Laying floors in the apartment. Self-repair of the wooden floor in the apartment. Preliminary preparation and assessment of the scope of work

Hello dear blog readers! If you got here, it means that you are worried about your floors and there is a great desire to somehow transform them. Most likely, you are terribly tired of the creaking of old floorboards or the terrible look of shabby parquet. As always, there is a way out - repair. Today, together we will figure out how to properly repair the floor in an apartment with our own hands in stages. Let's start about everything in order.

Summary of this article:

Options for repairing floors in an apartment can be conditionally divided into two main areas according to the nature of the implementation:

  • Capital - require the dismantling of the floor base (screeds, logs, etc.), and the complete replacement of the old floor covering. We will talk more about the overhaul of floors later in a dedicated section.
  • Current - imply a complete or partial replacement of the old floor covering, as a rule, without affecting the screed and floors.

Most of the current floor refurbishment options involve the replacement of all or part of the floor finish, made from the following materials:

  • parquet board
  • Laminate
  • Linoleum
  • Tile
  • Cork
  • Polymer self-leveling floor

To determine which floor repair option is more suitable for you, you must first analyze the base floor and the finish coat.

Of course, ideally, it's best to do it right away. overhaul gender, but finances for this require significant. Therefore, look at your capabilities and, of course, at the floor area in the apartment.

After all, the apartment is different! There are apartments of the "old fund", and there are modern ones with a huge area. Next, we will understand the features of repairing the floor of small apartments.

Before starting the repair of floors in the apartments of the "old fund", you must select suitable option execution, i.e. current (cosmetic) or capital.

To do this, an audit of the existing base of the floor and the final coating should be carried out. After that, having finally decided, you can proceed.

In most cases, the floors in Khrushchev's and Stalin's apartments are a multi-layered "pie", the filling of which varies greatly, i.e. in one apartment there may be heat-sound insulation, and in another there is none at all.

There are frequent cases when wooden lags simply covered with construction debris left during the construction of the house.

These are the realities. Therefore, it is best, of course, to carry out a major overhaul, i.e. completely dismantle the old coating, remove all debris, and reproduce a new one.

The whole process of overhauling the floor with your own hands in Khrushchev (Stalinka) consists of the following steps:

  • Dismantling of the old flooring - complete dismantling.
  • Thorough cleaning of the resulting debris.
  • A close analysis of the existing foundation.
  • Elimination of cracks, potholes, seams, if any.
  • Screed device.
  • Laying the final floor covering.

Floor overhaul - step by step instructions

Overhaul of the floor is divided according to the degree of execution into the following types:

  • Full - performed in case of impossibility of partial.
  • Partial - applicable in cases where the identified damage relates to an insignificant part of the floor covering, i.e. can be partially replaced.

To properly perform a floor overhaul, follow the detailed step by step instructions:

Step 1 - Dismantling the old flooring - complete dismantling.

The old plank floor is best dismantled in large pieces, i.e. break out with a crowbar, and where necessary, file with a saw.

So it will be much more convenient to take the old floor out into the street than small pieces of it laid out in multiple bags.

The old screed must be split with a hammer drill with a breaker nozzle. Here it is most convenient to pack it in bags for take-out in the future.

Step 2 - Thorough cleaning of the generated debris.

You should not be limited to the removal of large remnants of the old floor - you need all the little things, and even dust to nullify!

It is best to use the "services" of a vacuum cleaner, which will perform high-quality cleaning work, unlike the good old broom.

Step 3 - A closer look at the existing foundation.

After a thorough cleaning, the base of the floor is in full view. Here it is just necessary to analyze the state of the starting point and predict approximately the amount of work required and the budget.

Step 4 - Elimination of cracks, potholes, seams, if any.

After detecting various damage to the subfloor, it is imperative to repair them. Protruding potholes - cut down with a puncher with a chipper, cracks and seams - repair cement mortar.

Step 5 - Screed device.

Before the screed device, it is best to prime the base of the floor, so the adhesion will be as strong as possible.

We fill in the beacons and give a good grab. Better wait a week to be sure.

Step 6 - Laying the final flooring.

After the screed is completely dry, we proceed to laying the finishing floor covering. It can be parquet, laminate, cork, linoleum, etc.

