We are replacing the wooden floor with concrete. Methods for repairing wooden floors in an apartment. Complete replacement of wood with concrete

When the apartment has an ugly, shabby floor, the whole impression is good repair or beautiful furniture will be lost. But such work - replacing the floor covering - is a very labor-intensive process, which is not easy to decide on. But a simple change of decorative coating will only give the result of a cosmetic update. Invisible processes will continue and, as a result, you will have to spend much more effort and money to restore the damaged coating. Let's consider the algorithm in detail repair work floors in the home, the procedure for carrying out the procedure on your own.

How to repair the floor in an apartment on a concrete base

If the floor covering is laid not on logs, but on a concrete base, pay attention to the advice of specialists. If the floor covering is worn out and requires replacement, then it is necessary to carry out the following manipulations:

Whatever material the floor is based on, damaged fragments must be removed. If it's linoleum, there is interesting way make a patch from a new one. To do this, the old piece must be attached to the roll and the patch cut along the border.
Any tile that moves or has fallen off should be removed.
The places from which damaged fragments were removed must be cleared of debris and dust. Carefully using auxiliary tools, clean the surface of old material.
The substrate may be damaged, in which case it is necessary to prepare a new solution and troubleshoot the problem.
After the concrete has dried, you can lay patches, be it linoleum, tiles or other material. For this, glue, mortar or other necessary mixture is used.

Sometimes it happens that everything requires restoration concrete base. In this case, it is necessary to perform a screed. If the surface of the concrete base is uneven, lumpy, then it should be leveled, this will affect the finishing coating and ruin it. Linoleum will become unusable and may tear, repeating the bends of the concrete covering, the tiles will sway due to different levels floor.

Methods for repairing the floor in an apartment

To avoid such troubles, you should level the surface of the concrete slabs on which the floor covering will be laid. This should be done like this:

first you need to remove the old coating, if any, the substrate, remains of construction debris and dust;
ideally, the base of the floor must be waterproofed, it is laid overlapping and strengthened along the walls;
if you do not use waterproofing, you need to take into account this important point - the concrete solution should be poured onto a previously wetted surface, this will allow the material to “grab” better;
when leveling the surface, to make it ideally even, beacons and a building level should be used;
After the concrete surface has dried, it is covered with any material.

When repairing a wooden floor covering, it is necessary to inspect the entire floor and remove damaged boards. The floor area is treated with special solutions against fungus; those places that are exposed to moisture are protected from water using special waterproofing materials. If cracks have formed as a result of the wood drying out, the following work must be done:

grind the surface with special equipment;
prime and clean the cracks;
cover the floor surface with nitro varnish;
After the solution has dried, cover it with a finishing substance.

If laminate or ceramic tiles have become unusable, you should try to disguise minor damage. A wax pencil can restore scratches on laminate flooring. Specially developed pastes mask minor defects. If the laminate is swollen or damaged, it must be replaced. If chips and cracks form on the tiles, you can try to apply cement laitance and hide the defects. But if the damage is significant and affects the aesthetic appearance of the room, the tiles need to be replaced.

When repairing linoleum on your own, you must remember that it is possible to repair the floor surface of such a material.

If the linoleum is swollen, cracked or torn, you can do this:

inject glue with a syringe into the damaged area;
place the load and let it sit for several days;
If the result is not satisfactory, replace the area with a new one.

If the carpet fails, spare parts should be used:

cut out the damaged area, glue a patch;
edges are processed special glue to prevent fraying;
Ideally, it is worth considering the pattern and direction of the fibers.

For stone covering floor it is necessary to carry out the following actions:

cracks and chips are leveled using grinding equipment, after which the surface is polished;
polishing helps make the coating protected from dirt;
You can perform such actions with the result when the cracking depth is no more than half a centimeter.

Complete replacement of the floor in the apartment

If you have decided to completely replace the floor covering in your apartment and even change the material, pay attention to a new product on the construction market - OSB panels. Replacing the wooden plank version with floors made of this material is quite a practical result. Floor coverings made from OSB boards deserve attention, as the flooring is of high quality, durable and practical. The surface is not afraid of moisture and does not accumulate it inside. Using plates, you can achieve the following result:

perfectly level the surface, which allows you to use any, even the most delicate and sensitive coating;
high sound insulation allows you to absorb noise;
two tasks are solved simultaneously - insulation and waterproofing are performed.

Use OSB boards It is possible both on a cement floor and on logs. Coating with the material is not difficult. The panels are easy to cut to required sizes. To work, you should prepare the following tool:

plane;
rubber hammer;
building level;
electromill.

Plates can be finishing surface or a base for any material.

Advantage using OSB- slabs, is:

ease of operation;
one slab can cover large area rooms;
speed of laying the coating;
resistance to mechanical stress.

Instructions for repairing the floor in an apartment

After deciding to replace the floor or its major renovation, it is necessary to determine the scale of work and the plan of repair measures. If we are talking about replacing the floor surface in an apartment, it should be noted that the basis is a reinforced concrete floor slab. Then there may be differences; in some apartments the floor covering is located on joists, in others it is laid on concrete screed.

Wooden floors are susceptible to decay and wear. The first manifestations are considered to be creaking, “loosening” of some boards, there may be a smell of dampness, and gaps between fragments of the floor.

Not only the top coating can deteriorate, but also the screed, especially if the quality of the work was not the best high level. An extraneous sound may appear when moving, or the coating may “walk.”

A set of manifestations indicate the need for gender replacement.

