How often do residents of modern apartments notice uneven floors! Every now and then under the legs of the furniture you need to put something in order to expose it to the level, bulges and cracks appear on the linoleum. Therefore, even with cosmetic repairs, there is a need to level the floors. However, in this case, it is not possible to make a concrete screed in compliance with the technology. Yes, and this requires certain skills.
Self-leveling mixes are a good help for non-professionals in self-
leveling floors . They allow you to do it yourself easily and quickly to achieve a flat and smooth floor surface without joints. In addition, their obvious advantage is that it is possible to smooth out unevenness of the floor with them up to several centimeters, and also that all self-leveling mixtures are fluid, and therefore easy to apply to the floor. But there are a number of disadvantages, among which the inability to use them in rooms where it is necessary to make a screed with a slope for draining (garage, sauna, shower) due to fluidity. In addition, self-leveling floor mixes have a very high consumption on uneven areas.
In order to make a final decision and begin to level the floors with the help of such mixtures, it is important to make sure that the difference in height of errors and roughnesses on the floor does not exceed two centimeters. There should be no cracks on the surface, or they must first be repaired. Immediately prior to pouring, you need to carefully ground the entire floor surface, which will be leveled. It is also necessary to make sides, eliminate all cracks and holes through which self-leveling mixtures can leak into other rooms.
Do not start working with the mixture without first reading the instructions for it. It describes in detail how much water is needed, what is the consumption of the mixture per 1 m
2 , etc. Most often, the consumption of the composition with a layer thickness of 1 mm is 1.5 kg per 1 m
2 . Some self-leveling mixtures do not allow the use of more water than indicated on the packaging. Therefore, amateur activity is best avoided. With a thinner solution, it will not necessarily be easier to work. On the contrary, it can only ruin everything. In addition, a primer on the
floor is a surface primer. Thanks to this, the fill will be stronger bonded to the screed. Also, a special primer will protect the floor from the appearance of fungus and mold. If there is no primer at hand, and the room is dry and not too large, you can use a self-leveling mixture heavily diluted with water to prepare the surface.
The entire pouring process lasts no more than 40 minutes. In the allotted time, you need to have time to knead, pour it onto the surface, help it level out and "drive out" the bubbles from it with a needle roller. Self-leveling floor mixes must be evenly distributed over the surface with a spatula or roller on a long handle. This must be done after each batch and pouring of the solution, and gradually the entire floor will be ready. Usually one bag takes one batch, but, of course, it all depends on the weight of the bag itself and the volume of the bucket. In addition, the area poured in one batch depends on the topography of the floor and the thickness of the fill. So, for example, for a room of 18 m
2 with a pouring thickness of not more than 5 mm, 4 batches are required (bag weighing
25 kg).