The walls of the room are the part on which the eye stops at the entrance. It is they who create the overall interior of the room. The walls occupy most of the room, so their ennoblement is given the main attention. One of the most popular options for their finishes is painting. But you need to understand that the paint is applied only on a perfectly flat surface, any defect on which will immediately catch your eye. In order not to get disappointed when performing finishing work, it is necessary to carry out leveling walls for painting.
Ways to level walls
There are two ways to prepare a wall for painting:
- Dry leveling involves the use of drywall.
- For wet leveling, dry building mixes diluted with water are used - plaster and putty.
Alignment of walls with drywall
The dry method allows you to get a perfectly flat surface for applying paint. There are two ways to level the walls with drywall:
- Using a framework.
- With the help of special glue.
Wireframe method
The frame is used on surfaces that have significant irregularities. It is assembled from metal profiles or wooden bars.
The wooden base cannot be used in rooms with high humidity. In addition, the wood must be thoroughly dried. Otherwise, the bars may be deformed, which will lead to the formation of cracks in the drywall.
Wireframe method does not require careful surface preparation, the main thing is that it is absolutely dry.
[smartcontrol_youtube_shortcode key="drywall installation" cnt="4" col="2" shls="true"]At the first stage, guide profiles are attached to the ceiling and floor, placing them parallel to each other. Additional guides are installed between them at a distance of 40–60 cm. At the same time, parallelism is maintained, and the width of the drywall sheet is taken into account. Self-tapping screws are used to fasten the sheets.
The head of the fastener must be sunk a little deeper into the sheet, being careful not to damage the drywall.
Frameless method
This method is suitable for leveling walls only when the surface has minor differences and irregularities. It involves gluing sheets directly to the wall using a special adhesive. Depending on the degree of unevenness, several methods are used:
- With differences and irregularities up to 4 mm, drywall sheets are glued to the walls using gypsum putty, applying it in longitudinal rows throughout the sheet.
- For irregularities up to 2 cm, drywall glue is used. Apply glue in heaps, maintaining a distance of 30–35 cm.
- Surface differences up to 4 cm require more complex work. Drywall strips are attached to the wall with glue, and sheets are already glued on them.
When using the frameless method, dirt, dust and grease stains are removed from the surface. In the presence of damp areas, additional drying is carried out.
Important! Large ledges on the walls must be knocked down. This will greatly facilitate the alignment process and reduce material consumption.
If the surface absorbs moisture well, then it is covered with a primer. Also, the primer increases the adhesion of concrete walls.
[smartcontrol_youtube_shortcode key="Glue drywall" cnt="4" col="2" shls="true"]Alignment of walls with drywall frameless method carried out in the following order:
- Detection of drops and irregularities using a building level or plumb line.
- Choosing a method for gluing drywall sheets.
- Marking the leveled surface.
- Fitting and cutting drywall with parallel cutting of holes for communications.
Glue or putty is applied from the back of the sheet with a spatula. Sheets are glued, leaving a gap of at least 10 mm from the ceiling and from the floor.
Plasterboard putty
Before applying paint, drywall sheets must be puttied. Putty technology consists of several stages:
- The seams between the sheets are filled with a special Fugen putty.
- After drying, a fiberglass mesh is glued to the joints and corners, which will prevent cracking.
- Using a wide spatula, putty is applied and distributed over the reinforcing layer.
- Using a narrow spatula, cross-shaped movements fill the recesses from the caps of the self-tapping screws.
- Carry out the finishing of the corners. At the same time, one side of the corner is first puttied, after it dries, the second side is puttied. It is convenient to use special perforated corners-linings.
- Perform puttying of the entire surface of drywall. The first layer of starting putty should dry well. After that, it is grouted. Then a second layer of putty is applied, which is rubbed again.
- The application of finishing putty and subsequent sanding allow you to achieve a perfectly flat surface for painting.
Raw wall leveling method
Using the raw surface leveling method is a more complex and time-consuming process. Aligning walls for painting includes several steps.
Wall roughness assessment
To correctly align the walls for painting, you need to find out the degree of unevenness of the wall. To do this, you need a level, plumb line, thread and nails. With their help, beacons are set, by which irregularities and differences are determined. Depending on their size, the technology for leveling walls for painting is selected:
- To level smooth concrete walls with differences up to 5 mm, only putty is needed.
- Differences up to 3 cm are best plastered first, then puttied.
- Differences larger than 3 cm are plastered using a reinforced mesh. Putty is used for final leveling.
Wall preparation
Before applying plaster or putty, the walls must be prepared for work, following the sequence:
- Remove old coating.
- Understand all communications.
- Eliminates stains of dirt and grease.
- Apply a layer of primer.
Plaster leveling
For plastering walls, it is necessary to set beacons, which can be used as rails or profiles. You can level the walls with plaster with your own hands, following a clear plan:
- A mortar is prepared from a dry building mixture.
- With a spatula or trowel, plaster is thrown onto the wall between adjacent lighthouses.
- With the help of a long level, the plaster is leveled from the bottom up, pressing the level against the beacons.
- The excess of the mixture is removed, and the resulting depressions are filled with a solution and smoothed with a spatula.
- After waiting some time, they carry out similar actions between other beacons.
- At the end of the work, the beacons are removed, filling the cavities and leveling them.
- The applied plaster should dry well, this will take about two weeks.
Leveling with putty
Walls for painting or for wallpaper should be perfectly even, for this, putty is applied to the plastered surface, first starting, then finishing. In order not to buy two different mixtures, you can use a universal one instead.
- To perform this work, you need to prepare a spatula and a grater.
- It is recommended to apply putty in small portions. Leveling is carried out in a circular motion with a spatula, choosing the required angle of inclination.
Remember! If you tilt the trowel more towards the wall, you can get a thinner layer of coating.
- The leveled layer of putty is thoroughly dried.
- At the final stage, the surface is polished with fine sandpaper or sandpaper.
If one layer of starting putty was not enough, after drying and priming the surface, another one is applied.
- The surface is primed and a thin layer of finishing putty is applied in the same way.
Before applying paint, the surface is cleaned of dust and dirt. Then a layer of primer is applied. This will increase the adhesion of materials, and the putty will last much longer.
Cost of work
Leveling surfaces for painting compared to leveling for wallpaper requires special care and accuracy, so if you are not confident in your abilities, you can entrust this part of the repair to specialists. The prices for services will be approximately as follows:
- In Moscow, leveling the walls with plaster along the lighthouses will cost from 300 rubles. per 1 m2, drywall using a frame - from 500 rubles. per 1 m2, by glue method - from 350 rubles. per 1 m2, putty - from 100 rubles. for 1 m2;
- in St. Petersburg, wall plastering on lighthouses costs from 280 rubles. per 1 m2, plasterboard lining on the frame - from 460 rubles. for 1 m2, without a frame - from 320 rubles. for 1 m2, puttying works - from 80 rubles. for 1 m2;
Prices for leveling walls in the regions vary greatly, in large cities approaching the level of the capital.
In order for the repair in the apartment to be completed successfully, you need to know how to align the walls for painting or wallpaper correctly, what actions need to be performed and in what sequence.