So, following this step-by-step instruction, you can independently carry out a major overhaul of the floor.

Repairing the floor in the kitchen - a guide for beginners

The process of repairing floors in the kitchen requires a special attitude and approach, because. This room is characterized by changes in temperature and humidity.

That is why we have compiled a small guide for beginners so that mistakes are not made at the earliest stages.

Options for repairing kitchen floors include the following:

  • Capital (solid) - are mainly performed with a complete alteration of the kitchen space.
  • Cosmetic (current) - provide for the replacement of the floor finish, the correction of minor defects in the base, etc.

The sequence of actions for repairing floors in the kitchen is as follows:

  • Dismantling of the old finishing floor material. First, of course, you need to take out all the furniture so that nothing interferes.
  • We check the level of the existing subfloor. If it’s normal, then it’s great, if not, you need to align.
  • Next, we go shopping for a new floor covering, what exactly suits you, decide for yourself.
  • In conclusion - laying or laying the finish coating.

The main thing when choosing a new finish for the kitchen floor is to pay attention to the following material characteristics:

  • Heat resistance – elevated temperatures are not uncommon in the kitchen, so it is best to choose heat-resistant flooring.
  • Moisture resistance - in the process of cooking, the floors often get dirty, as a result of which they are often washed. Therefore, the floors in the kitchen should not be afraid of moisture!
  • Abrasion resistance - no one will argue that the kitchen is a walk-through room, because. She is the favorite of most people. Therefore, the materials on the floor must be extremely hardy and not lose their appearance for many years.

Renovating the floor in the bathroom is a very interesting task. It can be easily done on your own.

The main stages of repair work to bring the bathroom floor back to normal can be identified as follows:

  • Preparatory work - first of all, the old finishing floor is dismantled, all debris is removed, cracks and cracks are covered over, and the entire surface is primed.
  • Waterproofing procedures - the floor is carefully treated with a special bituminous coating for bathrooms.
  • Screed device - the zero level is beaten off by the beacons, then the mixture is prepared and evenly distributed.
  • Laying the floor finish - after the new screed has completely hardened, you can start laying tiles, linoleum (which is less common), or parquet boards.

Most often, of course, in bathrooms for laying on the floor is used tile, because it is ideally suited for its characteristics to the operational requirements of wet rooms.

Diagnostics and repair of underfloor heating (electric and water)

In order to properly repair a warm floor with your own hands, you must first carry out a diagnosis. As you know, the warm floor is water and electric.

The main breakdowns of electric underfloor heating are:

  • Thermostat malfunction.

To begin with, it should be removed, having previously de-energized. Then we disassemble and pay special attention to the primary winding of the transformer. If it burned out, which is exactly what happens most often - only a replacement.

You can also check the functionality with a multimeter. It is possible to repair the underfloor heating thermostat, but this is not justified. It's easier to just buy a new one.

  • Incorrect operation of the temperature sensor.

It may happen that by setting the temperature regime of the warm floor, you will begin to notice after a while his “disobedience”.

For example, you set the temperature to the maximum, and the floor is barely warm, or vice versa, you are trying to lower the temperature from a red-hot one, and the reaction is zero.

In this situation, it is no longer advisable to repair the underfloor heating sensor - it is best to go to the store for a new one.

The most common malfunction of a water-heated floor is a pipe breakage as a result of repair and construction work (for example, it was hit with a grinder or a puncher when dismantling the old floor covering).

Underfloor heating pipe repair involves the following steps:

  • The first thing to do in the event of a breakdown is to turn off the water.
  • Next, we expand the new piece of pipe and the damaged ends of the old pipes.
  • Then we put on all the necessary fittings.
  • We press in all the ends of the pipes.
  • We check the functionality.

Everything is simple! How about concrete flooring? We will discuss this further.

Repairing concrete floors, unlike wooden floors, is of course required less often, but it still happens. That is why we will consider the main malfunctions and the process of their elimination in stages:

  • Repair of potholes and cracks in concrete floor screed.

Do-it-yourself repair of a concrete floor screed can be done if you have a desire and a tool, the main thing is not to be afraid and start acting! Small potholes and cracks must be expanded both in depth and in breadth with the help of diamond disc and Bulgarians.