Repair work on wood flooring

Provided that the coating defects are minor, you can partially replace the floor material:

The surface is cleaned of the old layer of paint or varnish. This is easier to do with the help of a special technique - a grinding machine.
Damaged boards should be removed.
After this, the entire floor surface is checked for quality nailing. They pull out old, deformed boards so that the boards hold well; it is recommended to use self-tapping screws.
If there are small distances between the boards, the cracks are sealed with putty for wooden surfaces; you can cover the places where the nails enter the base of the floor.
If the gaps are large, you can fill the gaps with wood chips, cover them with putty, and rub the restoration area.
After the putty material has dried, the floors are sanded manually or using a machine.
When the work is completed, the floor surface is covered with paint or varnish.

Do-it-yourself floor repair when floorboards creak

You can restore the floor in an apartment, provided that the floorboards are fastened together, in the following way:

first you need to listen to which area of the room the creaking is heard;
between the board and the beam you need to hammer in wedges;
this must be done carefully so as not to loosen the floorboard;
a place for screws is drilled in the floorboards, they are screwed at a slight angle and the beam is screwed in;
These manipulations can get rid of annoying squeaking.

If you only need to restore appearance coating, this can be done quickly and easily:

if it is not possible to remove the furniture and vacate the room, the repair work will be carried out in two stages: first on one side of the room, then the furniture is moved to the renovated part of the room and the second half of the room is repaired;
Now you need to use a machine for scraping the floor, there is no point in buying equipment just for once, you can rent it for the duration of the work;
you can do this work manually, but it will take a lot of effort, time and sandpaper;
after sealing small seams and final leveling, I varnish the cleanly wiped and dry floor;
It is recommended to use two to three layers of varnish, first allow time for the layer to dry.

Partial restoration of the floor in the apartment will allow you to get rid of the defect and not spend a lot of time on its elimination.

Removing old flooring

Before starting work, it is necessary to empty the room completely: remove furniture, remove paintings, and, if possible, lamps and chandeliers. The work is very dusty and if it is carried out in stages, then reliable and hermetically sealed dust protection should be provided for other rooms. It’s good if the room has a door, but it is advisable to cover it with an additional damp cloth and place a roller underneath. This will help protect the rest of the rooms a little from the spread of dust. This will not have any particular effect, and if other family members live in the apartment, it is better to move them to another place during the renovation work.

The procedure for dismantling the floor covering is as follows:

in the room from which the furniture has been removed, the baseboards are dismantled; this must be done carefully so as not to damage the surface of the walls to which they are partially attached;
after dismantling the baseboards, they begin to remove the old floor covering;
if the material roll type(carpet, linoleum), laid without the help of glue, then it is carefully rolled up, but most often the material is removed with fragments of the screed, in this case the covering is removed in sections and the room is immediately cleared of debris;
if the material has been glued and is difficult to remove from the base, it is necessary to use additional tools to help remove the coating;
old parquet, which can no longer be sanded and restored, is removed piece by piece and taken out of the room; if the material was glued with special solutions, then the process of dismantling the parquet can be difficult; in this case, the use of auxiliary tools is also recommended;
tiles are removed using a hammer and chisel; if you can rent a hammer drill, the dismantling process will be much easier;
if the floor consists of wooden planks, the most difficult thing when removing the covering will be removing the first floorboard; you can dismantle it with a hammer, nail puller and pliers plank covering, perhaps not all the material will be intended for disposal; it will have to be sorted in parallel.

The most common question that arises when restoring a floor is whether it is worth dismantling the entire coating if the material is fragmented. If you have started such a global undertaking, you need to completely replace the coating. It is possible that the process of rotting or destruction has affected all areas of the floor, but so far this is not visually noticeable. To avoid having to dismantle the covering again after some time, spend time and energy on a global restoration of the entire room.

Even an inexperienced builder can carry out floor repairs in an apartment with his own hands. Step by step instructions The video will help you understand such concepts as partial and complete replacement of the coating when carrying out repairs. After watching the video, there will be no questions left regarding the correct replacement of the ceiling or restoration of the surface.

Updating or replacing an old, worn-out floor in an apartment is one of the most labor-intensive operations in the overall renovation process. Just imagining the scale and cost of what is to come, many homeowners very often refuse to repair their floors, limiting themselves only to changing the decorative covering on them. But time takes its toll, and sooner or later a moment comes when it becomes simply impossible to delay such work.

In this case, it is not at all necessary to immediately look for a team of craftsmen - especially since in such a service sector you can very often meet outright “hack workers”. As a result, everything can result in a completely unnecessary waste of time, nerves and money with a low-quality result. Why not try it yourself? If the owner has certain skills in general construction work, and if he does it in the apartment with his own hands step by step, in compliance with the recommended technological rules, then everything should work out!

The stages of repair, of course, depend on the type of floors, their original condition, the purpose of the premises in which the work is being carried out, and the type of finishing coating. This publication will discuss several of the most common options.

The initial stage is to decide on the scope of work

Since the owner of the apartment is thinking about renovating the floor, then, most likely, there are motivating reasons for this, unless, of course, this is a cosmetic replacement of the covering at the next whim of the wife. Therefore, first you need to identify and clearly formulate problems - the entire scale of further preparatory and repair work will depend on this.

This publication is about a city apartment, and in the vast majority of multi-story buildings, any floor has a base in the form of a reinforced concrete floor slab. But further design may differ significantly. The floor can be built on joists fixed to the base, or laid directly on a concrete screed.

A wooden floor on joists usually begins to show its defects with creaking, instability of the coating - the floorboards “play” underfoot, the appearance unpleasant odor rot, formation and gradual expansion of cracks. It’s even worse if suddenly one of the boards cracks or a fragment of it falls down.

