Instructions for laying plywood on a concrete floor. Plywood for laminate - the perfect way to level the floor How to level the floor under the laminate with plywood

Plywood is considered a durable material that can handle any load. Therefore, it is used not only for leveling floors, but also for all other surfaces in the room - these are walls, partitions and ceilings. Read the Concrete Floor Installation Guide.

Plywood characteristics

Plywood has the following characteristics:

• high strength;
• tolerance and resistance to moisture;
• long service life;
• resistance to various external influences;
• has good sound insulation;
• able to retain and save heat;
• provides a robust design.

Laying

Most experts say that it is desirable to lay any laminate on a wooden floor. A concrete base in this case is not desirable. According to professionals, the most optimal option for flooring under a laminate is plywood.

Plywood allows you to perfectly level the floor surface, improve the shock-absorbing and insulating functions of the laminate flooring, and also help to increase the life of the flooring. Before directly laying plywood on a concrete floor, prepare the surface:

• remove all irregularities on the concrete floor, clean them;
• sweep or vacuum the floor;
• any depressions or cracks in the concrete floor are repaired with a primer.

The plywood itself is placed on a concrete floor, subject to certain rules:

• special plywood for laminate in the form of squares is sold, it is desirable to purchase it;
• cut the selected plywood into four equal parts, so that in the future it will be possible to avoid various deformations of the floor;
• gaps must be left of the recommended width, but not less than 5 mm. Experts recommend strictly following this recommendation;
• it is recommended to choose a water-dispersion adhesive based on PVA or a two-component adhesive, it is necessary to strengthen the concrete screed under the plywood. After gluing, plywood sheets must be fixed with self-tapping screws;
• care should be taken to ensure that the entire space under the plywood is filled with glue. To accurately determine this, you can knock on plywood - if the sound is deaf, then the sizing is done with high quality. Instructions on how to properly lay the laminate here:.

• First of all, you should pay attention to the thickness of the plates. For a concrete floor, plywood with a minimum thickness of 12-15 mm should be chosen. It is the thickness of the plywood sheets that determines the reliability of the base for linoleum;
• before direct laying, plywood is checked for deflection under the weight of a person. If you stand on a sheet of plywood, and even bend a little, then you should choose thicker plywood boards or additionally install support logs;
• plywood must be dried before laying under linoleum. And also it should be treated with plywood sheets with an antiseptic and an agent that protects against moisture.

• installation of a concrete screed to level the floor. A cement mixture is applied to the original base of the floor, which is carefully leveled. It is worth noting that this mixture will take a long time to dry. Professionals recommend letting the concrete screed dry for about 45 days.
• after the cement mixture has completely dried, a layer of waterproofing is applied to the surface in the form of a standard polyethylene film, which is fixed with adhesive tape at the joints. Read.;
• Next, you should start cutting plywood. As a rule, sheets of plywood are stacked on the principle of "bricks" in order to avoid four seams at one point;
• plywood sawn into sheets is sanded to get rid of various irregularities. Next, the surface of the plywood is primed with glue-mastic;
• further, adhesive mastic is applied to the concrete surface, and plywood sheets are laid on top in the manner indicated above. Plus, plywood will need to be fixed to the base with dowels and self-tapping screws;
• the last step is sanding the plywood to get a perfectly even finish. As a rule, a standard tool with coarse sandpaper is used for grinding.

alignment

Leveling a concrete floor with plywood without a log is quite simple. There are two ways:

1. On glue - this method is described earlier.
2. Adjustable plywood - this method consists in fixing plywood with nuts and washers. Holes are drilled in plywood sheets according to a pre-prepared scheme. Then the sheet is applied to the concrete floor surface and holes in the floor are made through the holes in the plywood. Next, nuts with washers are inserted into these holes and fixed at a certain height, the remains of the rods above the surface must be cut off. It should be noted that with this method, plywood is laid in two layers. The second layer is laid with an overlap method. An important point is the thickness of plywood for a concrete floor without a lag - depending on what kind of flooring material is planned to be laid on plywood. On average, the thickness should be 10-15 mm. Read.