Next, be sure to prime the embroidered area with a special primer deep penetration. After it dries, fill the problem area with cement mortar, which you can easily prepare yourself.

Of course, you can use ready composition to repair the concrete floor, if possible. After the filled area has completely solidified, it is important to grind the resulting surface to a level with the floor.

  • Repair of deformation joints in concrete floors.

Most concrete bases have expansion joints that allow the concrete to "walk" a little under heavy loads - thanks to them, the appearance of cracks is prevented. But these seams themselves often suffer - chips and potholes form on them.

You can eliminate them with the help of special mastics or sealant for concrete, a construction harness-seal and profile systems for expansion joints. It is better to entrust the installation of the latter to professionals.

And how to repair the old floor from wooden boards? Let's talk about this next.

Do-it-yourself repair of an old wooden floor in an apartment is not difficult. Many men have done this at least once in their lives.

Here are the main problems of old wood floors and how to fix them:

Cracks are formed due to improper styling, and in the process of drying the tree, after a long time.

In large cracks, wedges are most often driven in size from the same type of wood, and the protruding parts are compared with the floor level.

Small cracks and crevices are covered with a special wood putty, which has many shades. Therefore, it will not be difficult to choose the right one.

  • The creak of boards from bending and rubbing against each other.

Due to unevenly spaced lags, there are cases of deflection of the floorboards. As long as they are new and fresh, there are no problems. But, as soon as the floorboards dry out, a terrible creak begins.

To correct this ailment, it is necessary to dismantle several boards at the deflection point, and then move the logs a little, if possible, or put a new support in the problem area.

Also, a creak occurs when the floorboards rub against each other - this is a very unpleasant incident of the old wooden floors. You can solve this trouble by pulling the floorboards with lags with long thin screws, completely immobilizing them.


And what about the parquet floor? We will talk about this further.

Repair of parquet floors is of two types:

  • Cosmetic - involves the replacement of only some elements and bringing it into a "nice" look.
  • Capital - complete replacement (parquet re-tiled).

A major overhaul of old parquet floors is inevitable with a floating subfloor, as along with it, parquet boards will also set sail.

Cosmetic, however, will be required in the following cases:

  • Darkening of the parquet surface, for example from long-standing furniture.

To eliminate this ailment, you must first perform scraping, then grinding, and then soak the entire surface of the floor with a special stain and varnish it.

  • The gaps formed between some boards.

Parquet is, first of all, a tree, and a tree tends to dry and change. Therefore, damaged boards must be carefully replaced with suitable ones in color and size.

  • Raised section of parquet after flooding.

A small flooded area of ​​the floor can be dried with building hair dryer, having previously removed the wet elements. After that, put them back in their rightful places.

  • The nasty creaking sound of parquet boards against each other.

To fix this problem, you will need small cloves, and preferably self-tapping screws, because. they have no reverse. With their help, you can fit the boards closer to each other.

Repair of a tiled floor is most often required after the following troubles:

  • A crack or chip in a tile caused by a heavy object being dropped.
  • Wobbly base floor

Repairing a tile on a floor rarely involves replacing the entire tile, only in the case of a poor subfloor underneath. In other situations, you can get by with replacing only damaged tiles.

In order to carefully remove a broken tile from the general “picture”, you must perform the following steps:

  • Fill with a thin drill many holes in the remaining element of the broken tile.
  • Starting from the center, gently and gently start stabbing the rest with a chisel or chisel, you can also use an old chisel.

As a result of these actions, it will be possible to easily remove the broken tile without damaging the neighboring one. Then we smear tile adhesive floor base and new tile and put it in the level, not tapping hard.

But what can be done with a damaged polymer floor? We will talk about this further.

Repair of polymer self-leveling floors in an apartment is certainly different from the repair of other types of floor coverings.

The main malfunctions of self-leveling floors, which entailed repair work, the following can be distinguished:

  • Bubbles with air or vice versa sunken into the surface of the self-leveling floor.

Such a misfortune could happen at the time of pouring the self-leveling floor, because. simply poured mortar was not rolled evenly with a spiked roller. Do not forget about this important procedure!

