Today, concrete floors are very popular. It is a strong, durable base. It must be equipped in the bathroom, kitchen. At the same time, finishing the floor in a private house can also be done by pouring screeds. Such a coating is functional. In concrete, you can block the pipes or wire of the underfloor heating system. Also, finishing is carried out using almost any materials.
A concrete base can be made with your own hands. It is required to consider in detail technology in theory. There are a number of recommendations on how to properly fill a concrete floor. The advice of professional builders will be discussed later.
Work technology
To make a concrete floor with your own hands, you need to consider all the subtleties of the process. Such a basis will be appropriate both in residential and commercial premises, and at industrial facilities. The surface on which the cement mortar is poured may be different. The screed is poured onto the prepared soil, on the concrete floor. In some cases, it is allowed to arrange the screed on a wooden floor. However, in this case, high demands are made on the state of the foundation.
It should be noted that concrete is a relatively inexpensive material. It is used almost everywhere. In order for the floor to turn out to be of high quality and durable, you need to adhere to the established sequence when carrying out such work. It is necessary to consider what coating the screed is poured on, in what conditions it should be used.
In the process of creating a concrete base, additional materials are used. First of all, you need to purchase a sufficient amount of waterproofing. This is a plastic film. Which will not allow wetting of the layers. Also used when pouring reinforcement. Fiber or reinforcing mesh can be added to cement.
The base of the floor also requires high-quality insulation. For these purposes, polystyrene foam is most often used. When all the layers are laid in the prescribed sequence, beacons are installed on the surface. The screed will be flooded along these guides. This allows you to maintain the desired level, to create an even coating over the entire area of the base.
After this, a rough screed is poured. It is leveled and allowed to dry. After that, the surface is ground. The top layer is created from a self-leveling composition. As a result, the concrete floor in the garage, house, outbuildings is strong and durable. It can be finished with appropriate materials or left as it is. These are the main stages of work. When creating certain varieties of bases, their list may increase.
Expansion joints
The right concrete floor must be strong. The material must not crack. To do this, ensure the appropriate conditions for drying the screed. You also need to cut special seams called deformation. They can be of three types.
Insulation deformation seams may be created on the screed. They should be cut in places where the concrete floor is in contact with other surfaces in the room. It can be columns, walls, partitions or ledges. This must be done so that floor vibration is not transmitted to these objects. If this is not done, distortions may form. The foundation may be partially destroyed.
Structural seams are also created. They are cut in places where the cement mortar hardens unevenly. This happens when the fill was carried out in several passes. The breaks between each fill in this case are more than 4 hours.
Shrink seams also belong to the category of deformation cuts on the surface of the screed. They are needed to relieve stress of the material during uneven shrinkage.
Such joints must be created before cracks and defects appear on the surface during shrinkage or vibration. However, the screed should dry well and gain strength. The depth of such joints is about 1/3 of the total thickness of the concrete base. Subsequently, the incisions are filled with a special sealant.
Features of pouring screed on the ground
Concrete floors in a private house are often poured onto the ground. In this case, you will need to create a system of several layers. At the same time, special requirements are put forward to the soil.
The soil on which the screed will be arranged should be motionless. Otherwise, the concrete floor may collapse. In this case, the foundation will also be violated. Also, the groundwater level should not be close to the surface. Underground sources should be no closer than 5 m to the surface. Otherwise, the floor may be flooded and destroyed.
To equip such a concrete floor in the house, it is necessary to ensure the correct conditions during its operation. The building must be residential. At the same time, it should be operated in the winter period. The room must be heated. In winter, the soil freezes, Together with it will freeze the concrete base. So that the floor does not exert additional pressure on the foundation, it must be heated.
Equip this type of floor is not worth it in the lowlands. It is best to carry out construction on a hill. Here the soil is much drier.
Markup
The installation of concrete floors is carried out only after the walls and roof of the building are built. In this case, the weather conditions will not be scary created screed. Rain is not terrible for a freshly flooded floor if it is covered with a layer of polyethylene. But hot, dry weather can prevent the cement from gaining strength.
First you need to create a level mark to which the final floor covering should reach. Most often they focus on the bottom of the doorway. A foundation should be created that will be level and at the same level in all areas of the room.
From the lowest point of the doorway you need to measure a distance of up to 1 m. A mark is made at this level. It needs to be moved to all walls. The level mark must be level. This is checked using a building level.
After that, a distance of 1 m down is measured from the drawn line around the entire perimeter. You also need to draw a line. This will avoid fluctuations and slopes of the floor level. It will be clearly horizontal.
Foundation preparation
Laying concrete floors requires foundation preparation. It is necessary to remove building and other rubbish from the premises. Next, you need to remove the soil layer about 35 cm. This earth is taken out of the room. It can be used for landscaping.
The surface of the soil must be tamped. In this case, you need to focus on the lower mark, which was created earlier. For ramming, a vibrating plate is used. If it is not, you can do with an improvised tool. Ramming is carried out using a homemade device. Need to take a log. Pens are attached to it on one side, and a board on the other. Together with the assistant, the soil surface must be tamped until no traces are visible on it.
