Wooden floor in the apartment and installation and replacement work

Natural wood floors deteriorate over time. Due to improper operating conditions, constant mechanical stress, temperature changes and moisture, the wooden floor in the apartment begins to creak and collapse. In some cases, minor repairs with filling cracks are enough, but in apartments like Khrushchev, the floors are already so old that minor repairs are clearly not enough and it is necessary to replace not only the entire tree, but also repair the concrete base. Next, we will step by step analyze the whole process in more detail and provide photos that clearly show the result.

Work planning

Before you update the wooden floor in the apartment, you need to draw up a work plan and immediately determine the type and amount of consumables. In the presence of an old coating, it is not difficult to calculate the total footage of floor boards. If the work will be carried out in Khrushchev, then most likely it will be necessary to completely dismantle and replace the entire tree, as well as repair the concrete screed before laying the new floor. The entire workflow can be divided into several main stages:

• Dismantling of the old coating;
• Repair of the screed or pouring a new concrete base;
• Installation of lags and laying insulation;
• Wooden floor laying.

For your information. If the old wooden flooring can no longer be restored and its elements cannot be reused, then you can order a service for dismantling the wooden floor. The price of dismantling a wooden floor in an apartment varies within one dollar per square meter, while the teams not only dismantle, but also take out the old coating.

The dismantling of a wooden floor in an apartment, especially if it is an old floor in Khrushchev, causes subconscious fear for many, since the process itself is quite noisy and dusty, and the view as a result is not pleasant. In fact, dismantling the old floor is not such a terrible procedure if it is not broken, but carefully disassembled. To work, it is enough to have a nail puller, a hammer and garbage bags. You may need an electric saw or a jigsaw. You can remove the wooden floor in the apartment in a few simple steps:

• First you need to completely free the room from furniture, flooring and other items that are on the floor;
• Dismantle old skirting boards. If they are planned to be reused, then each plinth must be numbered before dismantling, in order to install them in reverse order;
• Next, the floor boards are removed, starting from the far wall of the room. If their reuse is not planned, then you can not particularly protect them during dismantling;
• Dismantle the lags. Wooden floors in Khrushchev are equipped with transverse lags, they must be removed as carefully as possible so as not to once again damage the base of the floor.

Upon completion of all work, you will receive a bare concrete base, which must be thoroughly cleaned of construction debris and dust. For this, a broom and a scoop are used, with which large debris is removed, then the remaining dust is removed with a vacuum cleaner.

Screed preparation

Before you repair the wooden floor in the apartment, you need to decide in advance whether the floor will be insulated or not. Additional waterproofing may be required if there is a cold and damp room under the floor.

After removing the old floor, it is necessary to carefully examine the concrete base and its quality. If the concrete surface is covered with cracks, there are traces of concrete peeling in the form of a dull sound or areas affected by fungus, then before replacing the wooden floor in the apartment, the old concrete screed must be completely dismantled. This is done using a perforator with a nozzle in the form of a spatula. If the old screed is partially damaged, then only some of its sections can be removed.

For your information. In many cases, even a good screed has to be dismantled if you plan to install a wooden floor in a new apartment. This is done in order to deepen the base, since the installation of lags and floor boards raise the level of the floor, and this cannot always be done. Before you change the wooden floors in the apartment, you need to take into account that in the presence of insulation, the floor level will increase significantly, especially if large logs are used and foam or expanded clay is used as a heater.

For high-quality laying of a new layer of screed, the following steps are taken:

• After removing the old screed or repairing it, the premises are thoroughly cleaned with a vacuum cleaner to remove dust from the surface as much as possible;
• Then wet cleaning is carried out, which removes fine dust and the room is thoroughly dried.

This completes the preliminary preparation of the base and then you can start laying a new screed, the type of which is selected depending on the level of the floor and the preferences of the owner.