  • Cracks and cracks of various thicknesses.

The main reason for the appearance of cracks in self-leveling floors is the precariousness of the base of the floor and the violation of proportions when mixing the mortar. Cracks up to 1 cm - embroidered, primed and puttied, more than two - it is best to refill the new floor.

  • Small debris - surface roughness.

Everything is simple here - before pouring, the base of the floor was not properly cleaned, when working with a spiked roller, small debris from the bottom was stirred up and lifted up. There is only one option to correct the situation - to grind the surface and arrange a finishing fill.

Well, that's all - it's time to finish. And so the article turned out to be not small. But now you know exactly how to properly repair the floor in the apartment with your own hands in stages. It remains only to act. Great luck to everyone!

Below, leave your comments, suggestions, ask questions, express your opinion - this is very important to us!

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 laid waterproofing material. Place heat on top soundproof material 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. Cut to size 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 found on the board small plot rot, 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. take away extra furniture so that she doesn't get in the way. For more thorough cleaning crevices, use a stiff-bristled brush. 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 - they are prepared for them wooden blocks. 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 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. old paint that does not hold, remove 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.

Many apartments still have old floors that require repair or complete replacement. You can understand this by the skip when walking or the deflection of the floor section. But we are not always ready for the financial costs of a complete replacement of a wooden floor, so it is worth learning to recognize what repairs our floors need - cosmetic or major. It is not worth delaying the repair of a wooden floor, because the longer the delay with the repair, the more problems to be eliminated. Better make it on time small repair than lead to the need for a complete replacement of the boardwalk.

Diagnosis of the necessary repair

Wood is a malleable material, it is subject to swelling and shrinkage depending on fluctuations in humidity and room temperature. Over time, these processes can lead to cracks in the floor or loosening of fasteners. Rot can also appear in the boards due to violation of the installation rules and protection of the wooden floor. Here are some factors that will tell us that it's time to renovate the floor:

  • The appearance of cracks in the floor - occurs as a result of the drying of the boards or a change in their geometric shape.
  • The creak of the floorboards when walking is closely related to the first point, it appears as a result of drying out of the floor boards, in connection with which they have free play.
  • Rotting boards - occurs due to poor hydro, vapor barrier of the floor during installation.
  • Deflection of floorboards under load is a consequence of the impact of the fungus on the floor logs, their decay.

For diagnostics, first, go through all the surfaces of the floor, when squeaks appear, mark the place of their source, so as not to look again later.

To search for cracks and chips in the floor, arm yourself with a stiff brush and walk it well between the boards, cleaning out the dirt. If the boards are the finishing floor, then you will have to work hard to eliminate the cracks, but even if it lies on top of the boards, then all the cracks must be covered up.

Take a hammer and an awl, tap the entire floor, but not hard. A dull sound when tapped may indicate the appearance of rot, try sticking an awl into this place, if it enters easily, then this section of the floor must be replaced. If in some places the floorboards bend, but they themselves are in order, then this is fraught with replacing the floor log, that is, disassembling the floor, and this is already close to a major overhaul.

When all the problem areas are found, you can decide what kind of repair is to be done - major or partial.

If you are engaged in repairing the floor, then think about its possible insulation and soundproofing, especially if you live in an old Khrushchev, where the audibility is better than in the opera house, this will not be superfluous.

And so, all the problem areas have been identified, now you can start repairing the wooden floor with your own hands. We will start the repair sequence with a description of the floor overhaul.

Overhaul of a wooden floor

During a major overhaul, it is possible to complete or partial replacement floorboards. This whole process can be divided into the following steps:

  • Dismantling of skirting boards and topcoat (if any).
  • Dismantling of floor boards and its log.
  • Cleaning the premises, preparing the floor for the installation of a log.
  • Beating the horizontal of the future floor.
  • Setting the log to the level.
  • Floor insulation (if planned).
  • Fastening floorboards to joists.
  • Sheet material flooring (if planned).
  • Installation of finishing coating and installation of skirting boards.

Let's consider each stage in more detail.

When laying a new floor, you may need the following tools:

If you do not have something from this list, then think about what you can replace them with.

