How to start making a floor screed in an apartment with your own hands.

A flat floor in an apartment is a rarity. Potholes, cracks and sags do not allow high-quality laying of linoleum, laying laminate or tiling the floor. If you want everything to be beautiful, you should think about floor screed.

1. Where to begin
2. What to consider
3. How to achieve a smooth and durable coating.

Level definition.

First of all, you need to find out how flat the floor is relative to the horizontal level. The tool you need for this is a tape measure and a level. If a laser level is available, it will be much easier to determine deviations. Now the main task is to determine the highest and lowest points of the floor.

Consider a situation where there is only a normal level. Since the floor in any room of the apartment is always connected to other rooms, such as a hallway, start measuring from the doorway. The doorway will become the base point. One end of the level is installed in the doorway, and the other goes deep into the apartment. It is worth noting that a longer level, in this case, is more convenient than a short one. If this is not available, then you can use a long and even object along with the level. For example, a reinforced UD profile or a metal pipe. Having set the level on the floor surface, determine whether there is a slope of the floor or not, and also in which direction.

Using the laser level, set it to the center of the room. Turn on to have a light bar appear on the wall. Lower the ruler of the tape measure so that zero is on the floor surface, and mark the reading of the ruler in the place where the laser beam hits it. Write them down. Rotating the level around its axis, repeat the same steps again at different points in the room. Compare readings to determine extremes.

It is necessary to make several such measurements, marking the peak points with a pencil. So you can determine the highest point of the apartment. If the threshold turned out to be the highest point, then you can proceed to the second stage - the installation of beacons. If the highest point is in one of the corners inside the room, then it is worth deciding what to do next.

There are two options:

1. Remove all the old screed to the base of the floor and fill in a new one, but already even. Then it can be adjusted to the floor level in the next room and make an imperceptible transition from one to another.
2. Pour the screed over the existing base. In this case, the floor height in this room will be higher than the floor level in other rooms of the apartment. This may be justified if later floor leveling is also planned in other rooms. However, it must be taken into account that the floor level in neighboring rooms may be even higher.

Installation of beacons in the apartment.

To install beacons, you will need plaster beacons or round metal pipes, a spatula, a level and a rule. Set the beacon to the desired height so that its surface is at the same height as the desired screed level. To do this, use wooden bars, broken tiles or other dense material at hand. The goal - along the entire length of the lighthouse should stand exactly, without sagging, so that its level corresponds to strictly horizontal. For any room in the apartment, at least two lighthouses are required.

Mix a small amount of cement-sand mortar. To make the beacons harden in the solution faster, you can add a little alabaster or building gypsum to it. The solution must be applied to the floor in several places along the length of the lighthouse, so that the lighthouse is immersed in it. However, the top plane of the beacon must remain visible. According to it, it will be necessary to lead the rule when the screed is poured. Leave the beacons alone until the solution is completely dry.

Determination of the volume of the screed in the apartment.

How much solution is required? To find out, find out the volume of the screed. Volume is the product of length, width and height. Therefore, you need to multiply the length of the room by the width, and then multiply the result by the height of the screed. It often happens that this height is different in different places in the room. For example, in one corner thirty millimeters, and in the other seventy. In this case, you need to determine the average height.

Let's say, in the far part of the room between the beacon and the base of the floor - 65 mm, and in the near - 38 mm. Then the average will be (65 + 38) / 2 = 52.5 mm.

Consider an example:

• The length of the room is three meters,
• width two. Screed height 5, 25 cm.
• Then the volume will be equal to 315 liters.

So many ties will be required. It should be noted that the screed consists of at least three components.

1. Sand,
2. cement,
3. water.

• The amount of sand corresponds to the volume of the screed, that is, 315 liters.
• Since sand weighs one and a half times more than water, 472.5 kg of sand will be required.
• Three times less cement, that is, 157.5 kg.

The amount of water may vary. It also depends on the moisture content of the sand. In order for the solution to be of high quality and convenient for work, it should not be too thick or liquid. The best option is like thick sour cream.

Floor screed in the apartment.

Now it's time for the screed itself. The prepared solution is poured onto the floor. With the help of a trowel, the mass is leveled on the surface, filling large voids. After that, as a rule, the mass is completely leveled. To do this, you need to pull the screed with a wide edge of the trapezoidal rule, directing it towards you. In this case, it is often necessary to move the rule from side to side in order to seal the screed to close small voids inside the mass. When pouring small areas, it is necessary to check whether there is enough solution everywhere. If not, then add it and level the surface with the rule again.