How to replace and insulate the floors in the house. The lower crowns of the log house: replacement technology and important nuances Installation and alignment of wooden logs

Replacing the lower rims of a wooden house is usually not necessary, but only if it is built from quality dried lumber and the right technology is used. Having fulfilled these conditions, the replacement of the lower rims may be required after fifty years or more. Winter felling forest that has undergone drying and antiseptic treatment, a house roof structure with wide roof overhangs to protect walls from blocking in rain and snow, reliable waterproofing of the foundation and cut-offs, cutting corners and sampling longitudinal grooves in accordance with the rules of technology, all these and many other rules better to follow. But if there is a need for a complete and partial replacement of the lower rims, such methods are available. These works are considered extremely time-consuming and complex and require knowledge and experience.

Methods for replacing and restoring rotten lower rims of a log house

At the very beginning of the “process”, when the owner discovers that the lower chords of the logs are starting to rot, and the logs are not damaged to a great depth or are only partially damaged along the length of the crowns, cosmetic repairs are possible.

Cosmetic repair of the lower rims

This method will not give a solution to the problem for decades. In addition, when cutting and replacing part of the crowns, a large number of new joints and cold bridges will inevitably appear, and violations of the integrity of the supporting crowns of the frame will lead to the fact that the entire frame will lose some of its strength, rigidity and stability. And yet this method is, although temporary, but a way out. In order to cut out the rotten sections of the lower rims of the walls and replace them with new ones, you will not need special equipment and large financial investments. This method is quite simple and affordable for doing it yourself.

Partial brickwork

An accessible method of repairing the lower rims of log walls is possible in case of local damage to the rims. If you need to replace a small area, then it is replaced with brickwork, sequentially. Cutting out the rotten sections in parts, instead of them, laying of ceramic bricks on a cement-sand mortar is removed.

Replacing the lower rims

Another method of solving the problem of the loss of bearing capacity of the lower rims as a result of decay is cardinal, high-cost and long, comparable to new construction. Although completely effective. They completely dismantle the walls of the house, replace rotten elements, and partially, if possible, restore the horizontal waterproofing of the foundation. An additional plus of this method is that it is possible to replace not only the lower, but also the upper crowns of the house, if necessary.

The third method of reconstruction requires disassembly of the upper part of the foundation, after which the lower rotted parts of the crowns are replaced and the structures and waterproofing of the foundation are restored. A serious disadvantage of this technique is that any violations of the existing structure of the foundation, balance and joint work of the foundation and foundation soils, as a rule, have an extremely negative effect on the bearing capacity of the foundation and the house, and as a result, on their service life.

Replacing the lower rims with jacking

The most reliable and high-quality method of repairing wooden houses, as well as the most economical, is the replacement of the lower belts of the log house with lifting by jacks. Together with replaceable crowns, it is possible to repair the foundation, in whole or in part, and to reinforce the waterproofing.

When performing lifting and repair technology, the geometric dimensions of the house do not change, the strength and stability of structures does not decrease. Which technology to use depends on the condition of the log house. If the walls are in good condition, all the crowns are securely connected, then it is possible to raise the house using jacks. In case of violation of the dressing and integrity of the walls by the processes of decay, there is a need to use stationary support frames.

The required number of jacks - two, four or more, is calculated depending on the length of the walls of the house. To install the supporting parts of the jacks, sections with rot-damaged crowns are cut in the lower parts of the walls with a chain saw.

After installing the jacks, the wall is raised as evenly as possible, very slowly. They raise it so that it is possible to freely remove and replace the rotten crown. Reinforcement elements from new logs are installed in the walls in parts - short segments are started and mounted from the corners, and the middle one, of the greatest length, is installed in the gap between the jacks.

After the log house is lowered into place and the jacks are removed, the holes remaining after their installation are tightly sealed with pieces of logs, with insulation and sealing of the joints with linen, jute fiber or tow seals.

When repairing, it is necessary to carry out antiseptic treatment, as high as possible, using modern wood protection products. Old methods of bituminization or lubrication of logs by mining do not give a sufficient long-term effect, and sometimes harm the tree, due to clogging of the pores of the wood. Currently, there is a large selection of antiseptics and wood bioprotection preparations that are odorless, harmless to health and do not damage the facade of the house, with excellent antiseptic properties. The quality of the impregnation directly affects the durability of the log house.