Before you start dismantling, take care of where you will take out the accumulated garbage. Prepare the tools you may need. Hammer, nail puller, hacksaw minimum set for dismantling.

Dismantling and preparatory work

Dismantling of skirting boards and topcoat. If the plinths are old wooden, then it is recommended to change them to modern plastic ones. If new ones have already been installed plastic skirting boards and you plan to return them to their place, then dismantling should be carried out carefully. The same goes for the finish coat. But even if you plan to change the finish, lay new linoleum or, then save the old one, perhaps it will still come in handy in the country or in the garage.

Dismantling floor boards and logs It is also carried out taking into account the need-unnecessary. If you plan to keep some of the boards, then you should number them so as not to confuse their order later. If the boards have been painted, you will have to work hard and remove all the paint to clean wood. It is better and more convenient to do this before dismantling them. With a complete replacement of the floor, dismantling can be facilitated by sawing the boards into several pieces in place and then only tearing them off the lag. It is better to pull out the nails from the boards immediately to avoid injury during transportation.

If there is any insulation under the floor in the form of expanded clay or glass wool (it was very often used in Soviet times for floor insulation, regardless of its harmfulness to humans), then we store it in bags and dispose of it if we do not plan to use it. But expanded clay, by the way, is still very often used for floor insulation because of its cheapness, so you can leave it to save money.

Intermediate room cleaning required to detect defects. concrete base and eliminate them. If there are any cracks in the floor or the lower part of the walls, be sure to seal them with mounting foam or any quick-drying mortar, this will prevent moisture and drafts from penetrating the floor from the lower floors and the street, which is the cause of mold and fungus. After cleaning and sealing all the cracks, it is worth priming the concrete with an antifungal primer, this will extend the life of your floor.

Arrangement of a wooden floor

After carrying out all the preparatory operations, we proceed to marking the level of the future floor. If you want to make the floor level in the room the same as the whole apartment, then top point will be the floor level of the next room in doorway. You need to transfer this height to all walls, you can do this using any means available to you, but it is most convenient to use a water or laser level.

When all marks are affixed, it is necessary to set installation height of future floor logs, for this, from the affixed marks we subtract the sum of the thicknesses of the floor board, the sheet material with which the boards will be closed (if planned) and the finish coating (if it is a laminate, do not forget about the substrate under it). After we have determined the installation height of the lag, it is necessary to determine what size we need them. To do this, you need to find the highest point of the floor and measure how much it is lower than the installation height of the log and choose the size of the log a little less than the resulting size.

Lag installation you should start with waterproofing the floor so that the tree is not further saturated with moisture, for this they use an inexpensive polyethylene film thickness from 0.2 mm. When laying, a launch is made on the wall just above the future floor level, the overlap of the canvases is at least 15 cm, it will not be superfluous to fasten the overlap with adhesive tape along the entire length. Advice: before laying the log, be sure to treat them with an antiseptic, this will also increase the life of the new floor. Consultants in any hardware store will help you with the choice of an antiseptic.

For setting lag by level You will definitely need spacers with which you can adjust the height of the lag. For convenience and more precise level control, many craftsmen use plastic wedges with locks. In order to save money for these purposes, you can use scraps of old boards, pieces of plywood or fiberboard, which should be prepared in advance so that during the installation process you do not waste time looking for them.

The next step is to distribute the logs on the floor. Along the walls that are perpendicular to the laying of the log, we place two more logs at a distance of 1.5-2 cm from the walls. We lay all other logs with a certain step, which depends on the thickness of the boards and the maximum loads on the floor. On average, a step is made from 40 to 80 cm. If the length of the lag is less than the length of the room, they are joined by washing down the timber at the end into the floor and fastening them with a self-tapping screw.

Two logs, which are laid along the walls, are set according to the marks made earlier on the walls with the help of a level and prepared simpletons and are fixed to the concrete base. For fixing use either dowel-screws, or anchor bolts. It is better to give preference to the latter, as they are more reliable than dowels and press the logs to the floor with more force. The number of attachment points depends on the thickness of the joist. When fastening with dowel-screws, the step is 60-80 cm, when fastening to an anchor - 80-100 cm. To fix, we drill holes in concrete and a bar. We insert the expansion part of the anchor or dowel into the drilled hole and screw in the bolts or self-tapping screws

Using the prepared spacers, we set the remaining logs to the level using a bubble level with the desired pitch and fasten them with anchors or dowels.

