The room is formed by three main surfaces, each of which has certain requirements. The article will consider one of them, namely gender. It is he who accounts for the maximum load: static from furniture and household items, as well as dynamic from moving around people’s premises. Filling the floors with your own hands is one of the most affordable options for leveling this surface under the finish coating.
The basis for them is mainly slabs, during the installation of which it is difficult to achieve the required accuracy. Moreover, these elements themselves have certain tolerances and deviations from the ideal plane. The concrete screed device allows you to level the surface. The cement-sand mixture fills all the recesses in the best way and brings it as close to ideal as possible.
The floors can also be used to heat the room. For this, heating elements are introduced into the concrete screed array. It can be pipelines for the coolant from the heating system or a special electric cable. Heaters are laid out over the entire surface of the floor or part thereof in a certain way to ensure uniform heating.
Materials and tools required for screeding
The cement-sand mixture is prepared directly at the place of work or delivered using a special concrete mixer. The latter method is usually used when working in low-rise buildings. The ready-mix for flooring has a relatively short shelf life and should be used quickly.
This circumstance requires a large number of workers and a good organization of their work. More often, another technology is applied with the preparation of mixtures on-site manually or by machine - in a concrete mixer. Mechanization of work significantly reduces the complexity and increases the pace of work. In the absence of the necessary equipment, it can be purchased on the open market or leased.
The list of necessary materials for the preparation of mixtures includes the following components:
- cement grade 400 or 500, which is the connecting link between the individual particles of the filler;
- quarry sand, sifted and washed;
- crushed stone of a small fraction - it serves as the main filler for concrete screed, the quality of the coating depends on the size of its particles;
- technical water;
- special additives - plasticizers and modifiers that improve the properties of the mixture and accelerate its drying.
The quality of all components and the exact adherence to technology are decisive factors in the construction of a durable and wear-resistant coating.
Surface preparation for work
At this stage, it is necessary to remove the old coating to the base and any peeling of the base material or reinforcing bars sticking out. Then you should sweep the floor well, remove any contamination from oil products and remove all foreign objects from the room. The floor screed can be monolithic or floating. So, pouring a warm floor without damping elements along the walls can lead to damage to either walls or floors.
As such a layer may be a polymer elastic tape laid around the perimeter. It will compensate for the
thermal expansion of the screed due to heating. The second important element in the device of such a screed is the presence of a waterproofing and heat-insulating layer. They will provide minimal energy consumption when operating a warm floor.
Beacon Installation
For the most accurate leveling of the surface and making it horizontal, a special technological technique is used. It consists in the fact that throughout the room there are slats along which the rule is moved. Thus, the most complete approximation to the ideal plane is achieved. As beacons, T-shaped steel slats are used, which are installed on quick-drying gypsum-containing mixtures.
The determination and marking of the horizon is carried out by instrumental methods, for which specialists use laser devices or hydraulic levels. Visually reveals the highest point at which a mark is made on the nearest wall. The floor level is set in excess of the total thickness of all layers, taking into account the fact that it should not be more than 40 and less than 20 mm for the screed.
Pouring floors with your own hands begins with the laying of a waterproofing layer of roofing material or a dense polymer film. Thermal insulation made of extruded polystyrene foam or polyurethane foam is arranged on top of it. The next step is the installation of lighthouse rails on the prepared solution. To speed up and simplify the process, you can use the thread, stretched between the walls on the floor level marks.
Preparation of cement-sand mortar
Pouring the concrete floor with your own hands is done with industrial or home-made mixtures. To do this, it is necessary to place cement, sand and gravel in a certain proportion in a concrete mixer or specially prepared container, mix them thoroughly with dry ones first, then add water and mix again until a homogeneous mass is obtained.
The ratio of components is determined by the brand of cement and its quality. When using a binder material with the marking 500, three to four parts of sand and the same amount of crushed stone should be added to its one part. The amount of water is usually determined by eye in such a way that the finished mixture has a consistency of sour cream of medium density. Too thin a solution will spread, and a thick one is difficult to evenly distribute.
Mixing floors
This operation is best done with an assistant who will supply the solution. In general, do-it-yourself flooring is done as follows:
- the finished mixture is collected from the tank into buckets and placed in strips between the beacons;
- using the rule, it is distributed evenly;
- the movement of the tool is made on lighthouse rails, the movement should be wavy, and not straightforward.
In this case, the solution is distributed with less resistance and more evenly. When smoothing, it is necessary to carefully ensure that there are no voids and depressions. Their filling is carried out by return movement with the capture of a small amount of the mixture. Filling starts from the farthest corner with a gradual movement to the exit. The process is carried out in strips along the lighthouses until the entire floor surface of the room is completely filled.
Floor finish
The time for complete drying of the concrete screed is from two to six weeks. Such a coating is suitable for laying ceramic tiles, linoleum or laminate. However, if some innovative technologies, such as bulk 3D flooring, are used, a thin layer of self-leveling mixture must be applied to the concrete screed .
Modern technology for filling the bulk floor provides the following process execution procedure:
- in the place of alignment of the leveling layer with the wall, a special thermal compensation tape should be laid, which will avoid the destruction of the screed due to thermal expansion;
- in the room it is necessary to ensure the optimum temperature (not lower than 15 ° C) and the absence of drafts, which can provoke too quick drying and cracking of the layer;
- before starting pouring, the base is primed to ensure the best adhesion of the coating to the surface.
Special compositions have been developed for different materials. So, for porous and layered substrates, primers with high penetration are used. You can apply them with a roller to speed up the process, but in places where reliable impregnation is not provided, a brush of the appropriate size should be used.
Preparation and application of mixtures
A special dry composition is supplied in bags with packaging in 50, 25 and 10 kg, the calculation of the required quantity is carried out according to special tables. The mixture is poured into a previously prepared container, then water is added. This should be done gradually, constantly mixing. As a device for preparing the mixture, a drill with a speed controller with a special nozzle is used.
Filling the bulk floor with your own hands is carried out in two stages: the first layer is the base layer, the second is the final one. The prepared mixture is poured onto the base and distributed over it. The best tool for this is a special brush type brush. The size of the protrusions is selected in such a way as to ensure the removal of air bubbles.
The final (finishing) layer is poured after a few days. The mixture is applied to the surface and redistributed over it. In this case, a roller with spikes is used. Complete polymerization and drying of the coating occurs within a few days. To increase the wear resistance, the floors are covered with a special transparent polyurethane varnish.
Conclusion
High-quality filling of the floors with your own hands is quite possible, it is only necessary to strictly adhere to the described technology and have air-conditioning materials available. Step-by-step descriptions and instructions allow you to carry out work taking into account all the nuances