Quite often, when carrying out repairs, it becomes necessary to dismantle the old floor. The reasons may be a complete replacement of the coating, the reconstruction of individual components of the laminate or parquet.
The article describes how to clean a wooden floor without resorting to third-party specialists, what tools to use when dismantling it yourself. In addition, some methods for repairing flooring without removing wooden floorboards are given.
The need to dismantle the wooden floor
Wood flooring is considered the safest, most environmentally friendly flooring. If the installation technology and proper operation are observed, such a floor will last more than 50 years. However, over time, boards can become unusable and need partial or complete replacement.
The main reasons for the dismantling of old floors:
- deterioration of the flooring;
- high humidity in the room - it is better to replace the wooden floor with a waterproof coating (tile, linoleum);
- damage to the floor by fungi and insects;
- cracks in wooden boards, creaking, etc.
Advice. When planning a major overhaul, it is better to get rid of the old wooden floor. Of course, such work is very time-consuming and dusty, but it is fully justified. The new coating will “lie down” evenly and stop squeaking.
Before proceeding with dismantling work, it is necessary to carefully inspect the floor. Remove excess furniture from the room, remove accumulated dirt. Particular attention is paid to the uniformity of the floor rail and the degree of its wear. If the coating is not deformed, then it is enough to carry out cosmetic repairs. Sometimes, the wooden floor is re-tiled by turning the existing boards inside out.
There are often situations when repairs are required for a separate section (corridor, passageway of the room). In this case, the damaged boards are removed and replaced with new ones.
Advice. To determine the rotten floorboards, it will turn out by tapping on the floor with a hammer. Boards that make a dull sound must be replaced. If most of the floorboards require renovation, then the old floor needs to be completely dismantled.
What to consider when removing wood flooring
Dismantling old wooden floors has some features:
How to dismantle a wooden floor: workflow
Instrument preparation
The following tools may be needed to remove parquet or other wood flooring:
- nail puller;
- sledgehammer or assembly hammer;
- pliers, screwdriver and pincers;
- saw or jigsaw for cutting long boards.
Note that to dismantle the concrete screed under the wooden floor, you will additionally need a puncher and a chisel.
Removing the plinth
It is customary to start dismantling the floor in an apartment or a private house with the removal of a wooden or plastic plinth. Sequencing:
- Take out the furniture from the room, remove the structures arranged on the floor, wipe the work surface with a damp cloth - this will reduce the amount of dust raised during dismantling.
- Removal should start from the corner of the room, otherwise the plinth will begin to strain and break. Insert the sharp end of a nail puller between the floor and the plinth. With an effort to pull the first nail halfway out of the plinth.
- Do the same with the next nails.
- Go back to the first nail and pull it out completely.
It is much easier to remove the plinth, fixed with screws - you just need to unscrew them. Painted baseboards, on the contrary, are more difficult to dismantle. To remove them, a piece of wood must be driven under the fulcrum of the nail puller. If the nails are very long and the stroke of the nail puller is not enough, then a bar must be placed.
Usually skirting boards are nailed and painted with 2-3 coats of paint. In these cases, most likely, the fasteners are located at a distance of 50-70 cm. When removing the nails, the nail puller must be slightly swayed in order to knock down the putty - this makes it easier to remove the plinth without damage.
The procedure for removing a skirting board fixed to a wall is the same as for a floor-mounted one.
Removal of the entire floor
After removing the plinth around the perimeter of the room, you can proceed directly to the dismantling of wooden boards. Given that the laying of the floor begins with the floorboard facing the wall with a spike, then the removal is carried out in the opposite direction - this will preserve the integrity of the wooden material and use it in other repair work.
If the floor is fastened with screws, then all the latches are unscrewed, and the boards are removed sequentially. In cases where the floorboards are held on nails, it is necessary to act in the following sequence:
1. Determine the side of the floor where the last board is laid.
2. Drive a nail puller under the board with a hammer or hand.
3. Raise the floorboard 1-3 cm from the joist. 
4. Press the board so that the floorboard lies back. As a result of the work done, the nail heads will remain sticking out above the floor surface. If the first time did not work out, then the board must be raised and lowered again.
5. Place a plank under the nail puller and remove the nails with the nail puller. The padded board will protect the floorboard from punching through.
Important! In order not to damage the floorboard, lift the floorboard from the lag no higher than 3 cm.
To remove the edge board, you must remove all the nails in the manner described. Then gradually, with the help of a chisel, increase the gap between the floorboards.
When dismantling, there is a possibility of damage to the groove and spike of the board. This can happen when the nail puller is pressed hard or due to the poor condition of the wood itself (the presence of cracks, the appearance of rot, etc.). The broken off upper part of the groove can be restored with glue or nailed with a small nail. The appearance of the board will deteriorate somewhat, but the functionality will not suffer.