After fixing all the logs, we fill the space between them with insulation, if it is expanded clay, then we simply scatter it, leaving a gap between it and the boards of 1-2 cm for ventilation. When using mineral wool or polystyrene, we try not to leave gaps between the lags and the insulation, also leaving a gap for ventilation.

Installation of floor boards

Getting Started floor boards on the lags. It is better to use tongue-and-groove boards. If you plan to lay sheet material on top of the boards, then you can buy boards of the lowest grade, with many knots and resin feeders. If the boards will be the floor finish, then choose boards of high grades, which, after processing, will give a beautiful and harmonious pattern due to their texture.

We place the first board with a crest to the wall at a distance of 1.5-2 cm, this is a technological gap to compensate for the expansion of wood. We place the extreme screws as close as possible to the wall, so that in the future they are closed with a plinth, all subsequent screws are screwed into the groove of the board at an angle.

If sheet material is laid on top of the boards, then the screws can be screwed directly into the board, sinking the hats by 1-2 mm.

The boards should fit snugly against each other, you can press the boards by tapping them through a piece of the same board with a hammer. If the boards are heavily warped, then you can use a homemade wedge.


Thus we fix all the floor boards. Some craftsmen additionally fix the boards together with glue, smearing the grooves before mounting the next board.

Very often, certain problems arise when laying the last board, so the following methods are used when laying it.

When all the boards are laid, you can proceed to further finishing. If you plan to install linoleum or laminate flooring, then it is worth additionally leveling the floors with sheet material such as plywood, OSB, chipboard or others, since such a topcoat requires laying only on a flat surface. It is necessary to lay such materials with a gap near the walls and move the sheets in a checkerboard pattern. The heads of the self-tapping screws should be recessed 1-2 mm into the sheet.

Before laying the finish coat, be sure to prime the floor to protect it.

Redecoration of a wooden floor

Often the floorboards are in good condition, but some of its shortcomings need to be addressed. In that part of the article, we will consider the main shortcomings that can be eliminated without resorting to a complete disassembly of the floor.

Eliminate creaking floorboards

The most common, annoying flaw is the creaking of the floorboards when walking. Squeaking occurs when the fasteners of the boards are loosened and they have a free play, or the boards begin to rub against each other and creak. To eliminate such a defect in the floor in the apartment, there are several options.

Having identified the place where the creak occurs, it is necessary to screw several self-tapping screws into the nearest log at an angle to each other, thereby pressing the board closer to the log.

By scrolling through all the squeaky places in this way, you can silence your floor.

If the boards creak from friction with each other, and there is no way to fix them, then you can use various lubricants, such as talc or graphite.

Boardwalk Leveling

As a result of the operation of the wooden coating, irregularities may appear on its surface, this is due to the uneven drying of parts of the floor or the difference physical activity. Depending on the magnitude of the difference, the following alignment methods are used.

Sanding (sanding) gender. Apply if there are minor irregularities. It is better to use a power tool for these purposes, since it will be very time consuming to do it manually. Before grinding, it is necessary to drown all the heads of nails or self-tapping screws so as not to damage the tool. After grinding, we carefully examine the entire floor for the presence of pits and ruts and putty them with a special primer in the color of the floor or with a mixture of glue and sawdust left after grinding.

If the floor boards have significant differences or gaps, then the leveling method is used due to sheet material. To do this, use plywood, OSB or chipboard. Sheets are screwed on top of the boards perpendicular to their location with self-tapping screws in increments of 25-30 cm or more often if required. Hats are recessed into sheets by 1-2 mm, and then puttied. With this leveling method, it is possible, in addition, to carry out floor insulation by laying a rolled polyethylene foam insulation with or without a reflector.

With significant slopes of the old floor, it is possible to level it with sheet materials and lay them on a beam.

Technology does not stand still and every year new materials for decoration are produced. To date, many self-leveling compounds are produced for wooden floors, which perform the following functions: smoothing the floor, heat and noise insulation, strengthening the floor. Such mixtures are quick-drying with fibers that make it durable.