The dilapidated wooden floor reminds of itself with creaking and “playing” boards

An old screed on which a coating is laid can also begin to present surprises due to “old age,” especially if it was once filled with poor quality. So, it is also possible that there may be obvious creaks and rustling sounds from sand or small pebbles, “bumping” of the screed, the appearance of dented areas of the surface, disruption of the evenness of the finishing coating, and sometimes obvious instability of an entire large fragment.

In any case, if there are obvious defects, remove the old coating.

Removing old coating

All furniture will need to be removed from the room, completely freeing it for further work. If the renovation is not carried out in the entire apartment at once, but from room to room, it will be necessary to provide protection against the spread of dust, for example, by covering the entrance with a curtain made of thick plastic film or frequently moistened fabric, and covering the gap under the door with a roller made of a wet rag. True, the full effectiveness of this method is very doubtful, and the best option However, it is necessary to provide for the resettlement of family members during the renovation. However, a barrier to dust is necessary in any case.
Next, the old baseboards are removed. Do this carefully so as not to damage bottom part walls to which they are attached. If the skirting boards are intended to be used further, they are numbered according to their location and temporarily removed.

If anyone has not encountered this issue before, we can remind you that the baseboards are attached to the wall, and not to the floor surface, that is, you need to correctly direct the lever force. It will be easier if the baseboards are secured with self-tapping screws or special brackets.

The next step is actually removing the old coating. There are several options here:

A. If the floor is covered with some kind of roll material, then they pry it off from one side and try to carefully roll it into a roll - this will make it easier to take it out. If the covering (for example, linoleum or carpet) was once laid without glue, directly on a concrete screed, this will not be difficult to do. To facilitate the action, you can first make parallel cuts with a sharp construction knife, thereby dividing the entire canvas into several narrower strips.

But there are often situations in which old material comes off along with the layers of peeled screed. Then you will have to remove it fragmentarily and immediately take it out of the room along with pieces of concrete, so that this construction garbage didn't interfere further work.

It happens that once well-glued linoleum, when removed, begins to delaminate itself, leaving dried layers on the screed. In this case, you will have to work with a scraper (trowel), warming these areas with a hair dryer or moistening the old adhesive layer with a solution of floor detergent.

B. Old “playing” parquet can cause more trouble. If it is of no value, then its dies are sequentially removed and immediately loaded into bags, which are taken out as they are filled. If the parquet was once glued to bitumen mastic or organic-based glue, then removing individual dies or even entire fragments can be difficult. The “recipe” is the same - scraper, chisel and heating with a hairdryer.

IN. To remove old tiles, it is most convenient to use a hammer drill switched to chiselling mode with a spade chisel installed. If such a tool is not available, then everything is done manually, using a hammer and chisel.

G. When removing a plank floor covering, the most difficult thing is probably to pick up and separate the first floorboard. Then, when you can freely move the lever, the work will go faster. To work, you will need a nail puller with a long lever handle, a hammer, and pliers. You should try to remove the nails carefully, without destroying the boards, since, quite possibly, this material will still be used for a new flooring after repairs or for making joists.

If the old coating was attached with screws (self-tapping screws), then you can try to dismantle it using a screwdriver.

Well, if the board covering is no longer of any value, then the most convenient way would be to make cuts using a manual vertical circular saw (carefully and prudently, so as not to catch the concrete base, damage the joists, or “run into” a nail). After separating the long floorboards this way, removing them will be an easy task.

Is it worth removing the entire plank floor covering if obvious defects were observed only in certain areas, and there are no plans to replace it with a different type of surface finish? Of course, you can only limit yourself partial renovation– replacing worn or damaged parts. But experts unanimously advise - remove everything completely. There is no guarantee that if the deterioration process has manifested itself in one area of the floor, then it will not show itself in another in a year, or even earlier. It will be cheaper to renew the base and re-lay the floor, even using old material, than to return to such repairs again after a short period.

Conducting a foundation audit

After the floor covering has been removed, it is necessary to carefully inspect the base.

If there are logs left on the floor, and you plan to re-lay the plank flooring, you should carefully check the condition of these load-bearing elements and the supports on which they are installed. Log beams should not have areas of decomposition, rottenness, or fungal damage - such parts must be replaced. Each joist is checked under load - it should not dangle, sag, creak, etc. If necessary, update the linings that hold the guide at the desired height.

If the condition of the joists does not cause concern, then after thorough cleaning, a new coating can be laid in the spaces between them. Most old floorboards will probably work just fine. After such a bulkhead, the floor will stop creaking and gain the necessary stability. If required, thermal insulation material can be laid between the joists, which will also act as a sound insulator.

However, on an old wooden floor, very often the joists themselves are quite worn out, and their repair is impossible or does not guarantee durability. In this case, they will have to be dismantled in order to subsequently install new ones. When removing joists, remember that they may be quite firmly attached to the base. Care and caution must be exercised to prevent severe damage concrete base and not add unnecessary worries to its restoration.

After removing the joists, the subfloor is cleaned as thoroughly as possible so that you can proceed to further steps.

In the case when, after removing the old finishing coating, a concrete screed underneath is exposed, it is inspected most carefully. You need to trust that the concrete is strong in itself, and repairing such a surface is not necessary.

The screed must be tapped - this will help to remove areas of its detachment, which must be removed to a “healthy” base. The surface is checked for the presence of loose areas, those where, due to a violation of the pouring technology, the solution has not gained strength or has been eroded due to exposure to moisture. Such areas also require cleaning.

Large cracks should not be left on the surface - this may continue the process of destructuring the base. Slots and cracks must be cut in width and depth by at least 10 - 15 mm for subsequent repairs.