Please note that in some cases a depth of 35 cm will not be enough. This is possible if the owners create a high strip foundation. In this case, you need to make a pit up to 50 cm.
Bedding layer
Studying the method of how to make a concrete floor, you should consider the stage of creating a backfill. It consists of several components. First you need to lay gravel. The layer should be up to 10 cm. It is moistened and tamped. To control the thickness of the bedding, you need to drive pegs into the ground. They must be of appropriate length. Pegs are set using the level. After tamping gravel, they need to be removed from the bedding.
Next you need to pour a layer of sand. It should be 10 cm. You need to control the level using the same pegs. The sand is moistened and compacted using the same device that was used in the processing of the soil.
On the sand you need to pour another layer of crushed stone (10 cm). It is also compacted. There should be no sharp edges of crushed stone on the surface. They should be turned up with a smooth surface. It is necessary to use crushed stone with a size of 40-50 mm.
When carrying out such work, it is extremely important to control the horizontalness of each level. You can create a layer of two layers. It also matches technology. The first layer of crushed stone is not used in this case. You can apply a level to the walls. This will make it easy to control the level of bedding.
Hydro, thermal insulation and reinforcement
Laying concrete floors involves the creation of several more required layers. First, waterproofing. It can be roofing material (several layers) or a plastic film (density 200 microns). The edges should reach the top mark on the wall. It is fixed with tape.
Thermal insulation is laid out on the waterproofing. It can be expanded clay, expanded polystyrene, stone wool. They differ in cost and technical characteristics. Most often, polystyrene foam is used (at least 3 cm thick). The plates must be pressed tightly against each other. A damper tape can be mounted around the perimeter. This is especially important if the underfloor heating system is installed.
Reinforcement is laid over thermal insulation. This is a metal mesh with 10x10 mm cells. This will allow you to evenly distribute the load on the surface. If the room is large, instead of a grid, reinforcement made of metal rods can be used. In this case, the concrete floor is not poured until the reinforcing mesh is raised to a distance of 2-3 cm. For this, special stands are used.
After that, you need to install the "beacons". They will allow you to withstand the required level of screed during pouring. Such guides can be made of different materials. It can be metal, wood. They are placed at a distance of 1.5 m. The guides are installed on concrete "buns". Their level is constantly checked, if necessary, controlling the height of the guides.
Pouring screed
After the preparatory work, you can begin to fill the screed. This work is performed from the far corner of the room. The thickness of the concrete floor can be different. Most often, a rough screed is made with a thickness of 10 cm. It is necessary to prepare as much solution as is enough to fill them with the entire room. First, pour the solution into a plot of about 1 m² or more (depending on the area of the room) and level it with a shovel.
Air may accumulate in the solution. To remove it, you need to pierce the concrete with a shovel. After this, the concrete is leveled by the rule. It is pulled along the surface of the guides. When leveling stops, the guides are pulled out. The voids are filled with a solution.
The procedure is carried out until the entire area is filled with screed. After this, you need to constantly wet the surface with water. Otherwise, the lower layer will not have time to dry, and the surface will crack. In such conditions, concrete gains strength within 4 weeks (or more).
Fill the final screed
The concrete floor will not be perfectly even if you do not fill the finishing screed. If ceramic tile will be mounted on the surface, it will not be necessary to fill the surface with a self-leveling compound. In this tile, you need to choose a medium size. For finishing from laminate or linoleum, you need to create a finishing screed. It will be thinner than the first layer. Its thickness is 1.5-2 cm.
The surface becomes perfectly flat. The solution is prepared in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions. It must be poured onto a rough screed and leveled with a special brush. On the surface you need to walk with a roller with needles. This will remove air bubbles from the solution. This layer dries for about a week. After that, the surface is ready for use. You can leave it as it is. However, it is worth remembering that concrete is a cold coating. If underfloor heating is not mounted under it, it should be covered with a carpet, laminate or other warm covering.
Concrete pouring on floors
The concrete floor in the apartment is poured onto the ceiling. In this case, the procedure is somewhat simpler. There is no need to create a layer from the backfill. First you need to evaluate the state of the overlap. There should be no cracks or cracks on it. If defects are found, they must be treated with a repair compound.
On the surface of the floor you need to lay waterproofing. For this, a polyethylene film is suitable, the strength of which should be 200-300 microns. Thermal insulation is mounted on the waterproofing. It should also be polystyrene foam.
Next, lighthouses are installed on the surface. On these guides fill and level the screed layer 10 cm. The rest of the operations will be the same as when arranging the screed on the ground.
In an apartment, an electric wire is often laid in a layer of screed. In this case, it is necessary to lay out the waterproofing and the reinforcing mesh on the rough screed layer. Lay the wire on top and fill in another 3 cm of cement mortar. It is better to use special formulations with a plasticizer. It is not permissible for an air pocket to form above the wire. At this point, the wire may overheat. Finishing is best done with ceramic tiles.
Having considered how to create a concrete floor, you can fill it yourself. The base will be strong and durable.