Sealing gaps and cracks in the floor

Cracks in the floor can appear due to many factors, the main of which are:

  • Failure to comply with floor installation conditions;
  • Drying of the boards and a decrease in their linear dimensions;

Small gaps are sealed with a special wood putty, matched to the color of the floor. This work is carried out with a narrow spatula. Instead of putty, you can use a mixture of PVA glue and small sawdust (residue from grinding).

Wide gaps sealed with putty can very soon give a second crack, so they are sealed with wooden planks of the same breed. The bar is cut to length and planed into a wedge, coated with glue and carefully driven into the slot as tightly as possible with a wooden or rubber hammer, then the protruding part is cut flush with the floor with a planer or chisel.

Partial replacement of floorboards

It is often necessary to replace only a small section of the board, this process is more time consuming than the others. This work will require patience and accuracy. The process itself can be divided into the following steps:

Wood floor protection

Any wood floor needs protection. Paint, stain, varnish or special impregnations for wood can act as a protective layer.

Floor painting requires compliance with certain conditions.

  • Peeling off old paint.
  • If required, cosmetic repairs.
  • Cleaning the room, washing the floors with warm soapy water.
  • Priming of floors, if required (for example, when using alkyd paints).
  • Application of paint in several layers with obligatory intermediate drying.
  • If desired, a layer of varnish can be applied over the paint for additional protection.

With paint and other protective equipment possibly decorative ornament wooden floors.

From the author: hello dear readers. If you are reading these lines, it means that you have decided to find out everything about the replacement of 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 are the floors, 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. Therefore, we set ourselves the goal of replacing the flooring ourselves.

Floors must be changed 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 decide to lay linoleum, laminate or parquet board in a quality manner (then it would be best to lay finish coating on plywood).

In order for you to have an idea of ​​what they are, we will describe the most common types that are used in apartments. Floors are divided into draft and finishing.

Draft floor

A surface made and laid on floor slabs or on wood to create a base level layer for laying a finished floor. Draft floors are divided into:

  • plank on logs - an old wooden floor, which is processed by a special jointer. Either done new design from a log, boards are laid on it and again processed by a jointer;
  • plywood on logs - the old log design is restored, or a new one is laid, and sheets of plywood are laid on top of it;
  • chipboard, chipboard on logs - the same as in the case of plywood;
  • OSB boards on logs - the same as in the case of plywood;
  • concrete screed- knocking off the old concrete pavement, and on the prepared surface with or without an insulating pad, a new, perfectly even cement screed is poured;
  • self-leveling floor - poured onto an old cement screed special solution, which is sold dry, and which must be made strictly according to the instructions. Suitable for leveling the surface from 5 mm to 20 mm, no more;
  • dry screed - an 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 flooring is laid on top of it;
  • warm floor - pouring a concrete base or dry screed, laying water or electric heating elements, again a regular or dry screed. Not cheap in execution and maintenance, but very comfortable.

Finished floor

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

  • linoleum is a rolled, porous rubberized coating, which has a substrate with various properties at its base. It is used for laying on a variety of coatings and has a low price;
  • laminate is visually a wooden coating, but at its base it has a fiberboard - a fibreboard glued from below with glassine for waterproofing, and treated with a special armored layer resembling wood on top. Afraid of water, short-lived, relatively inexpensive;
  • parquet is an extremely expensive material made from precious woods. Most often, it has a multi-layer structure, at the base - a cheaper tree, the last layer, the rear - only precious rocks that are resistant to mechanical wear and have a very beautiful appearance;
  • edged polished board - boards of a certain durable breed, require piece fitting, after installation they are processed and covered with a special coating, the final result is expensive;
  • fiberboard - the most budget material, spreads with the expectation of further painting, without paint treatment is not used;
  • - an almost eternal coating with excellent water repellency and aesthetically beautiful view, excellent in every way, with the exception of one huge minus - it is very cold.

It is very easy to do the work with your own hands. Unless some of the coatings require a specialized tool, but on modern markets and Internet resources you can find any technique and tool you are interested in, and rent it at very affordable prices.