To perform a cut-off from capillary moisture suction, or horizontal waterproofing, it is recommended to use not roofing material on bitumen, but more modern materials, for example, euroroofing material in two layers. The material reinforced with a layer of fiberglass, elastic, is made on the basis of bitumen and has served for decades, providing sealing. The use of roofing material will lead to the fact that the violation of the waterproofing of the foundation will create conditions for decay and damage to the replaced crowns.

To protect the lower belt of the log house of a wooden house, metal visors are used. The installation of canopies over the lower chords of logs operating in the most difficult conditions guarantees the removal of atmospheric water from the crowns and an increase in their service life.

In old houses where the floors were made of wood, the problem of creaks and fragility of the coating occurs very often. The board wears out, rots and cracks. Replacing a wooden floor with a concrete one in an apartment looks rational. This can be done, including in old houses. The concrete floor has excellent strength, service life, it can be covered with laminate in full compliance with the technical requirements for this process.

Removing the old floor

Dismantling the old coating is the first step from which the replacement of a wooden floor with a concrete one in an apartment begins. For this, standard tools are used: a sledgehammer, a crowbar, a crowbar.

1. Remove floor coverings in the form of linoleum.
2. With the help of a tool, the coating is disassembled.
3. In areas where pipes and other communications enter, you should be especially careful.

After removing the old boards, access to the base is opened. Logs are laid on a reinforced concrete slab in apartments, often they are not even fixed. The space between them is covered with the remains of construction debris for soundproofing.

Everything needs to be removed. Garbage collection will require bags and a place for temporary storage.

After the construction debris and dirt are removed, the logs are evaluated. If the wood is in good condition, a plywood or chipboard screed base can be created to be placed over the existing underlay. But this will cause the floor level to rise, so it’s worth deciding which is better: to make a new coating on the logs, without insulation, or to remove the logs and form a layer of concrete over the floor slabs.

In practice, most apartment owners act according to the second option. Legs are dismantled. After that, you need to carefully assess the condition of the pipes - cold and hot water, sewage. If there is damage or signs of poor condition, the interfloor sector should be replaced immediately. Later, after creating the concrete floor, repairs will cause much more problems and time costs.

Evaluation of the list of works

The slab, freed from the floor, logs, construction debris and other dirt, is inspected. Level measurements are made. A laser level is useful, which determines the height difference and their nature.

Several situations may arise:

1. the base is formed by several narrow plates forming a “step”;
2. there is a trough-like shape or there is a bulge in the center of the room with a descending height to the perimeter;
3. there is a uniform slope of the base to one side or the other.

It is necessary not only to evaluate the work on the level of investment of funds, but also to plan the smallest possible mass of the screed. To do this, the concrete layer is made of a minimum thickness, placing it on a backfill or lightweight mortar.

The procedure for evaluating the work of the future floor with a large, from 70 mm floor height difference, looks like this:

• the thickness of the concrete screed is 40-50 mm;
• the rest of the space can be filled with class solution.

A cheaper way is to fill the rough surface with sand, but the mass of such a pillow will be significant. In practice, it is ideal to make a plywood base, under which expanded clay is poured to level the level. This method of work production simultaneously gives a smooth, even surface for the screed, the rough filling has a low mass and provides some degree of additional sound insulation.

The base for a plywood screed can be made on logs from a small section beam. This is a convenient and fairly cheap way. The logs are laid on the floor, providing a horizontal, while in the right places small supports are placed under them. After that, the free space is covered with expanded clay.

When filling the base with sand, it must be spilled with water and carefully compacted. It is not recommended to use a vibrating tool - the plaster finish may be damaged from the neighbors below or other troubles may arise. After finishing work, the sand should be given a couple of days to dry.

The difference, whether a wooden or concrete floor is located on an interfloor floor, is in the mass of the coating. Although, not only in this. About this video:

A little bit about very old houses

In houses where there is no reinforced concrete floor, you can replace the wooden floor with a concrete screed in one way: build a rough coating of plywood or chipboard. Some advise repairing the existing wood floor or laying additional flooring.

However, in practice, such work takes a lot of time, money, requires the replacement of damaged areas, the removal of old paint and other coatings to assess the condition of the boards.

