When repairing in a house or apartment, the master may encounter the problem of a wooden floor. Over time, such coatings become creaky, lose their evenness. Various damage may also occur. To reduce the duration of repair work, it is best to lay a new floor covering without removing the old wooden floor.
For leveling the base, a screed on a wooden floor laid under a tile is perfect. It is important to consider this option, since installing tiles is the most difficult task for a wooden floor. The material is characterized by high density and has a strong effect on underlying structures. If you understand how to make a screed under the tile, with the rest of the coatings there will be no problems.
How to make a screed
There are two options for performing work:
- standard concrete pouring;
- using the dry method.
The second option is more suitable for a wooden floor, as it has the following advantages:
- light weight;
- ease of manufacture;
- convenience of laying communications;
- the ability to correct errors;
- lack of wet processes;
- no need to wait for drying, which requires a cement screed.
But you can also highlight the disadvantages for use in the house:
- making a dry screed requires a greater thickness than concrete is made (the height of the room decreases);
- due to the increased thickness, the consumption of materials is higher than when creating a traditional base.
Depending on the conditions, requirements and wishes, you can choose between two options when laying material under a tile.
Production technology
Do screed for tiles on wooden floors should be in the strictly established order. When repairing a house, it is first necessary to inspect the floor and floor structures. Identify weaknesses, make sure that there are no serious damages. If traces of decay, mold, the action of fungus and other microorganisms are found, it is better to make a selective replacement of the elements of the wooden floor.
Using a screed, you can eliminate bumps and strengthen the surface before attaching the flooring, but you can’t get rid of serious defects. The base for the tile must be smooth and strong, since it will have to withstand severe loads. To prevent problems during operation, it is better to make timely replacement and removal of old boards in the house.
After inspecting the old floor, you can proceed to the main task. It is recommended to do the filling of a classic wet screed in the following order:
- If there was a cement screed on the floor before, it is removed by grinding or milling.
- Checking the reliability of the fixing of the flooring boards to the logs. If they do not have a secure fit, a squeak will appear during operation. To prevent this, all the elements of the old floor must be firmly attached to each other.
- This is followed by cleaning the surface from old contaminants. You will need to remove grease, traces of glue, an old paint coat, various impregnations, dirt and dust.
- If necessary, sand the surface of the old floor with a special machine. In this way, the top layer is removed, the base for the tile becomes smoother.
- If unevenness with a height difference of more than 1 cm is detected on the floor, you need to do a preliminary alignment for the tile. To perform the work, you can use various leveling mixtures based on cement binder. The composition covers the surface of the boards, the cracks can be repaired using putty. Do not use water-soluble compounds for puttying.
- Instead of skirting boards around the perimeter of the walls, slats are mounted that will cover the distance between the old floor and the wall. Thin rails are installed followed by puttying. This rail is removed after completion of work. With its help, a gap is ensured that allows air to enter the space under the floor. For a wooden coating, this is extremely important, because if you do not take ventilation measures, the wood will rot and cause trouble during operation.
- The leveled surface must be primed in accordance with the technology of this process.. For priming, buy the finished mixture. The layer of this material will not only increase adhesion, but also improve the spreadability of the mixture for pouring the subfloor on the surface during repair work. When processing the floor should be dry, the work is done in two.
- Having finished with the previous stage, you need to lay a reinforcing mesh under the tile. The diameter of the elements is taken to be 3-4 mm. Cell sizes 50 to 50 mm. This step can be neglected, but it provides greater reliability of the base and the ability to withstand higher loads.
- When preparing the solution, proportions must be observed. It is better not to make it yourself, but to buy a ready-made dry mixture, for the preparation of which only water is required. This will avoid mistakes when choosing the proportions of the components and reduce the complexity of the process of pouring screeds.
- The mixture must be applied in one go. If you perform work in several stages, the layer will not work as a whole, cracks, tears and irregularities will appear. To apply, use notched trowels. Control the thickness of the application using guides-beacons or marks on the surface of the walls.
- After completion of the mortar laying, it is necessary to give concrete enough. This process takes several hours under normal conditions. After this time, you can walk carefully on the floor, but for full use it will be ready no earlier than in a couple of weeks (in the summer period, for the winter season, the terms increase).
- They take out the rails installed around the perimeter of the walls instead of skirting boards. After that, if necessary, grinding can be done (not earlier than 6 hours after pouring).