The cost of laying plywood on a concrete floor

Updated: 03/21/2019

The base for the laminate must be perfectly flat, otherwise, during operation, the panels will begin to creak and bend, the locks will loosen. There are several ways to level the floor under the laminate, the choice of which depends on the type of base, its degree of deterioration, time constraints and finances.

It is advisable to level a wooden floor only if both the boards and the logs are in good condition, there are no rotten areas, wide cracks and other similar defects. If serious repairs are required, it is much easier to dismantle the floors to a rough screed and level them on concrete.

To prepare a wooden floor for laying a laminate, you will need:

• grinding or scraping machine;
• wood putty;
• roller and brushes;
• primer;
• plywood sheets, cement-bonded particle boards, GVL or chipboard;
• jigsaw;
• roulette;
• screws and screwdriver.

First, the floor surface is carefully sanded or treated with a scraper machine.

Chips and dust are removed, all minor defects are sealed with putty. Next, the base is primed twice, dried, plywood or other selected material is laid. Self-tapping screws are used for fastening, and cutting of the material is performed with an electric jigsaw. Now it remains only to properly lay the flooring.

Leveling the concrete floor

Sanding is the easiest and cheapest way to level a concrete floor. If the concrete base does not have cracks, and the differences in height are not more than 5 mm, the surface is simply processed using a grinder or a grinder with a nozzle.

Then the floor is cleaned with a vacuum cleaner and primed. This option is not suitable for heavily damaged screeds, poor quality concrete and damp floors. Under such conditions, leveling is carried out using a dry or cement-sand screed, as well as ready-made leveling mixtures.

Leveling the floor with a self-leveling compound

Cement-sand screed

For work you will need:

• water and building level;
• solution container;
• cement;
• sand;
• rule;
• slats for lighthouses;
• trowel.

A new screed can be poured onto the previous one or directly onto the floor slabs. It depends on how badly the base is damaged. If the old screed has irregularities of more than 2 cm, but is strong, it is not necessary to dismantle it. Having decided on the base, proceed directly to leveling the surface.

1. Find the highest point of the floor and put marks on the walls using the water level; the marks are connected in a horizontal line with the help of a beating.
2. The floor is cleaned of dust and debris, a layer of waterproofing is laid, a reinforcing mesh, beacons are placed from metal slats on cement mortar. The distance between the beacons is about 1.5-1.8 m.

   Installation of beacons. In the photo, the floor is waterproofed, but reinforcement was not performed

   Reinforcement of the floor with a mesh. Lighthouses can be fixed with gypsum or alabaster quick-drying mortars

3. Check the horizontalness of the rails with a building level.
4. Cement is mixed with sand in a ratio of 1: 3, diluted with water to a paste-like consistency.
5. The mixture is poured between the beacons, starting from the far wall, and stretched along the strips with the rule.

A day later, the lighthouses are carefully removed from the concrete, a little cement mortar is kneaded, and the grooves formed are filled with it. Level the surface with a spatula, if necessary, overwrite small cracks, and then cover the floor with a film. Within 28 days, the screed should be protected from drafts, direct sunlight and moistened regularly. As soon as the moisture content of the concrete drops to 5%, you can lay the substrate and lay the laminate.

Dry screed

For dry screeding you will need:

• level;
• slats for lighthouses;
• damper tape;
• GVL or plywood;
• glue, screws;
• expanded clay;
• waterproofing film.

The base is pre-cleaned of debris and the cracks are sealed with a solution, the surface is primed. When the floor is dry, work begins on the screed device.

1. On the walls mark the level of the finishing floor.
2. The base is covered with waterproofing material, overlapping adjacent strips.
3. With the help of a solution, beacon rails are fixed on the floor, their horizontalness is checked.
4. A damper tape is glued around the perimeter along the marking line.
5. The space between the beacons is filled with expanded clay, which is leveled using the rule.
6. Gypsum-fiber sheets are laid on top of expanded clay, tightly joined at the seams.
7. Having laid the first layer, proceed to the second: the sheets are covered on the reverse side with glue and laid so as to overlap the joints of the lower layer.
8. Finally, the top sheets are connected to the bottom screws.