Therefore, proceed as follows:

• all floor boards are removed;
• in houses with ceilings on beams or a metal profile between the floor and the ceiling of the lower floor, construction debris is poured for soundproofing. All this must be removed;
• the state of the lag is assessed. If bad, they are removed. If it is good, the logs are cleaned, treated with anti-mold, antibacterial agents and fixed in such a way as to guarantee the evenness of the plywood or chipboard flooring.

The preparation of the base for the screed begins with the filling of expanded clay into the interfloor ceiling on beams or I-beams. This layer will have a low mass and have good sound insulation. Backfilling is carried out to the upper level of the log. After that, they lay plywood or chipboard and act in the same way as in an apartment.

Construction of waterproofing and insulation

After the rough base for the screed is ready, they begin to create a waterproofing layer. For this, it can be used:

• roofing material or glassine;
• bituminous roll insulators based on fiberglass or fiberglass;
• polymer film;
• one-sided vapor-permeable membrane.

Before spreading the roll waterproofing, it is necessary to carry out preparatory work. To do this, the entire perimeter of the room is glued with a special construction tape. After that, it is coated with bituminous mastic of a cold type of application. Some compositions will require time to dry, so it is worth warning the neighbors in advance about the need to endure an unpleasant odor.

After the mastic has hardened, the perimeter is glued with a damper construction tape 20 mm thick and a rolled waterproofing agent can be spread out. Strips of material are placed with an overlap of 10-15 cm, each next strip overlaps the previous one. Along the perimeter of the room, the waterproofing should be 10-15 cm on the walls.

Seams are processed as follows:

• when using a polymer film, the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe edge of the strip located on the previous one is glued with a wide adhesive tape;
• roofing felt and other bitumen-containing materials are thoroughly heated with a building hair dryer over the joint area and rolled with a roller for gluing.

It is not recommended to use floating class materials in the apartment. They require processing with a kerosene burner, which in conditions of limited space and ventilation can be a problem.

To speed up the work will allow rolled waterproofing on a self-adhesive basis. They are more expensive, but will significantly speed up the flooring.

After the waterproofing is laid, a heater is placed on it. This stage of work is carried out if a floor heating system is being built. In other cases, it is not necessary to use thermal insulation.

Reinforcement laying

• classic, laying on the floor with a gap to the insulation or waterproofing in 10 mm steel mesh with a mesh size of 5 cm;
• using plastic reinforcing meshes;
• adding special fibers to the solution.

An aluminum chain-link mesh can also be placed inside the screed. But the leader in terms of convenience and rationality is the method using fibers. This will allow:

• do not care about the presence of a compensation gap to the waterproofing or insulation;
• lay a floor heating system inside the screed;
• work at high speed.

Fibers for reinforcing the screed are affordable, with their use it is possible to ensure the uniform strength of the concrete layer. But when constructing a floor not on a reinforced concrete floor slab, it is recommended to proceed in the classical way, using a reinforcing mesh.

Installation of beacons

Beacons on the floor on the prepared surface are installed simply: special profiles or a corner for decorating corners during plastering are placed on small mounds of gypsum putty. The evenness of the surface formed by the upper points is checked using a long building level.

If the base is poorly prepared and there is a difference in levels in the hotel areas of the area, the height of the putty mounds varies. It is necessary to place beacons at a distance of 40-50 cm, directing them along the line from the window to the door. Details must not be moved until the putty has completely hardened and the beacons are securely fixed.

Solution preparation

If you want to replace a wooden floor with a concrete screed and at the same time worry less about the pressure on the ceiling, you can use ready-made mortars. For example, KREISEL 440, 441, MZ150, allowing you to create a layer up to 70 mm with a minimum of 35 mm. In this case, it is not necessary to mix the dry mixture - the composition is immediately ready for adding water.

The standard approach is to use a classic cement-sand screed. For its preparation you will need:

• 1 part cement grade m400;
• 3 parts of sifted building sand;
• 0.1 parts of lime dough, acting as a plasticizer;
• fibers for reinforcement in the amount recommended by the manufacturer.

Before stirring with water, the dry mixture must be thoroughly mixed until a uniformly colored composition is formed. After that, they begin to add liquid, continuing to stir until the consistency of thick sour cream is obtained.

