of the room, which are located on the same horizontal level. We connect the resulting marks into a continuous line using a painting cord (the cord and paint for it can be purchased at hardware store).

Determine height fluctuations. We measure the height from the floor surface in several places along the line, the measurements will be completely different. We find the difference between the largest and smallest values, this will be the difference in the difference in floor height in the room. We proceed from this value when choosing the height of the screed. Having decided on the height of the screed, subtract it from the height of the previously drawn line. For example, if we drew a line at a height of 150 cm, and the height of the screed is 5 cm, subtract and get 140 cm. We measure this length from the previously marked line and mark another line. This is the zero level, which will serve us when installing beacons.

Write down the received data. When purchasing a leveling mixture, show the recording to the seller so that he can help you choose the best one. suitable option. Please note that for the screed you will need approximately 9-10 bags of mixture per 7-8 square meters.

Preparing the subfloor

At the next stage, we prepare the base of the floor. All large cracks must be sealed with thick cement mortar, we clean off everything that peels off. Since the base under the screed must be clean, it is necessary to remove debris and dust. Perfect option– use a construction vacuum cleaner, or an old household one; in extreme cases, you need to thoroughly sweep the floor. For better protection from dust, it is advisable to prime the base of the floor by purchasing a primer at a hardware store.

To protect the walls around the perimeter of the room, temporary waterproofing is attached - roofing felt tape with a protrusion of 10-15 cm from the floor pouring level.

We install beacons

We install beacons or guides based on the zero level. They can be used as metal profiles, straight pipes or special beacons, which can be bought at a hardware store. It is not recommended to use wooden slats; they take moisture from the solution, which can affect the quality of the concrete. When installing beacons, you should not forget that the minimum thickness of the concrete screed should be 0.7 cm; with a smaller thickness, cracks will soon form on the screed.

The beacons are installed parallel to each other and perpendicular to the wall in which the door is located. Using special screed beacons, we adjust the height using dowels. You can install beacons on “cakes” of thick mortar. By pressing them down or supplementing them with metal plates, we adjust the height to the zero level. In this case, leave them for a while for the solution to set. The distance between beacons must correspond to the length of the rule used.

For small volumes of solution, to obtain a homogeneous mass, use a construction mixer or a drill with a special attachment; for large volumes, you will need a concrete mixer. Using ready mixture for the screed, spread it strictly according to the instructions. To increase the strength of the screed, you can add a plasticizer to the mixture in the proportions recommended by the manufacturer. The finished solution has a homogeneous thick dough structure. You can check the density like this: take a little bit of the solution in your hand and clench your fist, unclench it - the solution should be in a lump, not crumble or flow.

Fill the solution

The solution is poured from the far corner, for which a portion of the solution is placed between the beacons. Then, as a rule, relying on the beacons, they stretch the mixture and at the same time level it. The screeding of one room must be done in one day; it is not advisable to take long breaks during work, otherwise the edges will have time to “seize.” When pouring the screed, it is advisable to pierce the freshly laid mortar with a metal rod to prevent the appearance of air voids in the screed itself.

Remember, in order for the screed under the parquet to be strong, the solution must harden and not dry out! Therefore, in order to prevent it from cracking, the surface of the screed should be moistened regularly, 3 times a day, with a small amount of water.

The beacons can be left in the screed. The screed should be thoroughly moistened with water, covered with film and left for at least 2-3 weeks. If you used the guides, then after 2-3 days they need to be removed. Once the concrete has hardened and can be walked on, it will be necessary to repair the marks from the removed guides.

Checking the quality of the screed

After 2-3 weeks we check the quality of the completed screed. The evenness of the surface can be assessed using the two-meter rule.

The gaps when laid on the floor should not exceed 4 mm. The hardness of the fill is checked with hammer blows; if any traces remain, they should be barely noticeable. The quality of the screed is checked for the presence of air voids in it by tapping with a wooden block, and the sound should be “ringing” and “solid”.

Video screeds for parquet and laminate

The level of the screed directly depends on the type of finishing floor covering - you cannot fill a single screed when it is planned to lay linoleum in one room, parquet or parquet in another parquet board, and in the third there are tiles. Only after choosing the desired coating can you calculate the height of the future supporting base.

The floor screed under parquet must be as level and smooth as possible; large differences in height and any defects are unacceptable. It’s not difficult to do it yourself, the main thing is to strictly follow the procedure and take all stages responsibly.

Definition of horizontal

The height of the future screed directly depends on the unevenness of the base - the more there are, the higher the supporting base will have to be poured. Important nuance: the height of the screed in all rooms should be the same.

To set the reference horizontal level of a room, it is preferable to use a laser level - it allows you to mark the required height as accurately as possible and does not allow large differences. If a laser level is not available, you can use a spirit level. A rack level will not work; it is impossible to make precise markings with it.