Sometimes, after removing unstable sections of concrete, a completely unsightly picture is revealed, such as, for example, shown in the photograph. However, this too is completely repairable.

After removing defective areas and cutting out cracks, a thorough cleaning is carried out. It is best to use a powerful construction vacuum cleaner in this matter - using other means to thoroughly clean the surface and formed cavities from small debris and dust is extremely difficult.

Sometimes you have to resort to complete dismantling of the entire screed down to the floor slab. This may be caused by the extremely low quality of the coating, which is impractical to repair, but it is better to completely refill it. Often, mold or mildew finds refuge in screeds in damp rooms. Another option is when the floors require additional insulation and sound insulation, and the height of the ceilings and the size of the doorways in the apartment will not allow raising the level of coverage (taking into account the thermal insulation layer and finishing). The same measure is resorted to when it is planned to make a wooden floor on joists instead of thin coverings.

A complex, but often simply necessary operation - complete removal of the old screed

Of course, the process of completely dismantling the screed using a breaker tool is very tedious, noisy and dusty, but no other method has yet been invented. This requires some care to avoid damaging concrete slab ceilings The screed is cut into separate pieces, which are immediately shoveled to the side and packed into bags for removal. It is not recommended to use even small fragments as material for filling a new solution, since they will not enhance, but rather worsen the quality.

After removing the old screed, thoroughly clean the surface - as described above.

Base surface repair

Whatever the floor was, it was not planned for the flooring in the future; the concrete base under it needs to be put in order. Thus, poorly sealed seams between floor slabs, cracks around the perimeter of walls, potholes or cavities, etc. may be exposed.

Such repairs are necessary even if filling is planned new solution may not penetrate into these flaws, air cavities will remain there, reducing the solidity of the coating and becoming the starting point for the destruction of the screed. This is especially important and mandatory if the screed will be poured onto a separating layer or onto a waterproofing film (floating screed).

All surface defects must be thoroughly cleaned, if necessary (for example, slab joints) cut, and then even the smallest chips and dust removed with a vacuum cleaner.

The next step is to thoroughly scrub the surface at least twice, which is specifically for concrete.

This treatment will significantly strengthen the surface, which is especially important when it is loose, will increase the hydrophobic qualities, reduce the absorption of concrete, and improve adhesion with repair compounds. Further work begins after the last applied layer of primer has been completely absorbed and dried.

As a repair composition, you can use ordinary cement-sand mortar. However, it takes quite a long time to dry and gain the required strength, and it is better not to waste money on special repair compounds, also cement-based or epoxy-based.

Primed surface defects are filled as tightly as possible with the repair compound, comparing with the general floor level. You can use a regular spatula for this. Some repair compounds are sold in plastic tubes, and it will be more convenient to apply them using a construction syringe or a special “gun”.

If the defect is large in volume, then in some cases you can resort to filling it with foam. After it dries, the excess is cut off, and then this area is brought to the general surface level with a repair compound.

The repair “patches” are given time to completely harden, in accordance with their instructions, after which the surface can be smoothed using sandpaper wrapped on a block. Then it is recommended to go over the entire surface with primer again. If increased absorption of the composition is noted in areas where repairs are being carried out, then these areas are primed twice.

After the soil has dried, the surface can be considered ready for further work.

Leveling screed

If an old screed or wooden floor was removed and the floor slab was exposed, then most likely its level is very far from horizontal. The house shrank over time, and even when it was built many years ago, the builders may not have cared much about the strictly verified level of floors. So, no matter what the floor was, it was not planned to do anything further, it is recommended to strengthen the base and at the same time level it with a screed. The thickness of this poured layer must be at least 30 mm at the highest point

First of all, it is necessary to determine the magnitude of the difference, that is, to identify the peak, highest and lowest points of the surface and “break through” the zero level line. The beacon system will be set at this mark.

To fill the screed, you can use a regular cement-sand mortar, which is prepared directly at the work site. Usually they start from the proportion of three parts of sand to one of M-400 cement - this ratio gives a surface that is optimal in terms of strength and wear resistance, on which any of the existing floor coverings can then be mounted.

Those novice builders who do not want to deal with drawing up proportions on their own can be recommended to use ready-made dry construction mixtures. Their composition has already been optimized for screed, and all that remains is to properly seal it with water, in accordance with the attached instructions.

How much materials will be needed in this or that case? It all depends on the level of height difference at the extreme points, the planned minimum thickness of the screed, the area of the room, and the characteristics of the solution.

Typically, the packaging of dry construction mixtures indicates their normalized consumption in kilograms per 1 square meter poured area with a layer thickness of 10 mm. Based on this, you can use simple calculations to determine the required amount of material.

To make the task easier for readers, here is a calculator that allows you to quickly and accurately make such calculations.

From the author: Hello, dear readers. If you are reading these lines, it means you have decided to find out everything about what it is to replace floors in an apartment. Only here you will find a complete set of information from the original source, namely, from the best professionals this area of repair.

What types of floors are there, and why change them?

We all want our apartments to be warm and comfortable. To do this, we make expensive repairs and spend a lot of time. But we will not achieve the desired result if we replace windows, doors, level the walls, and leave the floors as they are. That's why we set out to replace the flooring ourselves.

Floors need to be replaced if you are not satisfied with the quality of the coating, its evenness, thermal characteristics, or if it is completely worn out. You should also think about repairing the coating if you have had it since the very installation of the building, and you decided to lay linoleum, laminate or parquet board(then it would be best to lay the finishing coating on plywood).

To give you an idea of what they are, we will describe the most common types that are used in apartments. Floors are divided into rough and finished.