Any repair always requires careful study. Plan everything down to the smallest detail. Think over each aspect, calculate the amount of money you need and add another 30% of it - this will be the approximate final amount that you should count on.

When choosing and making a floor, keep the following in mind:

  • when pouring a new screed, always knock down the old one;
  • when pouring floors, use a damper tape;
  • always use waterproofing;
  • when buying cement or special mixtures, always look at the expiration date;
  • it is better to replace ordinary rolled, perforated beacons with a wide profile for plasterboard structures;
  • remember about the load on the surface, and if it is large, for example, more than 300 kg / m 2, discard the dry screed;
  • if possible, always insulate your floor if it is a screed. Use expanded clay if these are lags - a better styrofoam, but mineral wool is also suitable;
  • be mindful of air circulation wooden floors and make 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 out its money;
  • mix cement mortar only with cold water;
  • if possible, add a plasticizer - if there is none, add a little shampoo;
  • when making a screed, always lay reinforcement or use basalt fiber;
  • if a screed is required that will be used as a ceiling, and there will be heavy loads on it, make a stressed concrete structure;
  • always keep 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 needed:
  • use only serviceable tools and machines with all protective covers.

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

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

You won't need all this tool to get the job done, everything will depend on the coverage you choose. Yes, it is too expensive and unprofitable to purchase it for the sake of one repair, but renting a concrete mixer or a chipper is a completely different matter. Well, a hammer with an ax is 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 mount different kinds floors.

Replacing wood floors with concrete

Replacing a wooden pavement with concrete is a very simple operation that does not require skill. It is carried out literally in one full working day by one person, if a concrete mixer is available.

We begin the whole process with the dismantling of the old coating. For this we use scrap. Without sparing the boards and logs, we dismantle and take out of the room. Under the floor, most likely, you will see some kind of insulation. In some houses, this is expanded clay or agloporite, sometimes even broken glass mixed with glass wool comes across.

If you see this, urgently put on a respirator and remove all this garbage. Do not be greedy and try to leave a layer of old insulation. Previously, they did not even think about ecology and used everything indiscriminately. If you need to insulate the overlap, then buy a dozen bags of expanded clay and cover the surface with it.

After dismantling and preparing the surface, we perform waterproofing bulk mixtures or ruberoid. Then we insulate with expanded clay, if required, but it is possible without it, it all depends on whether you want heat loss or not. Next we line waterproofing film on expanded clay and lay a reinforcing mesh, and if we use basalt fiber, then reinforcement is excluded.

With the exception of a small percentage of buildings in the secondary stock with wooden floors, in high-rise buildings slabs are used. On the logs, either a floor covering made of tongue-and-groove boards or a subfloor made of edged board, OSB, GVL, TsSP, plywood or chipboard for other facings (parquet, linoleum, pvc tile, cork, tile, carpet and other materials).

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).

Because of complex design and numerous layers of the pie, the repair of a wooden floor in an apartment is distinguished by its variety, labor intensity and budget. 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 reasons for the decrease operational properties structures, 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, to eliminate the squeak, apply different methods– from filling the gaps in the floorboards with talcum powder to replacing the log 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;
  • self-tapping screw with an incomplete thread, you can firmly press two wooden element floors to 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 mutual arrangement relative to the floorboards in adjacent rows, they 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, it is often required additional installation insulating materials. 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 acoustic material, the thickness is selected depending on the specific operating conditions;
  • vapor barrier - preferably a membrane laid on top of thermal insulation under subfloor boards or floor wooden coating to protect the insulation from getting wet with steam humid air from the premises;
  • waterproofing - applied by gluing or coating on a screed or floor slab, during wet rooms the second layer of waterproofing is made on top of the wooden floor before laying moisture-resistant cladding (protection against sewer leaks, water pipes).

Wooden floor pie in the apartment.

Advice! The presence of all the above 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

When saving bearing capacity Wooden floor elements may need to be flattened 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;
  • on the separate sections the boards 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. Cycling machine 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 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 detailed description work that needs to be done and offers with prices from construction teams and firms will come to your mail. You can see reviews of each of them and photos with examples of work. It's FREE and there's no obligation.
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