Prefabricated dry screed

Quite often, the floor under the laminate is leveled using the dry prefabricated screed - on the logs. In this case, the presence of bulk materials is not mandatory; they are used only when insulation is needed.

For alignment you will need:

• level;
• roulette;
• hacksaw;
• perforator;
• dowels;
• logs from a bar;
• Chipboard, plywood or GVL;
• waterproofing material;
• damper tape.

First you need to determine the level of the finished floor and make markings on the walls. If the base is absolutely dry, you can do without a waterproofing layer, but with high humidity of the screed, it is mandatory.

1. The film is overlapped, slightly wound onto the walls, the edges of the material at the joints are glued with adhesive tape for reliability.
2. Logs, pre-treated with a primer, are laid on the floor, leveled horizontally with wedges or pieces of wood. The lags are screwed to the screed with anchor bolts or with dowels, drilling holes with a perforator.
3. Sheets of sheathing - chipboard, plywood, GVL are screwed onto the logs from above with self-tapping screws in one or two layers.
4. The seams between the sheets are sealed with putty, and after drying they are polished.

alignment

This leveling method cannot be called cheap, but it is he who has the greatest advantages. The mixture is poured quickly and does not require much physical effort; the surface also dries much faster than a wet screed. Such mixtures are used on rough bases with differences in height up to 5 mm.

The base is cleaned and the highest point is determined. With the help of a level gauge, marks are made on the walls with a marker, to which the floor should be poured. Next, the surface is primed and dried. If the concrete is not of the best quality, the primer is applied in two layers. After drying, a film is laid on the floor with an overlap on the walls. Now comes the most crucial moment - the preparation of the mixture. It is necessary to dilute the dry mixture with water in exactly the specified proportions, and only mechanically. Incorrect ratio of water and dry components or mixing by hand will lead to delamination of the leveling mixture, the appearance of bubbles, and a decrease in the strength of the coating.

If the area is large, the solution for pouring is prepared in portions in order to have time to use it before hardening. Pour the floor in sections, starting from the far corner. For leveling, a special spatula is used - a doctor blade, and then the mixture is rolled out with a roller with needles. Adjacent areas should be poured at intervals of no more than 10 minutes. After pouring, the floor is covered with a film and left for at least 3 days. During the drying of the polymer, temperature fluctuations, drafts, mechanical loads and vibrations must be excluded.

Table. Self-levelling compounds

All of these methods allow you to create the most even base for the laminate. If the technology is followed during leveling, such a floor will not require major repairs for 10-15 years.

Video - Leveling the floor under the laminate

Video - Leveling the floor under the laminate with a combined screed

Builders know different ways of arranging the base for the floor finish. In order for the decorative material to lie perfectly, look aesthetically pleasing, an absolutely even rough surface is required. If it is made of boards in the house, then perhaps the most effective would be to level the wooden floor with plywood.

Plywood sheets are thin plywood. It is made from different types of wood, mainly from pine. Sometimes birch is used. They are the most budget-friendly options for creating recycled products.

When using plywood as a leveling base for laminate, preference should be given to birch products. They are lighter, softer, more pliable in processing.

Plywood differs in several parameters:

• brand;
• class;
• sort;
• humidity;
• the number of layers;
• dimensions.

Under the laminate, linoleum choose pressed sheets of a certain category:

1. FOF - products with low moisture resistance;
2. FC - material with medium resistance to moisture;
3. FSF is moisture-resistant plywood, the production of which uses a special adhesive composition that securely fixes layers that do not form voids.

Pressed wooden products come in 4 grades, determined by the number of defects. The best are first-class sheets that do not have any flaws (knots, chips, cracks, etc.). But for rough flooring, plywood of 3-4 grades with a significant number of defects is suitable.

Attention! To level the baseunder the laminatechoose birch plywood FC 3 grades. Its advantages are high strength and low cost.