Recommendation: for fast and high-quality work, a large amount of dry mix should be prepared in advance. As needed, you can quickly dilute it with water. If you measure equal parts of the composition, it is easy to navigate in the amount of liquid needed and prepare the solution extremely quickly.

Screed laying

The screed is laid from the window or the far wall to the door. The solution is laid out in large portions and leveled with a long rule along the beacons. There are no difficulties during work, you just need to act quickly so that the solution does not seize and is easily smoothed out. It is recommended to lay the screed together. One is preparing the solution, the second is applying it.

Creating a finish

In the apartment you want to achieve maximum strength and at the same time -. To do this, you can act in several ways:

• grind the floor with sandpaper;
• apply special polymer compounds or paint with paint for concrete;
• iron the surface of the screed after 3-4 days, when partial solidification occurs;
• form a thin layer of self-leveling floor.

If you plan to lay tiles on the floor, you can do without additional surface treatment. For laminate or linoleum coatings, it is recommended to carry out. The most expensive version of the self-leveling floor allows you not only to get a smooth and even surface, but also to create an effective final coating. For example, a popular 3D floor or with graphic images.

The issue of creating the final coating should be considered in advance. The self-leveling floor will raise the overall level by about 30 mm, a similar situation is with ceramic tiles. However, final clearance can be seen as a secondary measure. As for the concrete floor itself, if the above rules and methods are observed, it is possible, after complete drying in 2-3 weeks, to create a very strong, durable coating for an acceptable cost of money and time.

Living in a wooden house is much more comfortable than in a building built from artificially created materials.

It creates a microclimate in which it is easy to breathe and does not cause allergic reactions. Unfortunately, the naturalness of a wooden house, in addition to environmental benefits, has a number of disadvantages during operation.

Over time, the wooden structure deteriorates under the influence of moisture, temperature changes, fungal damage, bugs and other factors. There is a question of its demolition or restoration. A major home renovation can give it a second life.

More often, the lower rows of a log cabin, including the initial row, are destroyed from decay. It is called a salary and has a surface hewn from below for a better fit to the foundation. The destruction occurs due to the proximity of the lower rims to the wet surface of the earth. Restore the house by replacing rotten areas with new logs. Consider how to change the old crowns of the lower rows of wood using building technologies.

Replacing the lower rims

Crown replacement technology

There are two ways to restore the lower part of the log house:
Partial replacement of damaged areas can be performed. To do this, it is enough to cut out the rotten parts and insert new ones in their place. This will prevent further spread of decay.
If the lower crowns are completely rotten, they must be replaced with new ones. Such a replacement is possible when lifting the log house with jacks in order to access rotten logs.
We will analyze in detail how to replace old logs using these methods.

The process of completely replacing the lower rims with a jack

Before performing work, it is necessary to check the strength of the binding of the corner elements, on which the integrity of the geometry of the structure depends. If the corners of the house are not rotten and the dressing is strong, then the walls can withstand the rise.

The process of replacing old crowns using a strip foundation jack is carried out in the following sequence:

• for replaced crowns, logs located on top in the corner dressing are determined, since they will be supports for jacks;
• at a distance of 1 meter from both corners of the wall in the foundation, recesses 40 cm wide are made;
• opposite these recesses, sections of the same width are cut out on the lower dressing log. The height of the foundation recesses and the sawn section in total should allow the installation of a jack in the resulting niche;
• the same niches are prepared on the opposite side. If you use two jacks from opposite sides, then you can raise the entire log house without distortions, it is also possible to alternately lift the walls;
• the log house is raised to a height of up to 10 cm with the jacks resting on the upper dressing logs of the first crown;
• after lifting the log house, the lower dressing logs are removed from the log house;
• under the logs available after that, located below the second crown, temporarily install supports from improvised materials: logs, bricks and others, and the jacks are slowly lowered;
• the upper supporting logs of the first row that have fallen down together with the jacks are also removed, new ones are installed in their place and fixed again with jacks;
• the installed temporary support substrates under the second crown are removed and new lower dressing logs are placed on the foundation, having previously laid roofing material on it;
• cracks are caulked with tow or other materials;
• the damaged foundation is restored using cement mortar, followed by waterproofing along the entire length.

Replacing the lower rims of the log house, lifting a wooden house

Replacing the lower logs of the house, the base of which is a columnar foundation.