Subfloor

A surface manufactured and laid over floor slabs or wood to provide a base level layer for the finished floor. Subfloors are divided into:

plank on joists - an old wooden floor that is processed with a special jointing machine. Either it's done new design from logs, boards are laid on it and processed again with a jointer;
plywood on joists - being restored old design lag, or a new one is laid and sheets of plywood are laid over it;
chipboard, chipboard on joists - the same as in the case of plywood;
OSB boards on joists - the same as in the case of plywood;
concrete screed - the old concrete coating is knocked off, and a new, perfectly smooth cement screed is poured onto the prepared surface with or without an insulating pad;
self-leveling floor - a special solution is poured onto the old cement screed, which is sold dry and must be made strictly according to the instructions. Suitable for leveling surfaces from 5 mm to 20 mm, no more;
dry screed - the old concrete screed is knocked down, beacons are laid on the prepared surface and quartz or other sand is poured out, leveled over the beacons, and a rough floor covering is laid on top of it;
heated floor - pouring a concrete base or dry screed, laying water or electric heating elements, again a regular or dry screed. Expensive to make and maintain, but very comfortable.

Finish floor

This is the finishing material on which we will move - most often, a thin coating that is quickly applied. Typically the following coatings are found on the market:

linoleum is a rolled, porous-rubberized coating that has a base with a variety of properties. It is used for laying on a variety of coatings and has a low price;
laminate - visual wood covering, but at its base it has fiberboard - fibreboard, glued with glassine on the bottom for waterproofing, and treated on top with a special armor layer resembling wood. Afraid of water, short-lived, relatively inexpensive;
parquet is an extremely expensive material made from valuable wood species. Most often, it has a multi-layer structure, at the base - cheaper wood, the last layer, the rear - only precious species, resistant to mechanical wear and having a very beautiful appearance;
edged polished board - boards of a certain durable species, require piece-by-piece adjustment, after installation they are processed and covered with a special coating, the final result is not cheap;
Fiberboard is the most budget material, spreads with the expectation of further painting, cannot be used without paint treatment;
- almost eternal coating with excellent water-repellent properties and an aesthetically beautiful view, excellent in all respects, except for one huge minus - it is very cold.

You can do the work yourself very simply. Perhaps some of the coatings require specialized tools, but modern markets and Internet resources, you can find any equipment and tools you are interested in, and rent them at very affordable prices.

Any repair always requires careful consideration. Plan everything down to the last detail. Think through every aspect, calculate the amount of money you need and add another 30% of it - this will give you the approximate final amount you should expect.

When choosing and making a floor, remember the following:

When pouring a new screed, always knock down the old one;
When pouring floors, use damper tape;
always use waterproofing;
When purchasing cement or special mixtures, always look at the expiration date;
It is better to replace conventional rolled, perforated beacons with a wide profile for plasterboard structures;
remember the load on the surface, and if it is large, for example, more than 300 kg/m2, discard the dry screed;
If possible, always insulate your floor if it is a screed. Use expanded clay if these are logs - but better foam, but mineral wool is also suitable;
remember about air circulation in wooden floors and create a gap between the insulation and the rough coating, as well as ventilation “drawbars”;
use the levels, but it’s better to rent a laser one - it will work for your money;
mix cement mortar only with cold water;
if possible, add a plasticizer - if this is not available, add a little shampoo;
when making screeds, always lay reinforcement or use basalt fiber;
if you need a screed that will be used as a ceiling, and there will be heavy loads on it, make a stressed concrete structure;
always maintain the drying time of surfaces and materials;
when installing tiles, use only waterproofing adhesive, for example, ceresite, and do not forget to grout the seams;
You can calculate the amount of grout required:
Use only serviceable tools and machines with all protective covers.

To do the job yourself, you will need the following tool:

hammer;
chisel or chisel;
mallet;
construction knife;
plane;
Master OK;
concrete mixer or mixing container with a shovel;
hammer drill, jackhammer or crowbar;
level, hydraulic level or laser level;
tape measure and square;
screwdriver;
axe;
a needle roller for smoothing the screed and removing air bubbles.

You won't need all of these tools to get the job done; everything will depend on the coating you choose. Yes, purchasing it is too expensive and unprofitable for the sake of one repair, but renting a concrete mixer or bumper is a completely different matter. Well, a hammer and an ax are already present in any home, so dismantling and laying a wooden covering with your own hands will cost you half as much as hiring workers.

Replacement Instructions

Now let's take a closer look at how to install different types of floors.

Replacing a wooden floor with a concrete one

Changing a wooden covering to a concrete one is a very simple operation that does not require skill. It can be done literally in one full working day by one person, if you have a concrete mixer at your disposal.

We begin the whole process by dismantling the old coating. To do this we use a crowbar. Without sparing the boards and joists, we dismantle them and take them out of the room. You will most likely see some kind of insulation under the floor. In some houses this is expanded clay or agloporite, sometimes you even come across broken glass mixed with glass wool.

If you see this, immediately put on a respirator and remove all this garbage. Don't be greedy and try to leave a layer of old insulation. Previously, they didn’t even think about the environment and used everything indiscriminately. If you need to insulate the ceiling, then buy a dozen bags of expanded clay and cover the surface with it.

After dismantling and preparing the surface, we carry out waterproofing with bulk mixtures or roofing felt. Then we insulate it with expanded clay, if required, but you can do it without it, it all depends on whether you want heat loss or not. Next, we lay the waterproofing film on the expanded clay and lay the reinforcing mesh, and if we use basalt fiber, then the reinforcement is eliminated.