When choosing plywood by thickness, it is worth stopping at 12-16 mm sheets. They will not bend, they will lie flat and stick tightly to the lags due to their weight. Such products have special strength, resistance to stress, durability. The thickness of plywood is determined by the number of layers. Their total number is always odd. Plywood 12 mm has 9 layers. When pressed, the veneer is placed perpendicular to each other to increase strength.

Plywood sheets have certain dimensions. The parameters of length and width only affect the transportation and ease of installation of products. Actually, they do not affect the technical characteristics of the base.

Attention! Plywood is afraid of high humidity. Before stylingunder the laminateit is stored in dry ventilated rooms. This will save the sheets from bending, they will not warp.

When buying pressed wood leveling floors, pay attention to manufacturers. Preference should be given to domestic or European factories. They produce quality materials.

If the work on the device of the plywood base is carried out independently, you need to acquire a set of tools. They will help you get the job done right and as conveniently as possible. The list of tools includes:

• construction level;
• metalwork hammer (mallet);
• electric screwdriver;
• jigsaw;
• drill;
• self-tapping screws;

measuring fixtures:

• ruler,
• roulette.

It is important to master the skills of working with these devices and devices.

Plywood can have several options. It is laid on logs or old, but in good condition floorboards. The first method involves the installation of noise or thermal insulation.

Ground preparation according to the first option

In any log house, the floors are laid on logs: wooden beams laid at the stage of erecting the first crown of walls.

1. Subsequently, a rough floor is placed on these supports. For him, substandard boards are used.
2. When installing thermal insulation on the first layer of the base, slats are stuffed in increments of 40-50 cm (they are guided by the dimensions of the insulation).
3. This structure is covered with a waterproofing sheet without tension.
4. In the gaps between the slats, mats (rolls) of mineral or basalt wool are freely placed. In some cases, bulk materials are used, for example, expanded clay. It serves as excellent sound insulation.
5. A vapor barrier material is placed on top of the constructed structure, lightly pinned to the rails.

After that, plywood is laid to finally level the floors. Such a base under the laminate is durable and reliable, has additional comfort conditions.

Foundation preparation: option 2

If the floorboards in the house are mostly well preserved, some defects that can prevent the proper installation and operation of the laminate can be easily eliminated. Enough to do a few things.

1. All protruding nail heads are sunk deep into the wood with a hammer.
2. The plinth around the entire perimeter of the room is removed.
3. Cracks and joints between the boards are not sealed. The plywood leveling the floor will hide them.

If it is necessary to make thermal insulation, they proceed according to the first option for preparing the base. However, in this case, it can turn into a waste of money. After the construction of the entire structure, a multilayer coating is obtained, which is not blown through, does not cool down due to the arrangement of materials perpendicular to each other. The plywood base retains heat well and it itself is comfortable for human feet, since it is made of natural wood.

Laying plywood under laminate

Plywood– flat material with an ideal surface. The dimensions of the sheets allow you to close the subfloor in the shortest possible time. For beginners, this is the most convenient way to build the perfect base for laminate flooring. How to align the base of pressed materials correctly?

1. With the help of the level, differences in heights are compared. If they don't, great. If a recession is detected, it is eliminated with the help of bars. They are cut out according to the thickness of the resulting slope and placed under the plywood sheets.
2. Pressed wooden canvases are brought into the room in advance so that they adapt to the microclimate, absorb the necessary amount of moisture, and warm up in the conditions of the room. How long the material needs to age is determined by the place, method, position, temperature and humidity of the room in which it was stored before delivery to the facility:

• from 1 day to 3-5 days it is necessary to keep the products relatively dry and smooth;
• a longer period is needed for those canvases that were in the warehouse at 5-8 degrees C and 10% humidity;
• Above 7 days adapt plywood with slight deformation. It is placed in a pile so that under the weight it acquires the desired shape. When attaching such canvases, a larger number of self-tapping screws are used.

