Such a stage of repair work as laying plywood on a concrete floor allows you to make the surface absolutely even and stable, fully prepared for the final floor covering. It is plywood that allows you to level the existing base, insulate the floor and provide its sound insulation.
Advantages of plywood
Plywood itself is a material consisting of several thin layers of veneer. It has a wide range of useful characteristics, which is why it is so widely used for laying on a concrete floor.
The main advantages of this material are:
- The smooth and even surface is ideal for any floor covering. It allows you to completely hide the flaws of the concrete base. Subsequently, plywood can be laid laminate and parquet, linoleum and carpet.
- Acceptable cost of the material allows it to be used by a wide range of consumers.
- Ease of processing and installation.
- The soundproofing properties of plywood enable the owners of the premises to isolate themselves from the penetration of excess noise from their neighbors.
- Water resistance. However, for rooms with high humidity, it is better to use special sheets marked with FSF, which have high water-repellent characteristics.
- Leveling a concrete floor with plywood is a neat and clean job, unlike pouring the same cement screed.
- Ecological purity of the material.
- Excellent wear resistance and strength.
Varieties of adhesive compositions for fixing plywood
Laying plywood on a concrete floor, or rather fixing it, is carried out using a special glue. To date, there are several types of adhesive compositions suitable for fixing plywood to concrete:
- Dispersion adhesive is an environmentally friendly product that does not contain harmful additives. It is odorless and has a long curing time. However, such an adhesive is not able to provide the maximum degree of fixation, therefore, plastic dowels or steel self-tapping screws should be used with it.
- Aqueous glue is the simplest and easiest to use, and can be used instead of a primer by simply diluting it with water.
- Alcohol glue has a sharp specific smell, which makes the master wear a respirator during work. But its complete drying is carried out within three days at normal room temperature. Due to its optimal density, the alcohol-based adhesive perfectly fills gaps and cracks, which ensures the strongest adhesion of plywood to a concrete base. In some cases, additional fastening with dowels is also required.
- The two-component adhesive has such remarkable characteristics as the shortest setting time, excellent strength and the best fixation, which does not require additional fastening.
Tip: whatever glue you choose to fix the plywood, in any case, prime the concrete base with a special solution. This will increase its adhesive properties and create a protective polymer coating.
Preparatory stages of work before laying plywood
First of all, the surface must be primed. The primer mixture for the concrete base can be prepared from the adhesive that was chosen for gluing the plywood. The primer is used to remove dust from concrete, to improve the strength of the substrate and to block residual moisture. This stage of work when laying plywood on a concrete surface should not be skipped, besides, the primer can significantly reduce the consumption of glue.
Since plywood sheets are not always very even, it is necessary to cut them into squares a little more than half a meter wide and long before laying.Small sheets will not allow voids to form between the concrete base and plywood, moreover, a large number of seams compensates for thermal and humidity changes.
All sheets are adjusted to the dimensions of a particular room, ledges and niches. It is best to number them and only then use glue to fix the plywood to the surface. Between two squares, the distance should not exceed 8-10 mm, and between the wall and plywood - 20 mm. You should not lay out plywood in such a way that four seams form a crosshair.
Tip: cutting plywood should be done with a jigsaw or a circular saw, with their help it will be possible to make cuts even and accurate. Thanks to them, the work will not cause difficulties even for inexperienced users.
How to install plywood on a concrete floor
Apply a two-component or conventional adhesive to a cement screed in an even layer, approximately 2 mm thick. For this, a notched trowel is used, which allows you to apply the adhesive composition most evenly and determine the required amount of glue.
After laying the plywood sheet, it must be rolled with a heavy roller. When using ordinary glue, you should use additional fasteners - dowels or self-tapping screws. However, there are certain rules that must be followed during operation:
- Plastic dowels and metal screws should be located at a distance of 15-20 centimeters from each other.
- Fasteners must be fixed around the perimeter of the square.
- The self-tapping screw must exceed the thickness of the plywood sheet by more than three times.
Through the plywood sheets at the attachment points, holes are drilled in concrete to the desired depth. Plastic dowels are inserted there, and a self-tapping screw is screwed in.
After fixing them, polishing should be carried out using a special grinder for parquet. But now there are sheets of plywood on sale, polished on one side, which will save you from unnecessary work. Only then can you start laying decorative floor material, which will be the last, finishing touch in the floor repair work.