Floors from natural wood over time they become unusable. Because of incorrect conditions operation, constant mechanical stress, temperature changes and exposure to moisture, the wooden floor in the apartment begins to creak and collapse. In some cases, minor repairs with filling cracks are sufficient, but in apartments such as Khrushchev-era apartments, the floors are already so old that minor repairs are clearly not enough and it is necessary to replace not only the entire wood, but also repair the concrete base. Next, we will analyze the entire process step by step in more detail and provide photos that clearly show the result.

Work planning

Before you renew the wooden floor in your apartment, you need to draw up a work plan and immediately determine the type and quantity of consumables. If you have an old coating, it is not difficult to calculate the total footage of floor boards. If the work is carried out in a Khrushchev-era building, then most likely it will be necessary to completely dismantle and replace all the wood, as well as repair the concrete screed before laying the new floor. The entire work process can be divided into several main stages:

Dismantling the old coating;
Repairing the screed or pouring a new concrete base;
Installation of logs and laying of insulation;
Laying a wooden floor.

For your information. If the old wooden flooring cannot be restored and its elements cannot be reused, then you can order a service for dismantling the wooden floor. The price of dismantling a wooden floor in an apartment varies within one dollar per square meter, while teams not only dismantle it, but also remove the old covering.

Dismantling a wooden floor in an apartment, especially if it is an old floor in a Khrushchev-era building, causes subconscious fear for many, since the process itself is quite noisy and dusty, and the resulting view is not pleasant. In fact, dismantling an old floor is not such a terrible procedure if you do not break it, but carefully disassemble it. All you need is a nail puller, a hammer and trash bags. You may need an electric saw or jigsaw. You can remove a wooden floor in an apartment in a few simple steps:

First, you need to completely empty the room of furniture, flooring and other elements that are on the floor;
Remove old baseboards. If they are planned to be reused, then each plinth must be numbered before dismantling, in order to then be installed in the reverse order;
Next, the floor boards are removed, starting from the far wall of the room. If their reuse is not planned, then you don’t have to take special care of them during dismantling;
Dismantle the logs. Wooden floors in Khrushchev are equipped with transverse joists; they must be removed as carefully as possible so as not to further damage the base of the floor.

Upon completion of all work, you will receive a bare concrete base, which must be thoroughly cleaned of construction debris and dust. To do this, use a broom and dustpan to remove large debris, then use a vacuum cleaner to remove the remaining dust.

Preparing the screed

Before you repair a wooden floor in an apartment, you need to decide in advance whether the floor will be insulated or not. Additional waterproofing may be required if there is a cold and damp area under the floor.

After removing the old floor, it is necessary to carefully examine the concrete base and its quality. If concrete surface is covered with cracks, there are traces of concrete peeling in the form of a dull sound, or areas affected by fungus, then before replacing the wooden floor in the apartment, the old concrete screed must be completely dismantled. This is done using a hammer drill with a blade-shaped attachment. If the old screed is partially damaged, then only some parts of it can be removed.

For your information. In many cases, it is necessary to dismantle even a good screed if you plan to install a wooden floor in new apartment. This is done in order to deepen the base, since installing joists and floor boards raises the floor level, and this is not always possible. Before replacing wooden floors in an apartment, you need to take into account that if there is insulation, the floor level will increase significantly, especially if large logs are used and polystyrene foam or expanded clay is used as insulation.

For high-quality styling new layer of screed, the following steps are performed:

After removing the old screed or repairing it, the room is thoroughly cleaned with a vacuum cleaner to remove as much dust as possible from the surface;
Then wet cleaning is carried out, which removes fine dust and the room is thoroughly dried.

On this preliminary preparation the base is completed and you can then begin laying a new screed, the type of which is selected depending on the floor level and the preferences of the owner.

Self-leveling screed

If replacing a wooden floor in an apartment does not include insulation, then a regular self-leveling floor is used to restore the evenness and integrity of the coating. If there are large cracks or potholes, they are sealed cement mortar or putty with additional reinforcement with painting mesh. Then the base is cleaned of dust and coated with a deep penetration primer in several layers.

Mix the self-leveling mixture according to the instructions on the package and fill the floor surface. For leveling, a needle roller is used to remove air bubbles and level the mixture. After hardening, the surface is perfectly flat and ready for laying a wooden floor.

Insulated expanded clay screed

If the floor needs to be insulated, then a screed made of expanded clay is installed. Expanded clay is lightweight material and does not weigh down the ceiling, and also has good soundproofing characteristics. Before re-laying a wooden floor in an apartment and insulating it with expanded clay, the material must be purchased only in sealed bags or dried well before use. The process of laying expanded clay screed is as follows:

Beacons are installed on the surface of the base, the height of which should be equal to the thickness of the floor, taking into account cement screed on top of expanded clay. Beacons are installed strictly according to level;
Next, expanded clay is poured in and carefully leveled. The expanded clay layer should be below the level of the beacons;
Then the cement-sand mortar is mixed and laid on the surface of the expanded clay, leveling it along the installed beacons;
After drying, the screed will shrink, which is additionally leveled with the self-leveling solution.

Important. If the apartment is on the ground floor or there is a damp and unheated room underneath, then before installing a wooden floor in an apartment with expanded clay screed, it is necessary to provide additional waterproofing. For this purpose, a mounting film is used, which is laid with an overlap on the walls or a coating type of insulation in the form of bitumen mastic. A damper tape is installed around the perimeter of the room.

Wood floor installation

If you don’t have time to work on your own, you can order a wooden floor in your apartment from any construction company or a private master. However, hiring third-party specialists significantly increases the cost, since you pay not only for the cost of the material, but also for the work.