1. Plywood sheets of square shape are laid so that their edges fall in the middle of the bottom crossbar or floorboard. You can not combine the edges with the edges of the boards. Self-tapping screws will not be attached to anything. The fabrics are sagging.
2. A deformation gap of 0.5 - 1 cm is left along the perimeter of the walls. Since plywood is made from natural veneer, it needs space and the ability to "breathe". This gap also guides the laying of the laminate, which cannot be placed right next to the wall.
3. So that the joints between the individual elements of the rough flooring do not match, the second plywood row starts with a half sheet. Using an electric jigsaw, according to a predetermined marking, a solid canvas is cut into 2 parts. The first is used at the beginning of the row, the second - at the end.
4. When laying out the leveling pressed sheets, they try to put them not close to each other, leaving a minimum gap, similar in functionality to the deformation gap.
5. The laid out canvases are fixed with self-tapping screws or hardware. They are screwed in with a screwdriver until the cap is completely drowned in the tree. Let a small dent form, than later the hat will damage the laminate. The hole is easy to seal with putty or fill with sealant.
6. Sometimes you have to align the plywood sheets themselves if their edges, for example, do not match. Do this with an electric planer or grinder. It is necessary to achieve an ideal surface so that the finish coat lies evenly.

A substrate is usually laid on a plywood base under a laminate. It plays the role of a shock absorber and an intermediate layer between the pressed sheets and the finish coat.

Important Points

Plywood and laminate are similar in that they are equally afraid of moisture. Responsible manufacturers specially impregnate the veneer with compounds that protect them from water. If this is not done in the factory, you can protect the plywood with your own hands. This work can be carried out at any stage: during adaptation or at the end of installation.

Laying of multilayer canvases under the laminate is carried out at a temperature of 20-30 degrees C and relative humidity. Then the sheets are in optimal conditions and behave well when working with them.

In rooms with a high level of humidity, for example, in bathrooms, in kitchens, it is better to use other methods of leveling the floor and an alternative finishing material. If the microclimate is like in the tropics, the plywood will bend, the laminate will deform, and the floor will become unusable.

plywood sheets- a great option for leveling a wooden floor under a laminate. It is convenient and simple. Any beginner in the construction business can use this alignment technology.

Video how to level a wooden floor with plywood

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Do-it-yourself wooden floor under the laminate We warm the wooden floor on the logs
How to put laminate on a wooden floor - video and installation features
Warm water floors on wooden floor
Wooden floor

In a wooden house, a bathhouse, multi-storey microdistricts, a flat surface is necessary for laying floor coverings. If the base is a wooden floor, then plywood spreads on them. Leveling a wooden covering with plywood is the topic of our conversation about finishing materials. In it, we will share the experience of laying it on wooden floors.

Leveling a wooden floor under plywood

First you need to determine the condition of the wooden floors, whether there are large differences in height between the boards.

If the floors creak, then you need to pour graphite powder with talc into the cracks or hammer wooden wedges into them.

If this does not help, then fix the defective boards with self-tapping screws or dowels with screws.

If you cannot even out significant differences in heights with your own hands, then you need to disassemble the rotten structure, replacing the destroyed boards with freshly planed ones.

Do-it-yourself leveling of a wooden floor with plywood

First of all, we lay out plywood sheets on a wooden base in a checkerboard pattern to try on and determine the lag guides. Let's circle these lines.

We already have an outline of the location of the horizontal bars.

Number the plywood sheets and the floor so as not to be confused during installation.

Logs are square bars with a long side of 40-60 cm. Instead of bars, you can use boards or sheets of plywood cut into strips.

Transverse strips are attached to the lags in approximately 40-50 cm increments. Metal corners make the connection of the longitudinal and transverse strips strong and reliable.

Using a level gauge, we align the lattice base. To keep the logs on the same level, we put wooden gaskets under them. And then, using metal corners and self-tapping screws, we attach the logs to the plank floor. You can also use dowels as fasteners, 3 times the thickness of the lag.

Between the lags, we fill the free surface with sand or a home-made mixture consisting of sawdust and PVA glue.

We lay it out in two layers and leave it to harden the leveling compound.

If the logs are low or in the form of slats, then we use roofing felt or roofing felt. Only after that we begin to fix the plywood.

Installation of plywood on mini-lags

Another method of leveling the floor with plywood in a wooden house is to use a mini-lag.