During dismantling and construction work, certain difficulties may arise, for example, a tight fit of wooden boards to the wall. If the nail puller is difficult to put into the slot, then it will have to be hammered. With this removal, there is a risk of damaging the plaster. Sometimes you have to resort to using a drill to remove part of the floorboard. It will be possible to drive a nail puller into the resulting space.
Lag removal
It is better to entrust the dismantling of logs and concrete screeds to specialists. Removing the base of the floor is a rather complicated event that requires special technical means.
When dismantling yourself, proceed in the following order:
- Usually logs are installed on substrates, between which there is a heater. Pull out the insulation material. When removing glass wool, personal protective equipment must be used.
- To pry the lags with a crowbar or break it - depends on the deterioration of the wooden elements.
- After removing the lag, it may be necessary to dismantle the concrete screed and pour a new base.
It is necessary to assess the state of the lag. If the lags are rotten, they will have to be thrown away. In place of the old ones, it is necessary to mount new, high-quality dried wooden ones. It is important to choose precisely dried logs, which will not shrink during operation, and the floor will not warp.
If the old logs look more or less tolerable, then the wooden floor can simply be strengthened by installing additional new logs between the old elements.
Advice. To extend the life of the lag, they must be impregnated with drying oil and painted. This will protect wooden elements from moisture, fungi, mold and other microorganisms.
Dismantling the old screed
To remove the floor screed, you will need a jackhammer, puncher or the use of diamond cutting wheels. At home, where you have to work on a small scale, you can arm yourself with a hammer, chisel and sledgehammer.
The dismantling process is significantly more complicated in large areas where the screed is equipped with reinforcement. It is difficult to remove a metal mesh from cement with a chisel and hammer. A diamond wheel will do better with this slave.
The screed must first be crushed, after which it can be easily removed from the surface. The rest of the concrete is put into bags and taken out of the room. If the garbage is not planned to be taken out immediately, then the bags should be placed under cover - in case of getting wet in the rain, the concrete will become heavier and the loading process will become much more complicated.
Dismantling a concrete screed is a very dusty and noisy process. It is necessary to carry out such work in the daytime, coordinating actions with neighbors. In addition, it is necessary to follow the safety regulations and wear a respirator so that the smallest particles of construction debris do not enter the respiratory system.
Wood floor repair: squeak removal
Very often, it is the appearance of a creak that is the reason for dismantling the wooden floor and pouring the base with concrete. However, do not rush - it will be possible to solve such a problem in one of the ways.
First method. Drill a hole with a diameter of 12-16 mm in the creaking floorboard above the beam and fill it with cement diluted with water in a ratio of 1:1. After 2 days, drive a wooden pin impregnated with glue into the hole to the floor panel. After complete drying, this area should be plastered, patched, varnished or painted.
Second method. Drill a hole between the creaking boards at an angle of 45 ° with a thickness of 6-8 mm. Drive a wooden pin smeared with wood glue into the hole. Cut off the protruding part of the glazing bead with a chisel, the area to be repaired is puttied.
Third method. In apartment buildings with central heating, creaking is often caused by excessive dryness. This disadvantage can be eliminated with the help of lubrication. Ordinary talc is launched into the cracks through a rubber pear. It is necessary to act carefully so as not to spill talc on the surface of the floorboards, otherwise, after wet cleaning, white stains will remain on the floor. After processing the gap, putty.
Wooden floors are considered to be sufficiently durable and reliable coating. However, due to its hygroscopicity, wood is exposed to moisture. In summer, at elevated temperatures and humidity, it swells. And it dries up in winter. This leads to the formation of cracks between the floorboards. Over time, boards rot. Due to the furniture, dents and scratches form on the surface of the wooden floor. The paint is peeling off. Spilled chemicals leave a trail. Therefore, the coating has to be periodically restored. And what can we say about old houses in which the repair of wooden floors has not been carried out for a long time. How to start this process and what is needed for this? Here are the first two questions that confront a person who decides to renovate a wooden floor.
Where to start repairing a wood floor?
If you are repairing a wooden floor with your own hands, do not rush to get to work right away. Perhaps, in addition to those areas with damage that are clearly visible, there are hidden defects. They need to be found and eliminated. Otherwise, over time, repairs will have to be carried out again. Therefore, the first step is to conduct a comprehensive inspection of the flooring and its components. After a thorough inspection, you can decide whether the floors can be repaired or if they need to be completely replaced.
To find rotten boards, you need to walk with a hammer all over the floor. This is the only way to find a hidden defect. A dull sound indicates the presence of rot. Rusty nails in the floorboards will tell about the same. The amount of work depends on the size of the damage. The easiest way to replace the top floorboards. Subfloor boards are more difficult to replace, but not as hard as logs. To repair rotten logs, you will need to disassemble the floor above them and cut out a defective piece. Then replace it with a new one.
It is much more difficult to repair the floor in a wooden house. Here, in addition to a thorough check of the upper floorboards, the subfloor and the log, you will have to inspect the beams and embedded crowns. It is necessary to inspect from all sides: from the inside, outside, from the underground. Inspection must be carried out in good light, so as not to miss the beginning of rot. When checking underground, it is advisable to use a powerful flashlight.