A mark is made at an arbitrarily chosen and comfortable height (usually 1 - 1.5 m from the floor). Then, using a level, all walls are marked; each wall must have at least three marks. A laser level allows you to do this work in a matter of minutes, but if you use a spirit level, marking will take much longer. The applied marks are connected with a paint tapping cord. The result is that all walls are marked on the same horizontal line and at the same height.

Zero level output

To derive the zero level, it is necessary to determine the height fluctuation. To do this, the height from the floor to the horizontal line is measured in several places along the wall. Most likely, all data will be different. You need to find the largest and smallest value - the difference between them will be the height difference.

The planned height of the screed is subtracted from the height of the control horizontal line. For example: the horizontal line is drawn at a height of 120 cm, and the planned height of the screed is 20 cm, therefore, the difference between these indicators is 100 cm. Parallel to the control horizontal line and 100 cm below, another line is marked - this will be the zero level at which the beacons are set .

All obtained parameters must be written down, and in addition, photos of markings and calculations must be taken. This information will help calculate the amount of dry mixture for work and will serve as a guide for future markings.

Preparatory work

Not only must the screed under the parquet be perfectly level, the base also has its own requirements.

Before you start you need:

• Patch large cracks in the base with cement mortar;
• Clean all loose areas;
• Clean out all dirt and dust; a construction vacuum cleaner is best suited for this purpose;
• Prime the base for the future screed;
• Attach temporary insulation to protect the walls (roofing felt tape protruding 15 - 20 cm from the floor is suitable).

All these actions will help to perform the foundation pouring work as efficiently as possible.

Installation of beacons

Beacons, or guides, are set at the marked zero level. Suitable for this purpose metallic profile, pipes or special beacons that can be bought in the store building materials. The use of wooden guides is unacceptable, since wood has the ability to absorb moisture. This feature of wooden guides can lead to a decrease in the quality of the solution and the appearance of cracks.

Properly installed beacons are located parallel to each other, at a distance equal to the building rule and perpendicular to the wall with doorway. If specialized beacons are used, their height is adjusted using dowels. The guides can be secured using large quantity thick solution, this method requires time for the fixative to set and dry.

Preparing the solution and pouring the supporting base

Depending on the final volume of the solution, to facilitate mixing the mixture until homogeneous, you can use either a construction mixer or a concrete mixer. To ensure that the floor screed under a parquet board or parquet is level, you need to take a special ready-made mixture. For greater surface strength, you can add a plasticizer to the mixture diluted according to the instructions and spread the future screed until it has the consistency of a thick dough.

By building regulations, to obtain a smooth and durable surface, the following procedure is defined:

1. Part of the prepared solution is placed between the exposed beacons.
2. Using the rule, the solution is stretched along the entire perimeter and aligned with the installed beacons.
3. To avoid voids in the base, the freshly poured solution must be pierced with a metal knitting needle or rod.
4. Moisten the finished base thoroughly and leave it until completely dry for 3 to 4 weeks.
5. The solution should not dry out, otherwise it will crack and the screed will lose some of its strength. The finished surface must be regularly moistened with water (ideally 3–4 times a day).
6. If special beacons were used to fill the screed, they can be left in the finished base. All other guides (pipes, metal profiles, etc.) must be removed after 2-3 days and the remaining traces repaired.

Checking strength and quality

After the screed has stood for as long as possible, it is necessary to check its characteristics. A parquet screed made according to all the rules must be strong, even, and after blows with a hammer there cannot be any traces left on it (maximum - minor chips).

It is imperative to check whether there are air voids in the screed. This can be done by tapping the finished base around the perimeter with a wooden strip or block - a high-quality screed will produce a ringing and dense sound.

Using the two-meter rule, the evenness of the screed is checked; gaps should not be more than five millimeters.

Watch the video instructions for creating a screed for parquet or parquet boards:

Knauf dry screed is a safe, simple and labor-intensive way to level the floor for any type of finishing coating. The multilayer superfloor consists of advanced gypsum fiber board sheets laid on a granular fill. The loose frame ensures leveling of the surface geometry with minimal labor costs. Knauf superfloor guarantees surface strength and resistance to loads of up to 1000 kg/m2.

Advantages of the Knauf product:

• eliminates the need to wait several weeks for the layer to completely harden, as is the case with a concrete screed;
• allows you to significantly save on noise and heat insulation, because the embankment itself and gypsum fiber board sheets perfectly block noise and retain the natural heat of the floor surface;
• suitable for work in rooms with weak floors: the weight of the hardened layer of concrete screed is several times higher than the total weight of the multilayer coating materials.

Features of dry screed for parquet

Knauf flooring is compatible with all types of finishing surfaces, including parquet boards. The characteristics of the material - and parquet is known to be afraid of moisture - suggest that the floor screed will be covered with a layer of plywood, preferably moisture-resistant. The reason for this need for additional costs for plywood is the presence of tension in the wood in the moisture removed by the layer of laminated veneer - plywood.