Before starting work, it is necessary to draw up a preliminary diagram of the future floor with an exact indication of the location of the logs, the distance between them, as well as a list required material and wood species. Having such an estimate will help you determine in advance how much a wooden floor in an apartment costs if you carry out all the work yourself.

Today, the most popular are two types of wooden floors: plywood sheets or tongue and groove boards. Plywood floors are usually used for laying laminate or carpet, while tongue and groove boards can serve as a finishing coating and decorate the interior with their appearance.

When replacing old wooden floors in an apartment with new ones, it is necessary to install transverse joists onto which the main covering will be attached. There is space between the joists and the screed that can be left empty, but it is better to use it for additional insulation and sound insulation. In general, the process of installing a new floor is not complicated:

Installation begins with marking the room for the logs. The direction of laying the logs is always perpendicular to the direction of the boards and they are usually laid across the room, and the floor boards along. The distance between the lags depends on the insulation used. When using polystyrene foam, the distance should be exactly the width of the panel; when using mineral wool, the distance is on average 30-40 cm.

Important. When laying a wooden floor in an apartment with your own hands, make sure that the height of the joists is equal to the height of the mat insulation material. When using mineral wool, the height of the logs may be slightly smaller.

Next, prepare the logs and install them according to the markings. The outermost logs should be no further than 6-7 cm from the wall. The joists are secured to the base using metal corners or directly through a through hole in the joist. Dowels are used for fastening. The logs are immediately set to the same level and at the same height, so that after laying the floor boards the question does not arise of how to level the wooden floor in the apartment.
After installing and securing the logs, insulation is laid, for which use polystyrene foam, mineral wool or expanded clay.
After the insulation, waterproofing material is laid. Usually this is a thick construction film, the joints of which are sealed with double-sided tape and the material itself is secured to the joists using a stapler.
At the final stage, floor boards or plywood sheets are laid, depending on the owner’s preference.

Important. You can often hear the question of how to cover a wooden floor in an apartment to protect the wood. The joists must be coated with special impregnations that protect the wood from moisture, rot and prevent the formation of mold. Floor boards are coated with various types of varnishes, which have not only protective, but also decorative functions.

In old houses where the floors were made of wood, the problem of squeaks and fragility of the coating arises very often. The board wears out, rots and dries out. Replacing a wooden floor with a concrete one in an apartment looks rational. This can be done, including in homes. old building. Concrete flooring has excellent strength and service life; it can be covered with laminate if fully complied with technical requirements to this process.

Removing old flooring

Dismantling the old covering is the first step in replacing a wooden floor with a concrete one in an apartment. For this, standard tools are used: sledgehammer, crowbar, crowbar.

Are deleted floor coverings in the form of linoleum.
Using a tool, the coating is disassembled.
In areas where pipes and other communications enter, you should be especially careful.

After removing the old boards, access to the base opens. In apartments on reinforced concrete slab logs are laid, often they are not even secured. The space between them is filled with the remains of construction waste for sound insulation.

Everything needs to be removed. To collect garbage you will need bags and a place for their temporary storage.

After construction debris and dirt have been removed, the joists are assessed. If the tree is in good condition, you can create a base for pouring screed on plywood or chipboard, which will be placed on the existing substrate. But this will cause the floor level to rise, so it is worth deciding what is better: to make a new coating on the joists, without insulation, or to remove the joists and form a layer of concrete over the floor slabs.

In practice, most apartment owners act according to the second option. The logs are dismantled. After this, you need to carefully assess the condition of the pipes - cold and hot water, sewerage. If there is damage or signs poor condition, the interfloor sector should be replaced immediately. Later, after the concrete floor has been created, repairs will require much more problems and time consumption.

Evaluation of the work list

The slab, freed from the floor, joists, construction debris and other dirt, is inspected. Level measurements are taken. A laser level is useful, which can be used to determine height differences and their nature.

Several situations may arise:

the base is formed by several narrow slabs forming a “step”;
there is a trough-like appearance or there is a bulge in the center of the room with a drop in height towards the perimeter;
there is a uniform slope of the base in one direction or the other.

It is necessary not only to evaluate work based on the level of investment Money, but also plan for as little mass as possible of the screed. To do this, the concrete layer is made to a minimum thickness, placing it on backfill or lightweight mortar.

The procedure for assessing the work of the future floor with a large difference in floor heights, from 70 mm, looks like this:

the thickness of the concrete screed is 40-50 mm;
the remaining space can be filled with grade mortar.

More cheap way– filling the rough surface with sand, but the mass of such a cushion will be significant. In practice, it is ideal to make a base of plywood, under which expanded clay is poured to level the level. This method of carrying out work simultaneously provides a smooth, even surface for the screed; the rough filling has a low mass and provides a certain degree of additional sound insulation.

The base for the plywood screed can be made on logs made of small-section timber. This is a convenient and fairly cheap way. The logs are laid on the floor, ensuring horizontal, while in the right places Small supports are placed under them. After that free space filled with expanded clay.

When filling the base with sand, it must be spilled with water and compacted thoroughly. It is not recommended to use a vibrating tool - it may damage the neighbors below plaster finishing or other troubles may arise. After finishing the work, the sand should be given a couple of days to dry.

The difference is whether a wooden or concrete floor is located on the interfloor floor - in the mass of the coating. Although, not only this. About this video:

A little about very old houses

In houses where there is no reinforced concrete flooring, you can replace a wooden floor with a concrete screed in one way: build a rough covering from plywood or chipboard. Some people recommend repairing the existing wood floor or adding additional covering.

However, in practice, such work takes a lot of time, money, requires replacing damaged areas, removing old paint and other coatings to assess the condition of the boards.