Sometimes small defects in embedded beams are not visible "by eye". To find them, use an awl or a knitting needle with a sharp end. With piercing movements they pass the entire beam, checking for the presence of rotten areas. In this case, punctures are made as often as possible. Having found a damaged beam, it is replaced with a new one. Sometimes, in order to replace a beam in a wooden house, you have to raise the building with a jack.
Analysis of special situations
Old apartment buildings still have wooden floors. Their device is slightly different from the floors in private homes. If in a private building the logs are laid on the ground, then in the apartment the laying is done on concrete. Therefore, the repair of a wooden floor in an apartment is different from the repair in a private house. After removing the lag for replacement, it is necessary to clean and check the concrete base for cracks.
If a complete replacement of the floor is carried out, after dismantling and cleaning it is necessary to perform. Can be applied. After that, the base is primed and the waterproofing material is laid. Heat and sound insulating material is placed on top, and then floor boards.
Floorboard replacement
Consider a situation where only one or a few floorboards need to be replaced. Having found the damaged area of the floor, remove the rotten floorboard. According to its size, we cut out a new board. Having treated it with an antiseptic, without affecting the ends, we put it in place of the old fragment.
Advice! It is impossible to treat the ends of the board with an antiseptic. Otherwise, after a while the board will begin to rot.
Using self-tapping screws, we fix the board in place of the old one, screwing it to the lags. This is how every rotten floorboard is replaced. If a small area of rot is found on the board, you can not change the entire floorboard. It is enough to cut out only the damaged area. Using it as a template, cut a replacement out of new wood. Fasten it to the lags using self-tapping screws. In this case, the ends of the new section should reach the middle of the lag.
Sealing gaps between floorboards
Before proceeding, clean the coating. Remove excess furniture so that it does not interfere. For more thorough cleaning of crevices, use a brush with stiff bristles. In order not to miss anything after the inspection, mark all areas requiring repair. Prepare the composition for work. There are special putties for wood. But you can make the composition yourself. If you mix PVA glue with sawdust to the density of sour cream, you get an excellent putty.
After carefully treating all the cracks, leave them to dry completely. Then clean with sandpaper. This repair method is suitable for small cracks. Wide and deep cracks are eliminated differently - wooden bars are prepared for them. In length, they should correspond to the length of the slot, and in diameter they should look like a cone.
Having planted on glue with sawdust, the workpiece is driven into the slot with a sharp edge down. Excess is removed with a planer and polished. At the end of the repair, the wooden floor is varnished or painted.
Sealing a wide gap with a wooden blank
Sometimes repairing a floor in a private house comes down to eliminating minor defects, such as. As time passes, any wooden coating begins to creak. The main reason for the squeak is loose fastening. If the house has a basement, the cause of unpleasant sounds can be easily eliminated. To find out which floorboards will hold together, find a partner. While he walks on the floor, you will have to determine where the defect is.
Eliminate creaking floorboards by hammering nails
Having calculated the creaking floorboard, drive a wooden wedge into the gap between the beam and this board. Do not overdo it so that the board does not rise above the base. If it is impossible to get into the underground, repairs are made from above. Drill holes in the creaking floorboards above the beams. Secure the screws by driving them into the beams at a slight angle, changing the direction of the angle. You can fix the board with nails.
Unsightly update
It happens that the flooring does not have the above problems. The only drawback comes down to its unsightly appearance. Or after eliminating the remaining defects, it is necessary to bring the base into proper form. Any repair of old wooden floors ends with it or varnishing. But before doing this, you need to prepare the foundation. Remove old paint that does not adhere with a spatula. Wash the floor with detergent to degrease the surface.
If you are already repairing old floors according to the rules, it is advisable to sand the old coating. This will help smooth out the inconspicuous bumps and depressions. The more carefully you prepare the surface, the smoother the paint will lie. The cleaned and dried floor is primed with drying oil. After that, you need to let the floor dry and only then apply a coat of paint. Do not try to immediately paint over everything with a thick layer of paint. It is better to apply two or three layers carefully shading and allowing each to dry.
With proper care, a hardwood floor will last for decades. Wood does not like moisture, so try not to flood the floors with water when cleaning. To prevent furniture legs from scratching the surface, stick protective caps on them. Don't let your pets scratch floors with their claws or use the toilet in the wrong place. Such measures will help delay the next floor repair for a long time.
With the exception of a small percentage of secondary stock buildings with wooden floors, slab floors are used in multi-storey buildings. On the logs, either a floor covering made of grooved boards or a draft floor made of edged boards, OSB, GVL, DSP, plywood or chipboard for other linings (parquet, linoleum, PVC tiles, cork, tile, carpet and other materials) is laid.
Therefore, the repair of a wooden floor in Khrushchev can be done in a day (replacing the tongue) or delayed for several weeks (laying sound insulation, insulation, lag and subfloor under the parquet).