The optimal thickness of the plywood layer is 3/4 of the parquet board. But in practice, we can choose a standard thickness - 10 mm or multi-layer construction, often needed to adjust the layer height. Before laying out, the plywood sheets are sawn, a surface layout is formed (1-1.5 cm from the wall), after which the layer is placed on glue and fastened with self-tapping screws using gypsum plasterboard. At the last stage of preparation, the “shrunken” plywood is scraped.

How we make a floor screed for parquet

Dry floor screed technology

Dry floor screeding is performed according to the following scheme:

1. The surface is cleaned of old coatings.
2. Lay down a layer polyethylene film(for vapor barrier)
3. An edge tape made of foamed polyethylene is glued around the perimeter of the room (for sound insulation).
4. Fill up a layer of expanded clay
5. Lay out guides for the superfloor.
6. Knauf GVL sheets are laid (the grooves are coated with glue, the elements are additionally fastened with self-tapping screws).

In some cases, a layer of additional hydro- or sound-thermal insulation is laid under the GVL coating.

Work on laying the final surface, in the case of parquet - laying a plywood layer, can begin immediately after laying the superfloor.

Before laying new flooring, you need to think about the base. That is why preparing the floor for parquet boards is a mandatory step in carrying out this type of work.

In order for the parquet board to ultimately delight its owners with beauty and durability, it will be necessary to install a screed located in between load-bearing structure and future floor covering.

How to determine the zero level?

Preparing any floor for parquet boards begins with determining the zero level, i.e. screeds along the horizon. To do this, you will need a water level or a laser device specially designed for this purpose. It is not recommended to use rack and line levels because the results will be inaccurate.

In most cases, marks with zero level readings are made on each wall in the room at a distance of approximately 1.5 m from the floor. In order to obtain a horizontal level, it is necessary to connect all the previously marked points with lines.

Using these lines, it is easy to determine to what extent the floor varies. Every 1.5 m, take measurements from the floor to the zero level. The data that you ultimately receive must be taken into account in the process of determining the level of the base for the floor.

Separately, it is worth saying that while you are determining the thickness of the screed, do not forget about the thickness of the parquet board and the substrate. Do not forget also that in terms of thickness, all indicators must match and correspond to each other.

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Dust removal and preparation process

In addition to all of the above, you have to clean the surface from existing cracks and peelings. In order to ultimately get a strong and even base, all cracks must be properly covered with cement mortar. If there are peelings on the surface, they must be removed. This is necessary so that the surface ultimately turns out homogeneous.

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To remove dust you will need a vacuum cleaner. construction work or if there is none, then you can use the usual one. After you have removed all existing dust, you need to treat the surface with a polyurethane-based primer. This is necessary so that the floor acquires a roughness effect. It is this that provides excellent and durable adhesion between the screed and the base under the parquet board.

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Installation of guides

After you prepare the base, you need to start installing the beacons. Beacons are guides made of a fairly rigid profile, i.e. pipes These parts are required in order to level the plane of the screed.

In most cases, beacons are attached to the base of the floor using cement mortar or using bolts designed for this purpose. In order to adjust the position of the beacons, a rack level is needed.

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How to make a screed?

For quite a long time, a solution of sand and cement has been used in our country for these purposes. Its preparation must be carried out according to all established rules. Otherwise, the consequences can be very dire.

For example, if you overdo it with water, you cannot guarantee the strength of the screed. If you want the solution to become even more plastic, then during the mixing process you need to add a special plasticizer.

Do not allow more than 2 hours to pass after preparing the solution. This is due to the fact that after the specified time the solution will lose its beneficial features and thus the final result will not be as desired.

The screed can be made either manually or using specialized devices. In the latter option, the quality of the screed will be ideal. This is due to the fact that the mixture is prepared directly in the device, after which it is directed to the required places using a hose.

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Separately, it should be said that under no circumstances should you start laying parquet boards on a screed that has not dried out. It usually takes more than a month to dry. In order to determine whether the screed has dried or not, place an oilcloth on it and leave it for 24 hours. If you end up finding condensation on the oilcloth, this means that it is too early to lay the parquet.

Currently, so-called self-leveling floors are often used for screeding. They dry much faster than concrete, and as a result the surface is perfectly flat.

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How to properly care for concrete screed?

You must understand that making a screed is not everything. She requires special care. Throughout the drying time, certain chemical processes occur in concrete.

1. To concrete screed did not dry out and harden, it requires moisture. Throughout the week, it is necessary to moisten the screed several times a day. This is necessary so that cracks do not appear on it in the end.
2. After a week has passed, the screed should be thoroughly moistened with water and covered with polyethylene film. It should remain in this state for 2 weeks. Take your time! If you rush and try to speed up the drying process, you will end up having to do the job all over again anyway.