This method is very accurate. It is carried out only by masters of their craft and engineers. The slightest inaccuracy in the calculations will make the design unreliable. Each element of the building is calculated separately using special devices.

Mini-lags (slats) are laid along and across in the form of a lattice. This method is used with a large slope of the floors and significant height differences, up to 8 cm. First, sheets of plywood are laid out for fitting to make markings. The thickness of the supports, the angle of inclination is calculated using formulas and programs.

Installation of plywood on the crate of point supports

The fourth way of laying plywood sheets is the lathing of point supports. Cobs are cut from boards or plywood and stacked in a grid. The step between them is much smaller than with strip supports. This method is less accurate than using lag.

Leveling a wooden covering with plywood under linoleum

Linoleum is a capricious coating, all the roughness and irregularities, debris will be visible on it. Over time, due to its elasticity, it will take the form of a base, enveloping the protrusions and recesses. Therefore, a perfectly flat surface is required for linoleum flooring.

Getting the wood flooring ready. Best to spend wood floor scraping.

To protect yourself from dust, you need to wear a respirator, from noise, headphones.

You need to work with a cycler, starting from the corner of the room, moving like a snake to the other end of the room. Corners are processed manually.

Putty is needed for the treatment of cracks and cracks in the wooden floor. When the mixture dries, the sanding should be repeated.

Collect dust after the process with a vacuum cleaner.

The wooden coating is treated with antiseptic agents. The top is varnished.

You can also cycle floors with a planer. But this is a more complex process. Floor scraping is carried out if the height differences are insignificant. In this case, plywood is not needed. It is also not needed when leveling a wooden floor with dry mixes, which is applied to a polished floor.

If the floors are sloping, plywood boards are needed.

We take self-tapping screws and screw them into the wooden floor at a distance of 20-30 cm from each other. These are our lighthouses, on which logs and plywood sheets will be placed. The caps of the screws must be at the same level.

We cut plywood sheets into squares with a side of 60 cm. It is very important to check the sheets so that there are no cracks or chips.

We lay out beams of plywood 3-4 cm wide. These are logs. They serve as a support for plywood shields. If there is a gap between the lags and the floor, then you can put a thin piece of plywood. Attach the logs to the floor with wood glue or self-tapping screws. Expanded clay can be poured between the lags. It will be a kind of insulation for the floors.

We begin the installation of plywood sheets. We lay out the plywood in a checkerboard pattern with an offset. We strengthen with screws inserted into the dowels. To keep the coating neat, it would be a good idea to drill holes for the dowels before laying the plywood boards.

When laying plywood, the screws are simply screwed into the dowels. Plywood sheets are fixed on the logs. It is very important to step back from the wall by 2 cm and leave a gap between the plywood panels. Then close the seams with putty or mastic. When laying plywood, you need to remember that only three edges of plywood sheets can converge at one point, no more. After leveling the floor with plywood, you need to sand the floor and varnish it. You can also lay a substrate, and linoleum on top.

Leveling wood flooring with plywood for laminate flooring

Leveling a wooden floor with plywood under a laminate is almost the same as under linoleum.

First you need to remove the wooden baseboards with a nail puller. Tidy up the room, sweep, mop the floors. We make 2-3 holes in the floor in different places in the room to determine the height of the base of the screw. We make beacons in the form of self-tapping screws. The thicker the plywood, the greater the distance between them. The height of the lag is 30-50 mm. We fasten the plywood with self-tapping screws to the logs.

Often, experts advise leveling a wooden floor with two sheets of plywood. The main thing is that the seams do not match, but fit with an offset.

We told you how to level a wooden coating with plywood. Whether you call the experts or do your own flooring, it's up to you. The main thing is that you do it correctly and accurately.

Tsugunov Anton Valerievich

Reading time: 6 minutes

The durability and appearance of laminate flooring largely depend on the proper preparation of the subfloor. Many apartment owners who have chosen laminate as their quality complain about loose locks and cracking panels while walking. The main reason for these troubles is laying laminate on an uneven floor. In order for laminate floors to serve for a long time and not cause problems during operation, before installing them, you need to take care of a perfectly even base. Learn how to level the floor under the laminate in different ways.

