Leveling the floor with leveling compounds, properties of mixtures, their types, choice and technology of work.
Features of the choice of a leveling mixture for the floor
All of the above mixtures contain fine-grained special fillers. Their particle size is about 260 microns. This ensures that the surface of a self-leveling screed is always smoother than the outer layer of a conventional screed. The binder of the mixture is most often cement or gypsum, and mineral fillers and modifying polymers improve its quality, give elasticity, spreadability and increase adhesion. When choosing a self-leveling compound, consider the following:
- Room humidity and the frequency of direct floor contact with water - relevant for the bathroom and kitchen;
- The need to clean the floor with chemically aggressive preparations, in the kitchen, for example;
- The purpose of the mixture is leveling the floor or its topcoat;
- The ability of the substrate to absorb moisture;
- The need to give the floor additional properties - thermal insulation, sound absorption or anti-slip.
After determining your requirements for the future coating, you can safely go to the store to get acquainted with the products and brands of its manufacturers. Each of them has its own recipe for preparing a leveling mixture and guarantees the final result. Therefore, it is very important to find out the specifics of using the mixture of each brand, since it has its own distinctive features.
For example, with large differences in the height of the subfloor from 7 to 22 mm, the self-leveling mixture Knauf Nivellierestrich is suitable for pouring the screed. Today KNAUF is the leader in the sale of such materials. It produces them from high quality gypsum with modifying additives. In addition, fine quartz sand is added to the main composition, which helps to increase the adhesion of the leveling mixture to the base base.
The Vetonit mixture is slightly inferior in quality to Knauf Nivellierestrich. The screed made of "Vetonit", thanks to the special additives included in the composition of the material, has excellent technical data. It hardens quickly and is easy to work with. A significant drawback of the material is the lack of the ability to give the coating the desired color and use it as a finishing floor layer.
The company "Horizont" closes this three leaders in sales of building mixtures. Its material has a cement-sand base, the maximum possible thickness of the self-leveling floor mixture is 10 cm, therefore, very often the "Horizon" compounds are used in the manufacture of its warm structure. Finished coatings can be finished and processed with various paints and varnishes.
For the device of the subfloor, the mixtures of the Volma company are perfect. The coverings made of this material are distinguished by excellent heat and sound insulation, they can be used in almost any room. An exception may be floors that are constantly in contact with water.
Ceresit CN-83 mixture is convenient to use when a high drying rate of the screed is required, for example, for urgent repairs. You can walk on the finished surface within 6 hours after the completion of pouring it.
A lightweight screed can be made from a mixture of Ivsil Termolite (Russia). It is made on the basis of cement, includes foamed glass and a whole range of imported polymer additives. A covering made of this composition is ideal for a balcony or loggia. The main purpose of the Ivsil Termolite mixture is the thick-layer leveling of the floor with the further installation of the Ivsil self-leveling coating as a finishing layer. The main advantage of such a self-leveling floor screed is sound and heat insulation with minimal load on the slab of the balcony or ceiling. The consumption of the mixture with a screed thickness of 10 mm is 4-4, 5 kg / m2… The mixture hardens after 48 hours, the color of the coating is gray.
It is recommended to use a leveling compound of class P2 for leveling gypsum coatings, concrete and wooden floors. This mixture has increased plasticity, that is, the ability to quickly spread over the surface. Its alignment lasts 15 minutes, after three or five hours, carpet or linoleum can be laid on the screed, and after a day - laminate. The composition of the leveling mixture P2 includes sand, gypsum, resins and modifying additives, which after polymerization give a perfectly even coating a beige color. This mixture is not suitable for leveling industrial floors and outdoor work.
Self-leveling floor filling technology
Before pouring the floor with self-leveling mixture, it is necessary to prepare the base. To do this, remove cement or gypsum milk, traces of glue, varnish and other unnecessary materials from it. The base for pouring must be dry, clean, free of cracks, crevices and dust. The air temperature in the room should be within + 10-30 ° С.
The work is done in this order:
- First of all, it is necessary to treat the floor with a primer. Before pouring the concrete base, use PRIM-S, wood - PRIM-PARQUET.
- Next, knead the solution in a suitable container. The dry self-leveling mixture must be poured with water at the rate of 6 liters per 25 kg of powder and mixed well with a mixer until a homogeneous liquid paste is obtained.
- The finished composition must be poured on a wooden base with a layer of 5-20 mm, on any other - 2-20 mm. The difference lies in the permitted minimum screed thickness.
- After the end of the pouring, the wet screed must be processed with a needle roller to remove air bubbles from it.
- The natural drying of the screed completes the work process.
After drying, the floor does not require sanding and any additional manipulations with it. It is only important to ensure that the screed does not dry out in the first couple of days. It must be protected from drafts and sunlight. When pouring a large area of the floor with a screed, it is not worth preparing a large amount of the mixture: you may not have time to distribute it and roll it with a roller. In this case, the rest of the material can solidify directly in the bucket. It will be correct to divide the entire floor into sections and work with each of them separately. It is not worth worrying about the quality of such a fill: the leveling mixtures do not shrink, therefore there will be no differences in height at the border of the dried up area and the recently filled one.
Self-leveling screeds are sometimes made without direct contact with the substrate. In this case, the mixture is poured onto a separating insulating base, for example, a plastic wrap. It prevents moisture from entering the screed from the side of the weak base, and the coating itself is held by gravity.
Important! After filling floors with an area of more than 20 m2 it is necessary to perform expansion joints in the coating within the next three days. How to fill the floor with self-leveling mixture - watch the video:
That's all. As you probably noticed, it is not so difficult to fill the floor with self-leveling mixture with your own hands. An equally important issue is the correct choice of material. When solving these problems, a beautiful floor in the house will be provided to you. Good luck!