Bulk screed

If the replacement of the wooden floor in the apartment does not provide for insulation, then an ordinary self-leveling floor is used to restore the evenness and integrity of the coating. In the presence of large cracks or potholes, they are sealed with cement mortar or putty with additional reinforcement with a painting grid. Then the base is cleaned of dust, coated with a deep penetration primer in several layers.

Mix the self-levelling compound according to the instructions on the package and pour the floor surface. For leveling, a spiked roller is used, which removes air bubbles and levels the mixture. After hardening, the surface is perfectly flat and ready for laying a wooden floor.

Insulated expanded clay screed

If the floor needs to be insulated, then a expanded clay screed is arranged. Expanded clay is a light material and does not make the ceiling heavier, moreover, it has good soundproofing characteristics. Before re-laying the wooden floor in the apartment and insulating it with expanded clay, the material must be bought only in sealed bags or dried well before use. The process of laying expanded clay screed is as follows:

• Beacons are installed on the surface of the base, the height of which should be equal to the thickness of the floor, taking into account the cement screed over the expanded clay. Beacons are set strictly according to the level;
• Next, expanded clay is poured and carefully leveled with a rule. The expanded clay layer should be below the level of the lighthouses;
• Then the cement-sand mortar is kneaded and laid on the surface of expanded clay, leveling it according to the established beacons;
• After drying, the screed will shrink, which is additionally leveled with a bulk solution.

Important. If the apartment is located on the ground floor or under the bottom of a damp and unheated room, then before making a wooden floor in an apartment with expanded clay screed, it is necessary to provide additional waterproofing. For this, a mounting film is used, which is laid with an overlap on the walls or a coating type of insulation in the form of bituminous mastic. A damper tape is installed around the perimeter of the room.

Wooden floor installation

If there is no time for independent work, then you can order a wooden floor in an apartment from any construction company or private craftsman. However, the involvement of third-party specialists significantly increases the amount, since you pay not only for the cost of the material, but also for the work.

Before starting work, it is necessary to draw up a preliminary diagram of the future floor with an exact indication of the location of the lags, the distance between them, as well as a list of the necessary material and wood species. The presence of such an estimate will help to determine in advance how much a wooden floor in an apartment costs if you carry out all the work yourself.

To date, the most popular are two types of wooden flooring, plywood sheets or tongue and groove boards. Plywood floors are usually used for laying laminate or carpet, while tongue-and-groove boards can serve as a finish and decorate the interior with their appearance.

When changing old wooden floors in an apartment for new ones, it is necessary to install transverse lags on which the main coating will be attached. Between the lags and the screed there is a space that can be left empty, but it is better to use it for additional insulation and sound insulation. In general, the process of installing a new floor is not complicated:

• Installation begins with the marking of the room under the logs. The direction of laying the joists is always perpendicular to the direction of the boards and usually they are laid across the room, and floor boards along. The distance between the lags depends on the insulation used. When using foam, the distance should be exactly the width of the panel, when using mineral wool, the distance is made on average 30-40 cm.

Important. When laying a wooden floor in an apartment with your own hands, make sure that the height of the lag is equal to the height of the mat of insulating material. When using mineral wool, the height of the lags may be slightly less.

• Next, prepare the lags and install them according to the markup. Extreme logs should be no further than 6-7 cm from the wall. The fixing of the lags on the base is carried out using metal corners or directly through a through hole in the lag. Dowels are used for fastening. The logs are immediately set to the level and at the same height, so that after laying the floor boards there is no question of how to level the wooden floor in the apartment.
• After installing and fixing the lags, the insulation is laid, for which use foam, mineral wool or expanded clay.
• After the insulation, waterproofing material is laid. Usually this is a dense construction film, the joints of which are sealed with double-sided tape and the material itself is fixed on the logs with a stapler.
• At the final stage, floor boards or plywood sheets are laid, depending on the preference of the owner.

Important. You can often hear the question of how to cover the wooden floor in an apartment to protect the tree. The logs must be covered with special impregnations that protect the wood from moisture, rotting and prevent the formation of mold. Floor boards are covered with various types of varnishes, which carry not only protective, but also decorative functions.