Therefore proceed as follows:

all flooring boards are removed;
in houses with ceilings on beams or a metal profile, construction waste is poured between the floor and ceiling of the lower floor for sound insulation. All this needs to be removed;
the state of the lag is assessed. If bad, they are deleted. If good, the logs are cleaned, treated with anti-mold and antibacterial agents and secured in such a way as to ensure the evenness of the plywood or chipboard flooring.

Preparing the base for the screed begins with pouring expanded clay into interfloor covering on beams or I-beams. This layer will have low mass and have good sound insulation. Backfilling is carried out to the upper level of the lag. After this, they lay plywood or chipboard and operate in the same way as in an apartment.

Construction of waterproofing and insulation

After the rough base for the screed is ready, they begin to create a waterproofing layer. For this you can use:

roofing felt or glassine;
bitumen roll insulators based on fiberglass or fiberglass;
polymer film;
one-sided vapor-permeable membrane.

Before spreading the rolled waterproofing material, it is necessary to carry out preparatory work. To do this, the entire perimeter of the room is taped with a special construction tape. Afterwards coating is carried out bitumen mastic cold type of application. Some compositions will require time to dry, so it is worth warning your neighbors in advance about the need to tolerate the unpleasant odor.

After the mastic has hardened, the perimeter is glued with damper construction tape 20 mm thick and the roll waterproofing can be spread. The strips of material are placed with an overlap of 10-15 cm, each subsequent strip overlaps the previous one. Along the perimeter of the room, the waterproofing agent should extend 10-15 cm onto the walls.

The seams are processed as follows:

when using a polymer film, the area of the edge of the strip located on the previous one is glued with wide tape;
roofing felt and other bitumen-containing materials are thoroughly heated with a construction hair dryer over the joint area and rolled over it with a gluing roller.

It is not recommended to use floating class materials in an apartment. They require processing with a kerosene burner, which can be a problem in conditions of limited space and ventilation.

Rolled waterproofing insulators on a self-adhesive basis will speed up the work. They cost more, but will speed up the flooring significantly.

After the waterproofing is laid, insulation is placed on it. This stage of work is carried out if a heated floor heating system is being built. In other cases, it is not necessary to use thermal insulation.

Laying reinforcement

classic, laying on the floor with a gap of 10 mm to the insulation or waterproofing steel mesh with a cell size of 5 cm;
using plastic reinforcing mesh;
adding special fibers to the solution.

You can also place an aluminum mesh inside the screed. But the method using fibers is the leader in terms of convenience and rationality. This will allow:

do not worry about the presence of an expansion gap to the waterproofing or insulation;
lay a heated floor heating system inside the screed;
work at high speed.

Fibers for screed reinforcement are affordable, and their use can ensure uniform strength of the concrete layer. But when constructing a floor not on a reinforced concrete floor slab, it is recommended to proceed in the classical way, using reinforcing mesh.

Installation of beacons

Beacons on the floor on the prepared surface are installed simply: special profiles or a corner for decorating corners during plastering are placed on small mounds of gypsum putty. The evenness of the surface formed by the upper points is checked using a long building level.

If the base is poorly prepared and there is a difference in levels in certain areas of the area, the height of the putty mounds varies. The beacons must be placed at a distance of 40-50 cm, directing them along a line from the window to the door. Parts cannot be moved until the putty has completely hardened and the beacons are securely fixed.

Preparation of the solution

If you want to replace a wooden floor with a concrete screed and worry less about the pressure on the floor, you can use ready-made building mixtures. For example, KREISEL 440, 441, MZ150, which allow you to create a layer of up to 70 mm with a minimum of 35 mm. In this case, there is no need to stir the dry mixture - the composition is immediately ready to add water.

The standard approach is to use a classic cement-sand screed. To prepare it you will need:

1 part of cement grade M400;
3 parts sifted construction sand;
0.1 parts of lime paste, acting as a plasticizer;
fibers for reinforcement in the quantity recommended by the manufacturer.

Before mixing with water, the dry mixture must be thoroughly mixed until a uniformly colored composition is formed. After this, they begin to add liquid, continuing to stir until the consistency of thick sour cream is obtained.

Recommendation: for quick and high-quality work, you should prepare in advance a large number of dry mixture. As needed, you can quickly dilute it with water. If you measure out equal parts of the composition, it is easy to figure out the amount of liquid required and prepare the solution extremely quickly.

Laying the screed

The screed is laid from the window or far wall to the door. The solution is laid out in large portions and leveled with a long rule along the beacons. There are no difficulties during the work, you just need to act quickly so that the solution does not set and is easily smoothed out. It is recommended that two people work together to lay the screed. One is preparing the solution, the second is applying it.

Creating a Finish Coat

In the apartment I want to achieve maximum strength and at the same time -. There are several ways to do this:

sand the floor with sandpaper;
apply special polymer compounds or paint with paint for concrete;
iron the surface of the screed after 3-4 days, when partial hardening occurs;
form a thin layer of self-leveling floor.

If you plan to lay tiles on the floor, you can do without additional surface treatment. For laminate or linoleum coatings, it is recommended to carry out. The most expensive version of self-leveling flooring allows you not only to obtain a smooth and even surface, but also to create an effective final coating. For example, a popular 3D floor or with graphic images.

The issue of creating the final coating should be considered in advance. The self-leveling floor will raise general level approximately 30 mm, a similar situation is with ceramic tiles. However, the final design can be considered as a secondary measure. As for the concrete floor itself, if you follow the given rules and methods, after complete drying in 2-3 weeks you can create a very durable, durable coating at an acceptable cost of money and time.