In order to find out whether it is necessary to level the floor under the laminate, it is necessary to examine the surface for irregularities. To do this, you can use the rule, a meter-long ruler or a flat piece of plywood. When applying the tool to the floor on each surface area, pay attention to the gaps between the base and the rule. Laying laminate on an uneven floor is unacceptable, so if the height of the gaps exceeds 2 mm, then the base must be leveled. The same applies to height differences, which are determined by the building level. Leveling will be required if the difference between the highest and lowest point of the floor exceeds 2–3 mm.

Leveling a concrete base in different ways

There are many ways to prepare a concrete floor for laminate flooring. The choice of method depends on the scale of the irregularities, the time allotted for repairs and on your financial capabilities.

Standard cement-sand screed

This method is designed to prepare a subfloor that has significant flaws. The cost depends on its thickness, but in general the price of the material is relatively low. The main disadvantage of this method is the long waiting time - 28 days.

Leveling the floor under the laminate with your own hands with a cement-sand mortar is as follows:

1. Before starting work, the concrete floor is primed in 2 layers.
2. With the help of the level, the highest point of the base is determined, the boundary of the future fill is outlined on the walls and the cord is pulled. On the basis at a distance of 1.5–2 m, they are installed and leveled.
3. The solution is prepared from cement and sand in a ratio of 1:3.
4. The screed is poured between two beacons to the required level and leveled using the rule.
5. Within 48 hours, the screed is wetted with water, and then rubbed with a grater with a solution of sand and cement in a ratio of 1:1. At this stage, the beacons are removed, and the voids are filled with fresh mortar.
6. For 14 days, the floor is covered with a plastic film, after its removal, the screed is wetted with water for 5 days, then left to dry completely.
7. After the installation of hydro and sound insulation, the preparation of the floor for the laminate is considered completed.

Dry screed

Performing a dry screed using bulk and sheet materials allows you to prepare the floor for laminate as quickly as possible. The main disadvantage is the fear of moisture.

The essence of the technology is as follows:

1. A layer is placed on concrete slabs, on which a profile is set according to the level, fixed on a gypsum mortar and acting as beacons.
2. Expanded clay is poured into the space between the profile, on top of which a layer of vapor barrier is placed.
3. The top layer of the structure is made of plywood with a thickness of 10 to 12 mm or gypsum fiber sheets, which are glued and additionally fastened with self-tapping screws.

Leveling with plywood or chipboard

How to lay a laminate on an uneven floor with significant height differences? For this, plywood laid on is used.

Alignment using plywood is as follows:

1. Before starting work, the level of the future floor is marked on the walls, hydro and sound insulation, and a shock-absorbing lining are laid.
2. At a distance of 3 cm from the walls and about 50 cm from each other, logs are laid and fixed with dowels - wooden bars with a section of 50 × 60 or 40 × 80. Height differences are compensated for by wooden spacers fixed on the base.
3. Sheets of plywood or chipboard are fixed on top of the screws so that their connections are located in the middle of the supporting module.

How to level wooden floors

Preparing a wooden floor for laminate flooring can involve a variety of steps, depending on how uneven the floor is.

First you need to assess the condition of the current flooring. Floorboards and logs are checked for strength, all elements are inspected for the presence of fungus and rot. Defects are eliminated - creaking floorboards are fixed, damaged ones are replaced with new ones, problematic logs are strengthened with the help of beams. The gaps between the floorboards are filled with a mixture of sawdust, putty and varnish.

Laying laminate on an uneven wooden floor is not allowed, however, it can be mounted directly on the old floor under certain conditions:

• the boards are not curved, do not creak or bend;
• there are no gaps between the floorboards, there are no traces of fungus on all elements;
• after measurements, no height differences of more than 2 mm were detected.

Tip: even in the case of a perfectly even wooden base under the laminate, do not forget about a special cork substrate.

For minor height differences, a scraper or an electric planer is used for leveling. Before sanding, be sure to fix the boards with long self-tapping screws and sink the nail heads into the wood to a depth of about 2mm.