It is easier to do. This does not require the destruction of the foundation.
First, prepare the support platforms for the jack. At a distance of about 1 meter from the corners, concrete blocks, metal shields or bricks are laid, which will serve as the lower support for the jacks.
The level of such a platform should allow the jack to enter the hole in height after sawing in the lower log of the strapping being repaired, and provide it with an emphasis on the upper log.

Sometimes, for this purpose, the supporting platform has to be deepened with the help of a tunnel.
Otherwise, updating rotten crowns is similar to the method described above for a strip foundation.

The process of partial replacement of the lower rims

Partial replacement technology is carried out as follows:

• the boundaries of the damaged areas are outlined with the help of notches with a chisel;
• rotten areas are sawn out with a chainsaw in places of notches and removed;
• for a reliable connection of the insert at the edges of the cuts, cuts are made 20 cm wide;
• the lower freed part of the crown, located above the area to be removed, is leveled with a chisel and treated with an antiseptic along with the places of cuts;
• from a log having the same diameter as the rotten area, an insert is cut 1–2 mm shorter than the width of the opening with a protruding cutting. It is also covered with an antiseptic;
• the insert is installed in the sawn opening on the roofing material previously laid on the foundation. For a snug fit, it is clogged with a sledgehammer;
• joints are sealed with tow or other material.

With a partial replacement, you can gradually update the entire lower crown. To do this, consistently replace rotten segments with new inserts.

The only drawback of this method is the lack of integrity of the crown. But in this case, it is not necessary to raise the frame with jacks.

Also, instead, you can lay out this row with bricks, gradually cutting out sections of the crown for them.

Preparatory work

Lifting a house requires thorough preparation. Before that, you need to do the following:

• window sashes need to be opened and fixed, fastened with twine to the wall or frames removed altogether to avoid cracks in case of skew when lifting the log house;
• it is also better to remove the door frames or fix the doors in the open position to the walls;
• the floor must be separated from the walls. If its lags are built into the mortgage, then it must be disassembled. Then the logs are sawn off at the junction with the mortgage crown and support bars are installed under them;
• provide a separate foundation for the furnace, it must be separated from the lower floor;
• the chimney is also separated from the top floor and roofing to avoid damage to the roof;
• the upper rims of the log house, which cannot be replaced, must be fixed with a coupler so that when the log house is raised, it does not warp. At the same time, for reliability, the bars are fixed outside and inside the house;
• the house must be freed from all heavy objects;
• all logs and bars prepared for replacement are treated with an antiseptic;
• prepare materials for sealing the updated logs and foundations: roofing material, cement, bricks, resin-based sealant, etc.

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Cost of replacement work

The work associated with raising the log house and replacing rotten crowns is considered complex and laborious. You don't have to do them on your own. To do this, it is better to hire craftsmen. First you need to determine the cost of work and materials.

In order to replace the lower crown, it is often necessary to perform additional work: dismantling the foundation, pouring a new foundation, dismantling the lower crown and installing a new one, making a blind area, dismantling the floor and beams inside the house.

Cost of work: replacement of crowns and floor.

Cost of works: foundation works.

Quite often we solve problems with floors in private wooden houses for our Customers, whether it is a complete replacement with insulation, or a change in the floor finish. The main reasons why people turn to us for this are subsidence of the floors, violation of the geometry of the planes, partial decay and destruction of the floor lags, insufficient or complete absence of insulation (cold floor), etc.

In most cases, the causes of these unpleasant consequences are violations of the installation technology of floors and floor coverings, insufficient or lack of ventilation in the underground, the proximity of groundwater, the low height of the basement of the house and ventilation openings, and the most banal - savings on the cross section and the number of floor transfers and the thickness of the carrier layer (the floors are "trampolines"). Everything is solvable, and absolutely any situation can be corrected, there would be a desire and money. The most important thing is not to start the problem, otherwise the day is not far off when it will be simply dangerous to walk on the floors, and they may fail completely (we met this too). So, we figured out the main reasons for the violation of functionality. Now closer to the point.

Floor dismantling.

