Parquet flooring has been known for many centuries. Its installation until recently was difficult and time-consuming. But new technologies have made this process easier, and now it is possible to do it yourself. Let's find out how to lay parquet on plywood and when this method is most preferred in order to maintain maximum durability of the coating.
Why do you need a plywood base?
Before you start laying parquet, you need to perform a whole range of preparatory work. This type of flooring requires strict conditions:
- The base should have a height difference of no more than 1–2 mm per meter of surface.
- It is extremely important to provide the necessary protection against moisture.
- Substrate moisture should not exceed 6%.
Fulfilling all these conditions will help laying plywood layer on the old base.
Plywood is recommended to be laid in the following cases:
- On leveling screed or concrete floor. The wood board will facilitate the fastening of parquet slabs, will become a barrier that prevents the transfer of moisture from the ceiling, and also compensates for the difference in thermal expansion of wood and screed material.
- Laying parquet on an old wooden floor. Rarely is a plank base in a state close to ideal. Of course, you can carry out a cycle of repair work to achieve the required parameters, but laying sheet material is much easier.
- Sometimes it is advisable to lay plywood directly on the logs. This is the fastest and easiest way to prepare a quality base. This method can be used both in new buildings, where floors are completely absent, and with significant wear of the old floor covering, when it has to be completely dismantled.
Using plywood allows you to:
- Level the surface in the shortest possible time and with the least effort.
- Improve the heat and sound insulation properties of the floor covering.
- To protect the parquet from the influence of deformations associated with shrinkage and thermal expansion of the material.
- Ensure reliable fixation of parquet slabs. When fastening them directly to the screed, its upper layer may be destroyed over time, as a result of which the parquet planks will sag and loosen. This will not happen with plywood.
Preparing for styling
After completing the preliminary work, you can go directly to parquet installation. Before laying it, you need to decide on the laying scheme. The most common options:
- "herringbone";
- deck method;
- "diagonal";
- "square";
- "network".
Only after drawing up the scheme should the material be purchased, taking into account the amount of waste that is inevitable when cutting parquet planks. But even with the most careful calculations, it is better to purchase with a margin of at least 5% of the required amount of material.
The laid plywood must be sanded and primed before installation of the parquet.
Before laying, make sure that the required microclimate is created in the room: air humidity should be 35-60%, and temperature should be 17-22 °C. The residual humidity of the floor and walls should also be measured, its parameters should not exceed 5-6%. Failure to comply with these conditions may lead to damage to the laid coating. After a fairly short period of time, it will dry out or, conversely, swell.
Important! Parquet planks need to be aged in the room for at least 2-3 days in order for it to adapt to the microclimate of the room.
Parquet installation methods
According to the nature of fixation, the following types of parquet laying are distinguished:
- floating method.
- Mounting with glue.
- Fastening with nails, staples or screws.
- Combined.It involves the simultaneous use of glue and hardware.
floating way
Planks of parquet are fixed only among themselves. The strength of the connection is ensured by a system of spikes and grooves on the parquet elements.
Pros:
- Such a floor, without any consequences, can change its linear dimensions under the influence of external factors.
- Parquet is quite easy to repair.
Minuses:
- The strength of the coating is extremely low: the violation of one castle connection will lead to the inevitable deformation of the entire floor.
- It is mandatory to use soundproofing materials in the substrate.
Adhesive mount
A more reliable way to fix parquet, but it will be more difficult to repair such a coating if necessary.
For work, it is better to choose a two-component polyurethane composition.
The procedure is simple:
- Marks are placed on the floor depending on the chosen laying scheme.
- An adhesive composition is applied to a small space. It is recommended to use a notched trowel for this purpose.
- The parquet plank is laid on the glue and pressed tightly.
- The next row of elements is additionally fixed by means of a spike and a groove. To obtain an even and tight seam, the strips are knocked out with a hammer through a wooden plank or a pad.
So the entire parquet is laid row by row. Planks are cut according to the chosen scheme.
Combined method
The most secure mounting method. But it is extremely difficult to repair the parquet flooring laid in this way.
The procedure is almost the same as when laying on glue. The only difference is that each plank is additionally fixed with three self-tapping screws or studs. Fastening is carried out through a spike at an angle of 45 °. Thus, after attaching the next element, the fasteners will be invisible.
A construction gun equipped with studs or staples will greatly simplify and speed up the work. With its help, it is easiest to fix the dies on a plywood base with high quality.
Using a parquet board
Parquet is expensive. Therefore, recently, cheaper material - parquet board - is gaining more and more popularity. Its slats consist of three parts or layers:
- The top is made of valuable wood veneer.
- The middle one consists of coniferous wood, it contains the fixing elements of the tenon-groove system.
- The lower part is made of plywood.
Technology of laying glued parquet board the same as for the classic array coverage. But the larger size of the elements significantly speeds up and facilitates the process. The schemes for laying a parquet board on a plywood base are the same, most often these are “herringbone”, “deck” and “diagonal”.
Finishing parquet
After the installation is completed, the coating must be cured for at least a week. This is necessary for the complete curing of the adhesive. After that, the skirting boards are nailed, the surface is cycled and polished.
The final stage is the application of varnish or special oil to the parquet.
For a parquet board, as well as a variety of parquet, in which the finishing layer has already been applied at the factory, the sanding and varnishing steps are omitted.
Cost of work
When deciding to entrust the laying of parquet to professionals, you need to be prepared for serious expenses. Estimated price of works in Moscow:
- laying plywood sheets with drilling or glue - 140–250 rubles / m2;
- sanding plywood - 90–150 rubles / m2, primer - 30 rubles / m2;
- parquet flooring in a floating way - 300-350 rubles / m2, by gluing - 450-560 rubles / m2, for glue and nails - 450-630 rubles / m2;
- installation of a wooden plinth with a height of 60–100 mm - 180–320 rubles / m2;
- sanding, sanding parquet, puttying cracks - 350 rubles / m2.
- priming, varnishing - 60-150 rubles / m2, oil coating - 80-200 rubles / m2.
Prices for similar work in St. Petersburg and the regions may differ both up and down.
Parquet, laid on a plywood base, will delight for many years, if you do the work carefully and follow the listed rules.
