When repairing in a house or apartment, one of the main problems is flooring. Work on its replacement is becoming one of the most time-consuming. This is especially true for wooden substrates. In a house whose walls are made of wood, or in apartments of an old building, wooden floors on logs are often found. Such flooring can cause a lot of questions, one of which is whether it is possible to lay a laminate on a rough wooden floor.
Foundation requirements
An affirmative answer can be given to this question. A base with a wood flooring can serve as a rough surface for a laminate, but some conditions must be met, which are dictated based on the characteristics of the finish coating:
- The integrity of the flooring, the absence of cracks and potholes, there should be no areas where boards are missing or laid out spaced.
- The lack of large elevations. In the presence of serious irregularities, there is a possibility of damage to the connecting element of the laminate. The fixing of individual boards is carried out according to the notch-tongue system and if the base deviates significantly from the horizontal, the tenon can simply break, the floor covering will cease to be a solid surface, there will be a need for repair work. The maximum possible vertical difference is 2 mm per meter of length.
- Base strength. Flooring should not include damaged items. It is also important that the support logs are in good condition. All parts of the structure must be securely fixed: when the boards move relative to each other, such an unpleasant phenomenon as creaky floors occurs.
- No damage. Laminate can only be placed on the wooden floor that is not damaged by fungus, mold, rot or other microorganisms. It is important that the wood is of normal humidity, since the high water content is ideal for the development of destructive organics.
When all these requirements are met, you don’t have to worry about the safety and durability of the floor covering.
Survey of the foundation before starting work
Before putting the laminate on a wooden floor, you need to assess its condition. You can do it guided by the following recommendations:
- First, the rough floor is inspected visually. It is necessary to verify not only the safety of the flooring, but also the log under it. The boards may be in order, but the destruction of the support bars will ultimately lead to distortions of the floor, its creaking and bending. Lay piece materials can only be on a stable foundation, which is in good condition. It is better for inspection to remove several flooring boards and make sure that there is no increased humidity or rot under them.
- After visual inspection, tools are used to measure the horizontalness of the flooring.The most accurate device will be the laser level, but its high cost and the need for special skills when working do not allow the device to be used for self-repair. Available options are hydraulic and bubble levels. The first is easy to manufacture on your own, but working with it is quite laborious. Bubble level can be bought at any hardware store. The price depends on the length of the case and averages several thousand rubles. To lay the laminate on a wooden floor, a level of 1-2 meters will be enough. The simplest and most affordable tool is the rule. This is a long rail made of wood or a metal profile. It is important that the accuracy of geometric dimensions (parallelism of faces, degree measure of angles) is observed during manufacture. Also, to work with the rule, you need a ruler, which will measure deviations from the horizontal.
Having completed the research, you can proceed to further work. If the rough coating meets all the above requirements, then you can put the laminate on the wooden floor immediately after it is treated with antiseptic compounds. They are needed to protect the material from damage by fungus and mold. It is also possible to increase fire resistance by flame retardant treatment.
If the base does not meet the requirements, then lay the laminate on a wooden floor is possible only after its alignment and strengthening.
Defect Repair Work
It all depends on the degree of damage. Several main groups can be distinguished depending on the complexity of the problem:
- the base is in good condition, irregularities are 1-2 mm, there are no cracks and gaps;
- the base is in good condition, no cracks, bumps no more than 5 mm;
- the height difference exceeds 5 mm, there are cracks or potholes, the width of which is less than 5 cm, boards and logs are in good condition;
- boards and logs are damaged, there are serious defects in the elements.
In the latter case, there is only one way out - replacing the rough floor. In this case, it is worth considering the degree of damage. Sometimes it is only necessary to replace the flooring, and the lags remain in good condition. In another situation, the support bars are also damaged. If you need to replace the entire draft roughing cake, you should consider using a cement-sand screed as a base. This is relevant only for multi-apartment stone houses, the floors of which were originally made of wood. With a wooden building construct, it is better not to overload the floors with a heavy screed.
Having determined the degree of the problem, you can begin to eliminate it, and then lay the laminate on a wooden floor.
Irregularities 1-2 mm
The following events will help to eliminate such differences:
- laying a substrate of elastic materials, the thickness of which is accepted within 2-5 mm (when using a laminate board with a thickness of 8-10 mm, thicker substrates up to 10 mm are used, the choice depends on the final floor covering);
- leveling mixtures;
- laying cement screed;
- cycling (removal of the top layer of wood with a special machine).
All these methods will not require serious financial and labor costs. It is only important to remember that when using cement, further work can be started only after it hardens. A set of strength can take an average of 2-4 weeks.
For self-leveling mixtures, there is also a drying period, but is several days.
Roughnesses up to 5 mm
Screeds made of various materials can also be used here. Use cycling with caution. it is important to control that the thickness of the layer to be removed does not greatly reduce the bearing capacity of the flooring. The minimum cross section of the boards of the subfloor depends on the step of the log of the expected load from furniture and equipment. As an average value, 32 mm thick boards can be given. It is important that after cycling, the thickness of the element meets the requirements.
Irregularities greater than 5 mm
Plywood will help to strengthen and level such a floor. Use sheets with a thickness of 14-22 mm. The fixing method on the basis depends on the height difference:
- for bumps less than 1 cm - for glue and screws;
- for bumps greater than 1 cm - laying on lags.
Plywood will provide not only a flat, but also a strong base for the laminate not a wooden floor, so it can also be used for minor damage, such as cracks, the absence of some parts of the flooring and the like.