The first step in replacing and / or insulating floors with your own hands will definitely be the dismantling of skirting boards around the perimeter of the room and the existing floor covering, and, possibly, translations. No special skills are required here, the main thing is accuracy in work and attentiveness when disassembling, so as not to disrupt communications (mainly electrical wiring and sewerage, possibly plumbing with heating). After all this, the removal of accumulated construction debris follows (there will be a lot of it, prepare a place for its disposal in advance). Often, long boards and translations are no longer possible to take out through the doors, so we either cut them right in the room (inconvenient, besides, when using a chainsaw, the smell of exhaust fumes remains), or we serve them through the windows (most often they do this).

The device of sexual translations.

In general, if the replacement of the floors is already required, they rarely change the translations at the same time, because if the coating has already rotted, then the load-bearing beams are definitely also damaged. Modern technologies for laying floors and mounting a supporting frame for them necessarily imply the treatment of both beams and subfloor boards with hard-to-wash antiseptics, which significantly reduce the degree of damage to them by fungus, insects and pathogens. Dacha squatting of the last century was rarely puzzled by this, which is why translations that collapse right in the hands are not uncommon, but rather a pattern. So - we definitely buy an antiseptic in construction stores, and we are not too lazy to process the tree, this is important.

What else? Organization of proper air exchange in the subfield. The main reason why floors and floor logs rot is the lack of proper air exchange. Natural ventilation is the key to the long life of your floors and a healthy indoor climate. Often in private houses on the ground floor there is a persistent smell of mold, especially in spring and autumn. This is the first sign that the vents are either not enough or they are organized incorrectly (there are blind pockets, non-through vents, etc.). Therefore, during the overhaul of floors, close attention should be paid to this, and, if necessary, correct mistakes made during construction. It would also be nice to check the literacy of the organization of waterproofing the foundation and the state of the backfill under the house (most often it is sand, it is possible to fill the subfloor with expanded clay).

Arrangement and installation of log floors.

This stage is important in the context of selecting the correct sections of the bearing elements, here all kinds of online and offline beam calculators will help you. The main principle is that the section should be selected with a load margin, the required lag step is mainly selected based on the selected finish coating (it is one for a grooved board, another for plywood, taking into account the subsequent laying of a laminate, etc.), or they are repelled from the width insulation mats. What else to pay attention to? floor level. Recently, the main trend in the arrangement of floors in private wooden houses is the installation of the latter on one level on the entire floor, without level transitions. Accordingly, all interior door frames are assembled and installed without thresholds, with the exception of kitchen and bathroom doors. It is undeniably more convenient to use.

How to do it? If we change the floor in some particular room, then it is necessary to push off from the level already existing in the neighboring one. Here, a laser or water level helps us, with the help of which we transfer marks to the corners of the room. After that, we subtract the future thickness of the floors (grooved boards from 28 to 45 mm, plywood from 18 to 22 mm, a smaller thickness does not pass without organizing the flooring from the boards), we put down new marks - this is the floor log plane. Then we set the extreme lags of the floors according to the marks, and fix them. A prerequisite for supporting translations on a concrete base is waterproofing the place of contact.

An independent floor is considered a good form, when the translations are not tied to the walls of the house. They can be mounted on the cheeks of the foundation, or on posts indoors. At the same time, it is better if these are not pillars laid out of foundation blocks or bricks (from practice - without a proper foundation they tilt and do not fulfill their functions after 3-5 years), but piles drilled and cast into a sleeve from an asbestos-cement or plastic pipe. The location of the piles is individual for each room, we are guided by beam calculators for calculating the deflection and common sense, too many complicate and increase the cost of the whole process.

Move on. Now we have something to rely on the lags, the extreme ones have already been mounted. Collecting the rest into the system is a matter of technology. It is necessary to pull the lace along both edges and the middle, and continue the installation of floor transfers with the required step, controlling the gaps under the stretched threads (they should be the same and minimal). As a result, we get a flat plane.

We collect draft floors.

The draft (black) floor is added as an additional layer when insulating the floors, most often it is a boardwalk (on cranial bars fixed on the inside of the log) from edged boards with a section of 150x25 or 100x25 mm, pre-treated with an antiseptic. It adds rigidity to the entire structure of the floor, serves as an additional insulating layer, protects the fine finish of the floor from moisture, and the entire insulation pie lies on it. How to make rough floors? We will need bars with a section of 30x30 mm, and an edged inch board. We fasten the cranial bar on the inner sides of the translations, measure the width of the joists between the lags. We cut the boards into a size slightly smaller than the span, and tightly lay the boards on the bars. As a matter of fact, everything.