Due to the complex design and numerous layers of the pie, repairing a wooden floor in an apartment is diverse, time-consuming and budget-friendly. When the appearance is lost, the surface of the grooved board is cleaned of the existing layer of paintwork materials, painted in several layers to give the necessary aesthetics of perception.
In all other cases, partial or complete disassembly of the coating or subfloor becomes inevitable. To simplify the search for the reasons for the decrease in the operational properties of the structure, layer-by-layer dismantling is usually practiced:
Any structural element (floorboard, log or self-tapping screw) can become the cause of a creak when the mutual fixation with another part of the floor is weakened. Therefore, various methods are used to eliminate creaking - from filling the cracks in the floorboards with talcum powder to replacing the logs or screwing all the boards to the logs at an angle of 45 - 60 degrees in new places.
The causes of creaking are the wear of the elements of the wooden floor.
Advice! During the initial laying of a tongue-and-groove board as a floor covering, only the first, every fourth and last rows of material are rigidly attached to the joists. After drying, after 3-12 months, the floorboards are re-tightened with jacks, clamps or other tools. This operation is not a floor repair, it refers to the maintenance of the coating.
Repair Technology
During the operation of a multilayer structure, the repair of wooden floors in an apartment becomes necessary when defects are detected by ear and visually obvious, which sharply reduce the comfort of living. In other words, they walk on the flooring until they get tired of the creak, or the user's leg fails.
A preventive revision is not economically viable, since for this it is necessary to take out all the furniture, dismantle the plinth, all or most of the floorboards. Repair is carried out as the structure is dismantled, depending on its complexity, special technologies are used:
Important! After the revision of the floorboards, boards unsuitable for further use are rejected. Or defective areas are cut out of them (rot, fungus, mold, warping, flying through knots).
Removing a squeak
In Soviet times, the exploitation of wooden floors in Khrushchev and Brezhnevka was practiced. The logs were laid on glassine, leveled with wooden wedges. The tongue-and-groove board was pulled together once - during the finishing of the rooms, users were usually not warned that the floorboards needed to be pulled together after drying again.
The reason for the creak is the weakening of the mutual fixation of two or more structural elements. Under load from the traffic of residents, they bend, make characteristic sounds.
To eliminate the squeak, the following algorithm of actions is usually used:
- identifying a creaking area by ear, outlining it with chalk;
- checking the presence of a fastener (nail or self-tapping screw);
- existing nails can be driven into the wood with a punch;
- with a self-tapping screw with a full thread, the floorboard is fixed in any convenient position relative to the log bar;
- with an incompletely threaded self-tapping screw, two wooden floor elements can be pressed tightly against each other, including if the hole in the floorboard has expanded over time;
- a polymer wedge is driven under the log hanging above the floor slab;
- upon detection of rotten, turned into dust sections of lumber, they are cut out, the timber / board is built up with new pieces treated with an antiseptic.
Boards in rows located far from the walls are very difficult to dismantle without destroying the interlock. Therefore, their spatial geometry and relative position relative to the floorboards in adjacent rows are regulated by longitudinal wedges:
- the wedge is cut from long wood chips;
- driven between rows of floorboards;
- prevents sagging, eliminates creaking;
- sanded flush with the surface of the floorboards.
After that, local staining of the defective area is performed or the floors are completely repainted.
Replacing the grooved board
In dry rooms, a complete replacement of the floor covering is usually carried out, since the wear of the boards is the same here. In rooms with high humidity and an abundance of cold water, sewage, hot water communications, the restoration of individual areas affected by mold, fungus or rot due to pipeline leaks is more often used. In this case, it is necessary to take into account the following factors:
- logs and the condition of the screed should be carefully examined;
- if the condition of these structural elements is unsatisfactory, the overhaul of the coating will cost less, since the operational life of the renovated area will be much higher than that of the existing floorboards, which will also soon have to be changed;
- the grooved board is laid according to the standard technology (fastening to the logs of each 4 rows), after 4 - 12 months, the flooring must be pulled together again with fixation to the logs of each row of boards;
- the plinth is attached exclusively to the walls to ensure high maintainability of the coating and mobility during the linear expansion of wood (about 0.15% for dry lumber).
Important! The height of the groove / crest of modern lumber may not match the similar locks of the exploited sheet pile, produced during the Soviet era.
Therefore, the flooring restoration technology is used according to the scheme:
Advice! It is forbidden to use gaskets between the joists and floorboards of the finished floor, since it is these details that cause creaking in the future. Plastic wedges should be laid under the logs, control the upper plane of the bars from which they are made.
Subfloor replacement
When renovating an old wood floor, it may be necessary to replace the worn out subfloor. With a lag step that satisfies the operational loads, these elements remain in place, only the black flooring is dismantled and replaced with a new one.
Depending on the finishing floor covering, materials can be used:
Works are carried out according to standard technologies with the provision of natural ventilation in the underground space.
