Do-it-yourself floor repair in an apartment in stages

The surface of the floor is constantly subjected to significant loads and wears out over time. This manifests itself in the form of external defects, creaking and increased deflection of the elements. If you decide that the time has come to put the flooring in order, we invite you to find out how the floor is repaired in an apartment with your own hands in stages, and get acquainted with the important nuances that you need to remember in the process.

Floor assessment

Thinking about it how to repair the floor in the apartment inexpensive, you need to keep in mind that you can not just lay a new flooring without checking the condition of the base. If it leaves much to be desired, then the new linoleum or laminate will not last long.

• Elements of a wooden floor can creak, fail, bend, gaps may appear between them, and old boards may “swell” over time. Problems with a wooden floor can be associated with the flooring itself, with the joists, or with the base on which they are fixed. This is exactly what you need to find out when assessing the forthcoming scope of work.
• The topcoat may be applied over a screed that may begin to crumble or crack or buckle.

The volume and technology of repair work will depend on the scale of floor defects in your home.

Wood floor repair

Options for repairing the floor in the apartment may be different. In some cases, when wood floor repair it will be enough to replace only the most worn floorboards, fix the loosened elements, close up the cracks and scrape. It may be necessary to replace rotten logs, repair the concrete base.

Redecorating

This type of repair involves the following sequence of actions:

1. The floorboards are cleaned of the old coating. The modern way is scraping or grinding with a machine. In this case, the nail heads are pre-deepened by 5 mm.
2. Cracked and rotten boards are replaced with new ones. During the replacement process, it does not hurt to look into the underground and check the state of the lag.
3. Poorly fixed floorboards are additionally attached to the logs with self-tapping screws.
4. Narrow gaps are sealed with putty on wood, and large ones are closed with wedge-shaped glazing beads on glue or putty. The protrusions are removed with a planer, and the puttied areas are processed with a grinder.
5. Debris and dust are removed, and the renovated floor can be coated (painted, varnished) or covered with linoleum, laminate, etc.

Redecoration of a floor with a base in the form of a screed consists in a simple replacement of the top coat.

The repair process can be seen on the video, and the types of flooring - on numerous photos.

Complete floor replacement

Overhaul of the floor in a high-rise building includes the following steps:

• dismantling of the old coating and log or screed;
• elimination of foundation defects;
• installation of new logs, insulation and sound insulation or installation of a new screed;
• laying flooring and finishing floor coverings.

Dismantling

For the design on the logs:

• The plinths are removed, access to the boardwalk is released.
• Boards can still come in handy, so they should be removed carefully. Each floorboard is gently lifted from the wall, after which the nails are pulled out with a nail puller. It is especially difficult to disassemble grooved boards, as there is a risk of breaking the connection.
• The panel house has reinforced concrete floors to which logs are attached. You need to dismantle them carefully so that you do not have to do extra work later to seal the holes.

If it turned out that the state of the log allows you to use them further, you just need to change the flooring. For it, you can use boards, sheets of plywood or OSB.

For screed coating:

• The floor covering is removed.
• The condition of the tie is checked. If the defects are minor, it can be repaired with a fresh cement mixture or a concrete repair compound (depending on the screed composition).
• If the screed is badly cracked, has become loose, peels off from the base, it should be removed with a perforator.

When removing the screed, you need to be careful not to damage the concrete floor.

Subfloor repair

Cement mortar or a special thixotropic repair compound for concrete close up defects in the concrete floor. The entire surface is treated with a deep penetration primer.

Now you need to decide on the design of the floor. You can choose one of the following options:

• "Wet" screed using a cement-sand mixture. An inexpensive way to prepare the base, its disadvantage is prolonged drying for 1–1.5 months.
• self-leveling floor using special mixtures for leveling. Allows you to get the perfect surface, dries in just a few days. The cost of self-leveling compounds is quite high, so it is advisable to use this method for a base with small differences.
• "Dry" screed using expanded clay backfill and GVL.
• Log system. The method is good in that heat and sound insulation can be laid between the lags. At the same time, the logs give the floor additional strength, and the presence of an air gap provides insulation and ventilation.

Floor device on logs

If you decide to mount your new floor in the apartment on the logs, the order of work will be as follows.

1. Logs are laid on the base for the width of the insulation roll. They are attached to the base or mounted on screw metal studs, leveling exactly horizontally with a level. They should stand at a distance of 40-50 cm from each other.
2. The heater is installed. It should be placed between the lags around the entire perimeter of the room. A vapor barrier is laid on top of the insulation.
3. It is important to properly lay the boards or sheets of plywood so that they fit snugly against each other, and there is a gap of 5 mm between them and the walls. The sheets should lie on at least three supports, and the joints should be in the middle of the lag. They are stacked in a checkerboard pattern, which makes the floor more rigid.
4. Small gaps between the boards are sealed with putty, after which the surface must be scraped off.
5. A floor covering is laid on the repaired floor, skirting boards are attached.

Repair cost

Many people prefer to trust the repair of floors in the apartment to specialists. The cost of work is calculated individually, taking into account the type of repair, the condition of the floor, the selected floor covering. If we talk about the prices for the flooring of the finishing floor, then the prices will be as follows:

• Linoleum is the cheapest option, its installation will cost from 100 rubles / m2. This flooring material can be laid on any base and in any room, with the exception of the bathroom, where tiles would be more appropriate.

• Laminate - from 200 rubles / m2 in Moscow, from 120 rubles / m2 in St. Petersburg. It is used as an affordable imitation of parquet or natural boards. The surface of the base must be perfectly flat, the material is laid on a substrate made of polyethylene foam or technical cork.
• Carpet - installation price is the same as for linoleum. A beautiful and comfortable coating, but it requires a powerful vacuum cleaner, since the material collects a lot of dust.
• Ceramic tiles - from 600 rubles / m2. Great choice for bathroom cuisine, is placed on the screed.
• Wooden covering. It can be an array (laying from 750 rubles/m2 in Moscow, from 460 rubles/m2 in St. Petersburg), parquet (from 690 rubles/m2 in Moscow, from 500 rubles/m2 in St. Petersburg) or parquet board (from 270 rubles/m2 in Moscow, from 170 rubles/m2 in St. Petersburg).