Floor insulation in a wooden house.

Properly insulating the floor in the house with your own hands is easy. The insulation pie, if you follow the technology, consists of subfloors, a waterproofing layer, a heat-insulating layer, and a vapor barrier. The process itself is easy. Using a construction stapler, we mount a waterproofing membrane on top of the subfloor and the floor log, which goes around each transfer, monitor the junctions with the walls, and control its integrity. Then we put the required layer of insulation in the resulting pockets, it’s not worth doing less than 100 mm (today there is plenty to choose from on the market, so anachronisms such as shavings with sawdust, glass wool, expanded clay, fallen leaves have not been used for a long time). The choice of the manufacturer is the business of the Customer, we, in turn, most often recommend and use Knauf products in our work. We pass along the walls along the transfers with a roller from a heater, we control the absence of cracks and cold bridges (adjacent mats must necessarily overlap with the next layer). There are no fundamental differences between rolled and briquette insulation in the floors, you can use any, a matter of convenience in work. Styrofoam and polystyrene foam are not recommended for use - mice love them very much, and they burn great, releasing deadly substances.

The next layer will be a vapor barrier membrane, we also mount it with a stapler, we monitor the junctions with the walls and the overlap. After that, you need to organize airflow between the insulation and the base of the floor, the easiest way is to sew planed thin slats over the lag, fortunately, they are not expensive. We figured out the insulation, we move on.

Plywood flooring under the laminate.

In the last few years, when replacing floors in a country house as a finishing floor, customers are increasingly choosing laminate as a topcoat. The choice is not accidental - the highest performance and a huge variety of colors and textures speak for themselves. Serves for a long time, unpretentious, low price per square meter, does not dry out like a grooved board, no need to paint - ideal. Linoleum? Not exactly what you need - he does not breathe a little more than completely, the only plus is ease of cleaning and a slightly lower price, and even then not always. Can be placed in the hallway, kitchen and bathroom.

So, laminate - laying in a country country house. We need a smooth and durable base that does not “walk” with temperature and humidity changes. What to choose? Plank flooring from edged lumber disappears - the moisture content of the source material is 12-14%, different thicknesses of the boards. OSB sheets, even 12.5 mm thick, do not have sufficient rigidity. DSP - let's just say, cement in the house, especially on the floor, is never comme il faut. What remains is plywood. The thickness that suits us starts at 18 mm, it is better if it is 21 mm. Which one to choose? Definitely, it should be birch plywood, since softwood plywood is not strong enough and is more demanding on the frequency of transfers. Grading, everything is also simple here, we don’t need polished top quality, since this is not a finish coating. Accordingly, you can save a lot if you contact the manufacturer or an authorized dealer directly and buy the so-called economy class, which is much cheaper, and for our purposes it fits perfectly.

The process of laying plywood on ready-made translations is simple, the most important thing was not to make a mistake during the installation of translations, so that the joints of the sheets fall into the middle of the log, this is critical. Step by step installation of plywood on the floor is as follows:

• we check the diagonals of the room, determine the right angle along the walls;
• we temporarily lay sheets along the walls, where we have defined a right angle (or its likeness), with the letter G;
• we check the correct laying of the sheets, whether they go away from the joint line in the middle of the translation, if necessary, cut the sheets along the wall to achieve the desired result (important - only one side is cut along the wall, otherwise you will have to cut all the sheets later);
• we provide small gaps near the walls for the possible expansion of plywood;
• then everything is simple, we pre-drill the plywood with a drill bit smaller than the diameter of the self-tapping screw and fasten it (life hack - we fix the joints of the sheets between the translations on scraps of plywood or boards, which we fasten by slipping under the previous sheet to get a solid and hard flooring).

Video - the process of replacing and insulating floors in a private wooden house.

In a private house or in "Khrushchev", it is most often necessary to replace old wooden floors, since their service is limited to a certain period of operation. Wooden floors are subject to deformation from constant temperature changes and exposure to humid air. Wood is an environmentally friendly, durable and affordable material with reliable heat-shielding characteristics, wooden floors look cozy and are suitable for any coating. In order to decide to replace the floors with your own hands in an old house or in a “Khrushchev”, you must first determine the degree of wear and tear and possible repair options.