Log replacement
If the wooden flooring does not have visual defects, but its surface is uneven, there are creaks and other factors that reduce the quality of living, you will have to dismantle the parquet or tongue and groove board completely to provide access to the bars on which the flooring is attached.
Before repairing the logs, the screed should be revised, it is possible to replace the insulation, waterproofing and acoustic materials. In Soviet times, expanded clay or sawdust served as a heater, these materials are less effective than polystyrene foam, ecowool, and basalt heat insulator. Therefore, they are collected in bags and disposed of.
Log replacement is carried out according to the technology:
- beating the horizontal with a laser plane builder to find the top point;
- drawing a horizontal line on the walls at an arbitrary height;
- laying timber near the walls, taking into account the horizontal level.
Logs can be mounted on polymer wedges or special adjustable bolts (adjustable floor system). The bar must be securely fixed to the floor slab (screed) with anchors to prevent creaking and movement during operation. Therefore, when using wedges, long anchors are used; in adjustable floor systems, the stability of the spatial geometry of the structure is ensured by metal studs:
- they pass through the bar;
- attached to the base;
- adjustable in height with a nut, positioning the logs at the required level;
- the studs are cut flush with the grinder after alignment in a single horizontal plane of all the logs inside the room.
Advice! The logs have a certain thickness, therefore, in the wooden floors (rough and finish), by default, an underground space appears in which it is necessary to provide natural ventilation. To do this, it is necessary to make cuts in the logs, and in the corners of the room, install the gratings diagonally into the flooring of the subfloor and floor covering.
Insulating materials
Despite the fact that the wooden floor in the apartment has soundproofing properties and reduces heat loss, additional installation of insulating materials is often required. Their relative position in the wooden floor cake is as follows:
- noise-absorbing materials - always fit on a screed or floor slab to cut off structural noise from the lower apartment;
- insulation - located on top of the acoustic material, the thickness is selected depending on the specific operating conditions;
- vapor barrier - preferably a membrane laid on top of the thermal insulation under the subfloor boards or wooden flooring to protect the insulation from getting wet by humid air vapor from the room;
- waterproofing - applied by gluing or coating on a screed or floor slab, in wet rooms the second layer of waterproofing is made on top of a wooden floor before laying moisture-resistant linings (protection against sewer leaks, water pipes).
Wooden floor pie in the apartment.
Advice! The presence of all the specified insulating layers is not a prerequisite. For example, the thickness of the floor slab may be sufficient for the concrete to completely exclude the penetration of airborne noise. In this case, you can do without soundproofing material.
Paintwork
Floor painting refers to cosmetic repairs. Before painting, the following work is done:
Wood floor color options.
After that, the repaired floor is painted in several layers.
Looping and grinding
While maintaining the bearing capacity of the wooden floor elements, it may be necessary to restore its flatness for a number of reasons:
- the boards have dried up and warped over time;
- gaps formed between the floorboards;
- sheet pile "curved like a hump" in cross section;
- in some areas of the board sank.
With a sufficient thickness of the tongue or parquet, these defects can be corrected without major repairs by grinding or sanding. Scraping equipment is expensive, it is rarely needed, so it is more reasonable to rent this equipment for the period of repair.
Grinding tongue with a belt machine.
Grinding does not require high qualifications, the necessary skills are acquired after processing 2 - 3 m² of flooring. The scraper is more difficult to use, so it is easier to order a service from qualified specialists.
Thus, when operating a wooden floor in an apartment, repairs are available to the home master on their own. The easiest way is to level the plane of the floor, get rid of the squeak of the floorboards and paint the surface. Overhaul and replacement of logs, floorboards will cost more and take more time.
Advice! If you need repairmen, there is a very convenient service for their selection. Just send in the form below a detailed description of the work to be done and you will receive offers with prices from construction teams and firms by mail. You can see reviews of each of them and photos with examples of work. It's FREE and there's no obligation.
Not always the replacement of flooring is justified financially and technically. Firstly, laying is usually carried out by capital fixation, and it will be problematic to remove the floorboards without breaking them. Secondly, wood, with the right choice and processing, is able to "lie" for a long time. Repairing a wooden floor without dismantling in this case will be the only way out of the situation.
Causes of cracking and places where defects appear
The main problem of a wooden floor is the time costs that affect the integrity of the wood. Floors laid out in compliance with the technology, but not dried to the required state, will crack over time. Such a defect can be corrected without dismantling.
The second problem may be the delamination of wood in places where the annual rings are drawn. In this case, surface grinding helps, followed by treatment with penetrating compounds.
Another disadvantage is the divergence of the floorboards. It is also associated with wood shrinkage. There is a problem at the junction of the boards. And in this regard, it will be impossible to repair a wooden floor without dismantling.
As a rule, the latter problem is identified due to improper installation of a wooden floor. Many resort to repairs, opening the flooring and changing the array of boards, or fitting old elements tighter.
Options for repairing a wooden floor without dismantling - sanding boards
The easiest option for correcting minor defects in the form of cracks that appear after wood shrinkage is surface grinding. To do this, you need an electric machine. Manually, it will be very difficult to do the manipulations.
