How to level walls in an apartment: building mixes for leveling walls

Everyone wants to admire in their home perfectly smooth even walls, even geometry of lines in the rooms and impeccable finishes. If you still have the pleasure of a perfect repair, then you face one of the most important questions - how to align the walls?

Align the walls in the apartment usually:

• plaster;
• drywall;
• putty (with small differences up to 1 cm).

Each of these methods has advantages and disadvantages. After analyzing them, you can decide for yourself which wall lining material choose and what is best suited for your apartment.

The choice of building mixture

Today, the construction industry offers a variety of mixtures for leveling walls, ranging from sand-cement, cement-lime to gypsum, which is in demand for individual housing. What is the difference between them?

To make the right choice, you need:

• take into account the amount of work to be done, the conditions in the room (for example, humidity);
• using a plumb line and a level, approximately determine the curvature and unevenness of the walls;
• evaluate your financial capabilities, because the cost of plasters differs, including depending on the brand.

Cement based mixtures

The brand of cement determines the quality of the dry mix (M300, M400): the higher it is, the stronger the coating. For walls in residential premises, it is enough to choose cement of the M150 brand, which is optimal for plastering.

The amount of sand in the mixture and the size of the fractions affect the purpose of the work:

• Sand with larger fractions is suitable for rough rough finishing.
• Fine-grained material is chosen for fine finishing.

Modern sand-cement mixtures cannot do without special polymer additives that give the material plasticity and improve adhesive qualities.

Advantages of cement-sand mixtures:

1. Possibility of use at internal works in the crude room. It is best to level the wall in the bathroom with cement-based mixtures.
2. Lower price, which distinguishes them among all building mixtures.
3. Durability of the prepared solution.

Flaws:

1. Tendency to crack, especially if the base of the wall is poorly prepared and has drawn all the moisture out of the applied layer.
2. Long drying time for layers.
3. The complexity of applying to the walls.

Let's name some characteristics of a cement-based dry mix:

• The layer thickness for a concrete wall without the use of a reinforcing mesh should not exceed 20 mm, for a brick - 25 mm.
• Consumption is approximately 1.8 kg/sq. m with a layer thickness of 1 mm.
• The price of cement-sand plaster is from 145 rubles per 25 kg.

Cement-lime mixtures

In a number of cement mixtures there is a place for cement-lime. The addition of lime to cement increases the plasticity of the solution, in terms of its properties the solution approaches gypsum, but at the same time it is more durable.

Advantages of cement-lime leveling compound:

1. Does not allow mold and mildew to form.
   The cover regulates the humidity in the room.
2. The solution adheres firmly to the wall, including wood and concrete.
3. When dried, it does not crumble and does not crack even when drilling.

Flaws:

1. Low compressive strength.
2. The price is higher than that of cement-sand plasters, from 205 rubles per 25 kg.

Gypsum mixes

For many, there is no longer a question of how best to level the walls, because gypsum mixtures occupy the first place in the popularity of plasters. They have an excellent leveling ability, thanks to which it is possible not to use putty before finishing, and are very easy to apply.

Let's list other advantages of this material:

1. Mineral, environmentally friendly material that does not contain harmful components.
2. Does not shrink, does not crack, does not exfoliate.
3. Maintains a comfortable microclimate in the room due to the ability to absorb and release moisture.
4. Consumption with the same thickness of the plaster layer is 2–3 times less than that of sand-cement mixtures.
5. The low density of the material allows it to be applied in a thicker layer at a time, the thickness of which can reach 60 mm.
6. Good adhesion and low weight of the material allows it to be used on poorly absorbent surfaces.
7. High plasticity and fast setting in contrast to sand-cement mixtures.
8. Good heat and sound insulation.
9. The result is absolutely even and smooth leveled surfaces.

Gypsum plaster used to eliminate large irregularities, differences, both in height and horizontally, chips and potholes. It is applied in a layer with a thickness of 5 to 60 mm.

Cons of gypsum plaster:

1. Not suitable for rooms with high humidity (above 60%). The apartment has a bathroom and a kitchen.
2. The speed of work with the finished solution should be high due to the rapid setting. The solution will have to be prepared in small portions.
3. Low strength.
4. Relatively high cost of the product. Gypsum plaster of a domestic brand costs from 275 rubles per 30 kg, the popular Knauf Rotband - from 360 rubles.

Gypsum plasters from different manufacturers are similar in their parameters. To properly observe the mode of operation, you need to know:

• Working time with the finished solution is about 20 minutes.
• The plaster consumption is approximately 8.5 kg/sq. m with a layer thickness of 10 mm.
• The total drying time of the plaster on the wall is 7 days. Only then is further surface treatment possible - wallpapering, painting, etc.

Advantages and disadvantages of plasterboard leveling

How do you level the walls in the apartment if you want to make repairs quickly? Drywall allows you to quickly get results without messing with a long wait, debris, dust and dirt. With this material, even very large differences on the walls vertically and horizontally can be eliminated. And most importantly, all the work can be done independently, without resorting to anyone's help. There are the following methods of mounting GKL on the walls:

• Wireframe method, when using which the GKL sheets are fastened with self-tapping screws to a metal profile mounted on the wall using guides and vertical racks fixed to the floor and ceiling.
• Frameless method, which involves gluing drywall to the wall using special compounds. Applicable if the wall has a slight slope.

By choosing drywall, you get:

• even and smooth walls with less effort and time compared to plastering;
• the ability to additionally equip sound and heat insulation, as well as carry out hidden wiring and install switches and sockets without gating.

But drywall has its drawbacks:

• Installing a drywall wall reduces the space in the room.
• A wall made of such material is fragile and fragile and can be damaged by an accidental impact.

When leveling walls with plasterboard sheets, you need to choose the right type of drywall.

The use of putty for leveling walls

Wall puttying without plastering can be carried out if the wall irregularities are small, within 1 cm. This is possible only in panel houses with smooth concrete walls, the brick will have to be plastered in any case. It is good to fill in recesses and recesses with putty. The procedure is carried out in two steps: the first layer is applied with the starting putty mixture, and after drying, the finishing layer is applied.Then everything is carefully polished and cleaned, the wall is even and smooth.

The most common types of putty mixtures:

• cement;
• plaster;
• polymeric.

The advantage of leveling the walls with putty is the simplicity and ease of use of the finishing material. On sale there are ready-made mixtures and dry ones, which are diluted to a thick creamy consistency. The solution is applied to the walls without effort, is easily distributed and lays evenly.

Each layer applied to the wall should not exceed 5 mm, primed well. The temperature in the room is maintained within the range of +5 to -30 С°, without drafts and overheating.

Deciding how to level the lopsided walls is not a problem in our time. The choice of building materials is huge, it is only necessary to take into account the conditions in a particular case. And how to align the walls in the apartment, on your own or with the help of specialists, is up to you.