How to level a wooden floor without tearing boards in a private house?

The flooring made of wood pleases the owners exactly until the moment when there are problems, such as creaking, failing, decaying and so on. In any of these cases, a complete floor replacement is required . But if your problem is uneven, then you will learn how to level the wooden floor without tearing the board, and get an excellent result in the end!

Why coating alignment is required

Leveling is done in order to prepare the floor for the finish coating and solve the following problems:

• Strengthen the base.
• Give the surface evenness and horizontalness.
• Distribute the loads acting on the floor.
• Provide sound insulation, thermal insulation and waterproofing.
• Disguise communication systems.
• Create the basis for fixing the final coating.

If based on functional tasks, any actions to level the floor must meet certain requirements:

• Provide maximum mechanical strength around the perimeter.
• Resistant to all types of exploitation.

The selection of materials and method

How to level a wooden floor without tearing boards, and what is meant by bumps?

• Differences in height in different parts of the room.
• Chipped paint.
• Deepening.
• Deformation of all or some of the boards.

If the boards are pressed tightly against each other, do not creak, the logs and floorboards are in a dry state, they have been treated with an antiseptic solution, you can begin the alignment.

Not sure how to level a wooden floor without tearing old boards? There are various technologies for performing work:

• Grinder machine.
• Putty.
• Laying sheet material.
• Screed.

It is impossible to eliminate the unevenness of the flooring using a roll (linoleum, laminate, PVC boards, carpet) or tile material.

In order to correctly determine how to level the wooden floor without tearing the board, it is necessary to establish the degree of unevenness. Minor flaws (up to 3 mm) can be removed with a grinder, or using acrylic putty. The elastic putty is able to withstand temporary uneven loads that occur when walking. Using this method, you can prepare the floor for laying the final coating. In other cases, laying of the sheet coating is required.

For the basis for flooring, it is best to use moisture-proof plywood, more economical options are also suitable - chipboard and OSB.

When choosing sheet material, great attention should be paid to its thickness, it happens from 8 to 24 mm. The greater the thickness, the higher the stiffness and the greater the gap between the lags. Mounting thick sheets is much more difficult, in addition, the load on the base increases. The maximum thickness can be used exclusively on the bases of reinforced concrete slabs, in other cases, thinner sheets should be selected.

So, in the end we get:

• With flaws up to 1 mm, looping is used.
• 2-3 mm - putty;
• The difference is up to 10 cm - laying out a sheet of cloth on the logs.

Looping

The device for cycling is allowed to be used strictly for horizontally located boards. It is not necessary to purchase equipment, for a single use, as a rule, it is rented.

How to level a wooden floor without tearing boards, under linoleum? Work Stages:

1. Provide personal protection (respirator, ear plugs, etc.).
2. Removal of equipment and furniture from the room.
3. Isolation of other rooms (very fine dust forms during operation, which easily seeps into the smallest crevices).
4. The elimination of nails. Using a chipper, it is necessary to drive all the nail heads below the field level by 2 mm.
5. Work with a grinder. Movement starts from the far corner of the room to the opposite, then a 180-degree turn and movement in the opposite direction. Then continue in the same way.
6. To clear a surface of the formed dust, and to close up large cracks with putty in the color of wood.
7. After complete drying, repeat the cycling.
8. Coat the even floor with varnish and cover the final coating (linoleum, laminate, etc.).

Hardwood floor putty

In this case, acrylic sealant or final acrylic putty is used. With a height difference of 3 mm, it is recommended to straighten the floor with putty on PVA glue. This is done so that the composition does not crack even in the event of a deflection of the floor. Despite the fact that the acrylic composition has good ductility, with a layer of 3 mm it can be broken. Only small areas of the floor are evened with putty. After the composition dries, the finish coating is laid.

Important! This alignment method is suitable exclusively for linoleum and carpet. Tiles and laminate in this way can not be laid.

Plywood laying

How to level a wooden floor without tearing boards, under the laminate? Aligning a wooden floor with plywood sheets is the most common option. Laying is possible in different ways:

• Mounting to the base.
• The use of tape lags.
• Use of logs from a bar.

The laying method is selected depending on the degree of unevenness of the floor covering:

• The difference in height does not exceed 6 mm per 1 square. m - it is possible to do without lags.
• Not more than 10 mm - tape logs, the plywood sheet should be divided into parts 60 * 60 in size.

Leveling the floor to the base

How to level a wooden floor without tearing boards with plywood? With a small difference in height, plywood sheets are fixed to the base using self-tapping screws.

• Leveling is done at the maximum height, and in areas with an underestimation of the level, gaskets are placed under the sheets. In this case, it is better to use a building material with a thickness of 8-10 mm, and if necessary, laying in two layers is possible.
• Laying is carried out in rows, and each subsequent row is shifted in relation to the previous one not less than ¼ from the width of the plywood sheet.
• The initial row should be located at a distance of 8 mm from the wall (for this, a suitable width of the strap is fixed).
• A gap of 3 mm should be made between the sheets.
• Hats of self-tapping screws should be “sunk” in plywood.

To exclude the possibility of a defect in the building material, holes should be drilled at the fastening points of the screws.

Mounting on tape logs. How to level a wooden floor without tearing boards in an old house

With an average degree of flaws, plywood material is strengthened on tape logs. Logs are strips made of plywood, the width of the part is 22-30 cm, the thickness is 9-11 mm. They are fixed to the base, at a distance of 60 cm between the centers. Laying takes place in parallel. Alignment of lags is carried out according to the level, with a substrate of a film heat insulator of the required thickness. Plywood sheets are laid in the same way as in the first case.

Mounting on bar logs

With a large difference in height along the perimeter of the floor, plywood sheets are laid on logs made of bars, 50 * 50 in size. The alignment process occurs by screwing the screws into the base to the desired depth:

• Beacons are arranged in the form of quadrangles with sides of approximately 30 cm.
• A wooden beam is fixed to the base with self-tapping screws parallel to each other at a distance of 55 cm.
• The self-tapping hats are aligned horizontally using a level.
• Logs are aligned on the hats of self-tapping beacons.
• Plywood quadrangles are fixed approximately in the middle of the timber.

Important! The distance between the logs before laying the plywood is filled with mineral wool / polystyrene or other material that retains heat.

Concrete screed application

Alignment of the wooden floor with concrete mortar is complicated by the impressive mass of the structure. The thickness of the concrete screed is from 9 to 11 cm.

Stages of execution:

• Filling is carried out according to beacons installed at a distance of 55-60 cm.
• The wooden floor is covered with a film of polyethylene so that its ends go onto the wall higher than the height of the screed.
• The borders of the film are glued with tape, and it overlays with an overlap.
• The screed is reinforced with a masonry net laid 4-5 cm above the base.
• The floor is poured in two layers, the composition is carefully compacted and leveled.

Looking for the answer to the question of how to level the wooden floor without tearing the board, pay attention to such moments as:

• Technical capabilities.
• Necessity.
• Value for money.
• Labor input.

By answering these questions, you can easily understand how to level a wooden floor without tearing boards in a private house or apartment, and which technology is right for you.