The repair process is as follows:
- first, you need to put a large sandpaper on the machine and process the surface of the boards with it;
- then all the dust is removed with a vacuum cleaner, and the process is repeated, only with a “sandpaper” of a fine fraction.
In this way, minor flaws can be corrected without dismantling the flooring. The shavings produced by sanding will clog the cracks, and all you have to do is clean the floor surface, varnish it or paint it.
Repair of cracks with putty on wood
If the cracks in the floorboards are large, it is possible to repair the flooring with putty without dismantling the boards. In specialized stores, you can find a wide variety of formulations.
Before use, the floor surface is prepared for repair. Dirt, dust is removed, polishing is carried out. It would be better to “walk” with a grinder with fine sandpaper.
After cleaning, the surface is vacuumed. Problem areas are cleaned with a chisel. It is necessary to widen small cracks a little so that the putty “holds” better in them. The work is laborious, but still the process is more gentle than dismantling the old floor and replacing it.
Putty is applied in several approaches. First, the surface layer is smeared, then, after the mixture has hardened, it is necessary to process the cracks again. When the material dries, the surface is sanded and treated with paint or varnish.
To seal small cracks, you can prepare putty yourself. For this you will need:
- 1 liter of water;
- 0.25 kg of wood glue;
- small sawdust.
The water is slightly heated, gradually adding all the ingredients in portions to it. When the mixture takes the form of a thick putty, it can be used to close up problem areas.
Filling large gaps
If large gaps have formed in the boards due to wear, they can be repaired without dismantling by cutting planks of the appropriate size. Take a piece of wood. According to the length of the gap, a plank is cut out, tapering downwards. If necessary, the insert is worked out locally.
Then, having lubricated the insert with PVA glue, it is applied to the gap, and hammered with a mallet until it stops. If the element protrudes above the surface, the board is sanded and treated with penetrating compounds.
In the same way, round potholes in the wooden floor are repaired. Usually these are manifestations of low-quality material. Knotty places can also be repaired.
To eliminate such defects without dismantling, you need to drill the affected area and sharpen a wedge made of wood. Then, smearing the end with glue, hammer it all the way into the floorboard. The protruding part is cut off with a hacksaw. Next, grinding is carried out, and processing with repair compounds.
When is array rewriting required?
Without dismantling, the repair of the wooden floor will not be possible if large potholes have formed on the surface, or the board is noticeably twisted due to cyclic temperature changes. But such a manifestation can only be observed in rooms that are not heated in winter.
Creaks when walking, deflections between the lags - all this suggests that a major overhaul of the floor is necessary, with the dismantling of the flooring. With the proper approach, it will be possible to remove the array, and, having processed it, put it again, fitting it closer to each other.
Floors traditionally experience the greatest mechanical stress. It is not surprising that sooner or later any floor covering needs to be repaired. First of all, all the requirements of the technology should be observed, it does not matter if it is a major overhaul of a wooden floor or a cosmetic “patching” of a concrete screed.
Repair types
New buildings do not particularly need repair of floors, which cannot be said about houses that are more than 10 years old.
Floor repair options can be very different, the most common are:
- Cosmetic floor repair.
- Capital repairs.
The first type of repair is a partial replacement of boards if the floor is wooden. This may be the restoration of fragments of the floor in the apartment. Similar operations can be done even with the furniture in the room, they are simple, anyone can perform them.
If the floors need to be redone completely, the repair is done overhaul.
From the premises without fail:
- all items are removed;
- boards are dismantled;
- lags are removed, dust and dirt are removed;
- cut off the old waterproofing.
The easiest way to carry out such work is in a panel house, when a floor slab is located below the old logs. The task in this case: having removed all the wooden structures and the old waterproofing, go to the interfloor reinforced concrete slab.
After the floors are dismantled, all wooden elements are checked, material is prepared from new boards and timber, which will replace boards and logs that have become unusable.
Then the whole process starts in reverse order:
- new waterproofing is covered;
- logs are mounted;
- pre-prepared boards are put in place.
If there are gaps between the boards, they are plugged with chips, which are pre-coated with PVA glue. The remains of the chips are cut off with a chisel, the floor is processed with a grinder. Separate areas are manually rubbed with sandpaper.
Then the garbage is removed, the floor surface is varnished in 2-3 layers. Each layer must dry for a certain amount of time.
There is a screed on the floors in the toilet and bathroom. If a cosmetic repair of the floor is required, then the cracks in the screed are embroidered and sealed with a cement or gypsum-based starting mortar.
During the overhaul, the entire screed is removed using a perforator; metal guides, "beacons" (using a level) are installed, a new screed is poured. You can do such simple work with your own hands; great construction qualifications are not required here.
Definition of defects
The floors in the house are always subject to special requirements, they must comply with the following standards:
- sanitary;
- operational;
- aesthetic;
- constructive.