Signs of wear on a hardwood floor

You can make sure that the floors are really unusable and you can replace them yourself by checking a few basic indicators:

• boards creak under load;
• boards sag under the weight of furniture;
• significant level differences are noticeable, water flows in one direction;
• cracks and gaps appeared between the floorboards;
• wood becomes rotten and crumbles with any impact on it.

If you have come to the conclusion that the repair in this case is useless, then you should plan a full-scale re-laying of the floor. The video provides a list of tools that you will need in order to change the wooden floors with your own hands. You can act in accordance with several stages, among which:

• determination of the amount of materials - logs are calculated based on laying 0.5 - 0.8 m apart, boards with a width of at least 40 mm are used for floorboards, and how many boards are needed to re-lay the floors, they are calculated based on the area of ​​​​laying with a margin not less than 1%;
• wood treatment with antiseptic impregnation to prevent rot and mold;
• the device of a hydrobarrier before laying the logs on the surface of the soil or a concrete base, for this purpose, sheets of roofing material placed in two or three layers under each log can be used.

Replacing the old floor

If the floors are being replaced not in the “Khrushchev”, but in a private house or in the country, then after dismantling the old floors, the base should be leveled under the logs, for this you need to perform several actions:

1. Level and compact the ground;
2. Dig holes 200 × 200 mm deep up to half a meter in the places where the supports are installed;
3. Pour in layers of 60 mm sand, crushed stone and rubble chips;
4. Pour prepared concrete solution;
5. Build brick columns on the hardened mortar in order to lay horizontal support bars on them;
6. Then, logs are laid perpendicular to the support bars, and the space between the logs is sewn up with OSB sheets;
7. Support bars and logs are covered with protective impregnations and it is desirable to additionally cover with bituminous mastic;
8. Next, the floor surface is covered with waterproofing in the form of a dense film.

The video shows how the logs are laid on a leveled base and checked by a hydraulic level (water level) for their strictly horizontal position. To do this, you can use a cord stretched between the outermost lags, then the lags are carefully leveled in height relative to the cord, picking up small pieces of plywood of suitable thickness in the right places so that the cord remains evenly stretched and in contact with all the bars.

Important! The space between the lags must be filled with insulation, which can be used as mineral wool, foam plastic or expanded polystyrene. All of these materials have additional and sound-absorbing properties. The price of these materials is not high and they can be purchased at any hardware store.

When we lay the floors with our own hands in the "Khrushchev" or in the country, on the prepared boards we mark the desired size with a tape measure and, using a square, we cut the boards strictly in compliance with the right angle. In order for the wooden floors in the house or in the “Khrushchev” to be strong and durable, you should try to follow the basic rules:

• it is permissible to join the floorboards only in the middle of the lag;
• between the boards and the adjacent wall, a gap of one and a half centimeters must be provided for the free expansion of wood in the warm season, the gap left under the plinth will be invisible;
• to fix the boards, you need to use self-tapping screws three board thicknesses long, since the nails gradually crawl out due to the constant expansion and contraction of the wood fibers, which creates inconvenience and leads to dangerous consequences;
• when laying the boards, they should be knocked as tightly as possible to each other, for which they use a hammer and an extension from a bar, it is desirable to place the floorboards in the main direction of daylight from window openings;
• caps of self-tapping screws, which should be sunk into the wood, and the resulting cracks must be covered with a special mixture (sealants, putties);
• the floor surface must be treated with a grinder;
• a primer or drying oil is applied to the laid boards and painted with acrylic or oil paints.

Important! It is very convenient to use tongue-and-groove boards to replace the floors with your own hands in the "Khrushchev" or in the country, which have longitudinal protrusions on one side, and grooves on the other - special recesses that are precisely aligned with the protrusions. Tongue-and-groove boards are carefully cleaned during the manufacturing process and do not require additional polishing.

This video shows in detail the process of laying tongue and groove flooring, which creates a very neat, comfortable impression. Their cost slightly exceeds the cost of conventional boards, but the quality of processing and ease of installation pay off the money spent. It often happens that in order to emphasize additional aesthetic accents in the interior, the boards are not painted, but in a “rustic style” they are covered with alkyd varnish of different color saturation, the low price of varnishing makes this method very attractive. Any coatings can be laid on top of a wooden floor: laminate, linoleum, carpet, ceramic tiles.