It is important to check the floors in time, this will make it possible to promptly eliminate the defects that have arisen:
- damage to the layer of varnish and paint;
- clogging of cracks and ventilation holes;
- abrasion and decay of boards;
- floor subsidence,
- cracking of the material;
- cracks and chips;
- shrinkage and brittleness.
If the floor is a curve, then you can immediately determine without special tools that the logs under the boards have become unusable, they should be changed.
When the floor sways - this indicates that the lags are badly damaged, in this case it follows:
- dismantling the boards, check them;
- removing the old lags, put new ones in their place.
The ultimate goal of do-it-yourself floor repair is to remove all defects. When installing a new floor, it is important to take into account that there is natural air exchange between the ceilings and joists, its presence will ensure that the floor lasts a long time and does not deteriorate from the inside.
The floors of the first floors are most at risk, they experience increased vibration. With poor waterproofing, the inside of the floor is covered with mold, within a few years, wooden structures become completely unusable.
In a wooden house, such problems are quite common, so it is necessary to do a routine inspection and tap the boards at least once a year. If the sound is heard too dull during impacts, then this indicates that there is a cavity in the tree: a section of the board or beam has become unusable. If gaps of more than three millimeters appeared between the boards, then this is a sure sign that the floor is deformed, the logs are damaged, measures should be taken.
In the "Khrushchev" and panel houses built in the 70s of the last century, one can often observe the lag of synthetic slabs from the floor. The reason is the accumulated dust and dirt that falls on the concrete base; provokes a similar phenomenon very often the presence of high humidity.
Warping of the corners of synthetic tiles is also not uncommon. This is explained by the fact that the floor is traditionally a zone of increased mechanical loads. Sooner or later, the material begins to crumble, wear out and deteriorate.
Also, the cause of defects on the floor surface can be:
- rearrangement of furniture;
- falling on the floor of heavy metal objects;
- high humidity in the room.
Identifying damaged areas is not difficult. You should take a hammer, knock on the screed. If a dull sound occurs, then this is a sure sign: there is a cavity in this place.
How to replace floors?
The easiest way is to re-lay wooden floors in Khrushchev when it is necessary to replace some boards or logs. It takes a short time, just a few days.
There are floor repairs on a larger scale when necessary:
- remove linoleum and the entire screed (if the floor is concrete);
- remove boards, logs and waterproofing;
- knock down the tiles and remove the old screed.
You can change wooden floors with your own hands, sometimes the amount of work is large, so you need to invite assistants.
Any floor resembles a layer cake in its design; technological requirements include the installation of:
- thermal insulation;
- waterproofing.
The main amount of work is the dismantling of the old floor, which is gradually dismantled. Premises with wooden floors, located on the ground floor, suffer more than others from high humidity.
The lag replacement itself occurs according to the following algorithm:
- using the water level is the top point horizontally;
- markings are made;
- a beam is fixed along the wall according to the marked markings;
- logs are mounted on polymer wedges or special screwed bolts;
- the beam is fixed in the screed using anchors;
- studs are passed through the beam and fixed to the base;
- in the future, the height can be adjusted using a nut, which makes it possible to position the logs at the desired level;
- the rest of the studs are cut off.
A space is naturally formed between the boards and the floor, which is due to the height of the lag; it must be properly ventilated. Cuts are made in the logs for this case, which provide the necessary air supply.
Removing the old coating
If the repair takes place in a new building, then the dismantling of the floor is not needed, most of the apartments in our time are rented by builders without finishing. If there is a question about putting the floor in order in an old house, then removing the floor is a paramount task.
Most questions arise regarding the plank floor.
Defects that occur on such a coating:
- rotting of the lag board;
- damage to insulation and waterproofing.
Dismantling material such as linoleum is the easiest task. First of all, you should remove the baseboards, under which the edges of the old coating are located. By fixing the edge, you can remove the linoleum or carpet in a matter of minutes. The remains of the old glue are scraped off with a chisel. The remains of linoleum are removed using a spatula, sometimes acetone or another solvent is used.
Parquet is also easy to dismantle with a nail puller and a hammer.
Dismantling the tiles is a more complicated operation: the adhesive composition on which the tiles are attached is very durable. In a hardware store, you can rent a small hammer drill and clean the plane of the dried residues of tile adhesive.
- mask;
- gloves;
- glasses;
- respirator.
Using a perforator, any screed is disassembled.
Evaluation and preparation of the foundation
Preparing the base of any floor is an important step; the durability of the coating depends on how high-quality the base will be. The most inexpensive and durable base is a concrete screed, which is done if there are differences of more than 1 cm in a standard room of 4 x 5 meters.
Causes:
- is inexpensive;
- has good strength.
The preparation of a concrete base has its own characteristics. The plate must be completely cleaned of dirt and deposits, for this a grinder is used. Recesses and cracks are sealed with starting putty.
Required tools:
- Grinder;
- industrial vacuum cleaner;
- perforator.
Then waterproofing, roofing material and plastic wrap are placed. The film is sold in rolls, so its strips are usually 1.5 - 2 meters wide. The strips must be overlapped with a gap of 12 cm. Then the joints are glued with adhesive tape or damper tape.
Metal guides, "beacons" are mounted, while water and two-meter levels are used. The technology for installing beacons is simple, but it requires concentration; if the guides are set incorrectly, the floor will be crooked.
A cement-sand mixture is being prepared, which can be bought at a hardware store.
The grade of cement in this case must be at least 200. The moisture content of the mixture is permissible no more than 4%. The mixture is poured under the upper level of the lighthouses.
Important details:
- the distance between the beacons does not exceed two meters;
- beacons must be placed using a two-meter level;
- during the drying period of the screed (no more than 5 days), it is covered with a PVC film;
- work can be carried out at a temperature not lower than five degrees Celsius.
When preparing a wooden floor base, it is often necessary to replace beams that have served their time. aBefore applying, for example, a self-leveling floor, the wooden coating must be necessarily rough.
For these purposes, it is used:
- sandpaper;
- chisel.
Floor height differences when laying laminate should not exceed two millimeters, based on 2 x 2 meters of area
The base of the floor is often made of wood boards:
- gypsum fiber;
- gypsum concrete.
In terms of strength, these materials do not meet the requirements, they are subject to excessive deformation. It is much more rational to install slabs made of expanded clay concrete.
When installing parquet, the moisture content of the base should be no more than five percent.
Mounting
To cover the floor, you need a rather large amount of money, if you do this work yourself, you will be able to save money.
First you need to prepare:
- buy a cement-based screed mixture at any hardware store;
- purchase waterproofing in rolls;
- prepare the necessary tools and containers.
You can make a mixture for the screed yourself, for this you will need:
- sifted sand - 4 shares;
- cement 400 - 1 share.
Water is added to the dry mixture in small portions, the substance is mixed. After the completion of the pouring of the screed, a pause is taken for three days.
Almost any coating can be laid on the finished screed:
- tiles;
- parquet;
- linoleum;
- cork;
- wooden floor (if you put pre-logs).
The most popular wood materials are:
- parquet;
- batten.
Wood is now the most popular type of flooring, no modern materials can replace it.
After the old boards are removed, the logs should be checked - if they are rotten, then they must be replaced. Expanded clay should be poured between the lags or grooves should be laid with foam plastic, technical wool.
After the insulation is laid, a screed is made. When everything is ready, you can lay the boards. The main condition for the installation of wooden boards: they should not touch, at the same time, the gaps between them should not exceed two millimeters. The installation process starts from the opposite wall from the door. After the flooring is done, you should start surface treatment with a scraper machine.
Then painting begins, it is used in this case:
- dye;
- primer;
- stain;
Installation of the floor is technically not particularly difficult, while it is important to strictly follow all the requirements of the technology.
How to raise?
To raise the floor to a level of 15-20 centimeters, it will be necessary to set the logs to a given height. You can do this work yourself. The beams are attached to the concrete with special anchors. The distance between the guides is made from 50 to 100 cm. All the bars are set relative to the marks that are made using the water level.
After the bars are installed, they should be checked with a two-meter level.
It is never possible to place the bars perfectly right away, they will have to be adjusted in height with the help of chips and planks. The error is permissible no more than 5 millimeters between different corners of a room of 20 square meters. m.
After installing the bars, floor insulation begins: technical wool or polystyrene is laid in the cavity between the structures. Expanded clay is also an effective and inexpensive tool, which is often impregnated with a liquid cement mortar, which will only improve its thermal insulation performance.
On the logs, the floor can be raised to the desired height, modern apartments are now being made with high ceilings, there will be enough “space for maneuvering”.
You can lay sheets of chipboard or boards. Be sure to leave a gap of 1-2 mm, otherwise a creak will be heard when walking.
It is important to maintain air exchange in the space between the screed and the boards, this will be insurance against the appearance of excessive condensate in these areas. Along the perimeter of the walls, it is required to close up all the seams and cracks; for this, mounting foam is usually used.
How to repair the rough coating?
When buying apartments in new buildings, you can often come across the concept: rough finish. Housing with a rough finish is cheaper by 20 percent, so additional funds are needed to equip the apartment.
Rough finishing is directly related to construction technology. The most “difficult” in this regard are apartments that are made for state employees or under a mortgage.
Things are better with monolithic houses; in such buildings, questions usually arise about the floors in the bathroom and in the kitchen. A rough finish is needed, a new house always shrinks, so you should wait a year, only then do a “finishing” repair.
It often happens that the house settles unevenly, in which case the appearance of gaps between the plates is inevitable. Before making a rough screed, waterproofing and insulation should be laid.
The rough floor in private houses is the basis for the final coating. The most common is the draft floor on the logs. Logs are made of timber, installed in specially prepared recesses of the crowns. The distance between them and the wall is no more than three millimeters. If the logs are too long, then they are strengthened from below with columns made of bricks. The step between the lags does not exceed 50 cm.