Laying parquet on the floor

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Parquet flooring is a way to decorate the floor. Centuries later, it is still popular, despite its laboriousness. From wooden planks, you can assemble a unique fashionable coating that will create a cozy atmosphere in the house. In this material, we will take a closer look at how parquet is laid with our own hands in a high-quality and short time, which allows us to significantly save money on the work of involved professionals.

Requirements for the room when laying parquet

The installation of parquet flooring should be carried out only after the completion of finishing work on the walls and ceiling. Heating and water supply pipes in the house must be in good condition, and their locking devices must be airtight.

Installation of parquet requires compliance with the optimal temperature and humidity conditions in the room. In this case, it should have the following parameters: temperature - + 18-23 ° C, air humidity - 35-60%, floor base - less than 5%.

Deviation from these conditions in terms of humidity to a large side can lead to swelling of parquet wood. After the work is completed, it will begin to dry out, while gaps may appear between the coating plates. Correcting such a defect would be difficult and expensive. Therefore, it is better to do everything right from the very beginning.

The base on which parquet work will be carried out must be even, the maximum error in the height difference of its surface is 1 mm per 1 m 2. After its preparation, moisture-resistant plywood is fixed on the floor, and parquet is laid on it. Below we will consider all the stages of work in more detail.

Preparation of the base for the installation of parquet

The device of an even and solid foundation is the primary and main task that must be solved before installing the parquet. The durability and quality of the floor covering depends on this. The scope of work on the preparation of the base includes: repair of the floor surface, if necessary, its waterproofing, pouring the screed or installing the log under the wooden floor, gluing the plywood to the screed or attaching it to the logs.

If there is an old finish coating on the floor, it should be removed, debris removed and the subfloor inspected. Depending on the result of the revision, it may be necessary to remove the exfoliated screed, cut off the protruding reinforcement, knock down the influx of concrete, close up cracks and potholes.

An important stage in the preparation of the base is the waterproofing of its surface. It can be done with a polyethylene film t. 200 microns. Cloths of material should be laid with an overlap of 15-20 cm on the ceiling, and the joints should be glued with adhesive tape. At the same time, 10-15 cm of the edges of the film must be brought to the wall and fixed.

Then, on the finished waterproofing, it is necessary to perform a leveling screed. As a material for it, liquid mixtures based on cement or polymer are used. After pouring, such a screed independently occupies a horizontal level in accordance with the laws of physics and does not require additional alignment. Its thickness is 20-30 mm. With a significant curvature of the surface of the concrete slab, a thicker layer of leveling compound will be required. In such cases, a cement-sand mortar should be prepared and laid on the base using beacons and rules.

Before starting the next stage of work, the coating must be completely dry. The duration of this process depends on the thickness of the laid screed. After polymerization, its readiness can be checked with a napkin. To do this, it will need to be laid on the surface and covered with an inverted glass. If the next day the napkin is dry, the base is suitable for further work.

Now it is necessary to fix plywood on it, which will serve as the base layer of the parquet floor structure: protect it from shrinkage, provide it with strength and solidity, and function as thermal insulation.

You should start by treating the screed with a primer. This will increase the adhesion of the base to the adhesive on which the plywood will be fixed. The primer should be applied to the surface with a paint roller in 2-3 layers. After it dries, sheets of moisture-resistant plywood t. 12mm must be cut into quarters, glue and dowels should be prepared.

Next, the screed should be lubricated with an adhesive, lay the cut sheets of plywood on the surface treated with it and adjust the deformation gaps between them with a width of about 1.5-2 mm with wedges that can be made from any flat material at hand. The same seams, but 3 mm in size, must be left at the junctions of plywood to the walls of the room. With linear expansion of the base layer due to temperature fluctuations, these joints will prevent deformation of the parquet flooring. After adjusting all the gaps, the plywood should be firmly fixed to the ceiling with dowels.

If you do not want to level the concrete base, you can do it differently: lay the base layer of plywood on the logs, but waterproofing is also necessary in this case. It is performed first. Then, with a step of 0.4 m, wooden logs must be laid on an insulated surface. They are made of timber with a section of 50x50 or 50x80 mm and then attached to the floor with metal corners and dowels.

During installation, it is required to ensure that the upper surface of all logs is in the same plane. This is controlled by a bubble level, and in case of a height difference, you can always put a flat gasket under any of them or cut the beam from below, removing the excess.

After installing and fixing the lag on the ceiling, plywood flooring should be laid on them and each of its elements should be fixed around the perimeter in increments of 10-15 cm with screws. As in the previous case, all expansion gaps are mandatory.

If the house already has a wooden floor, it can be sanded to a smooth state and lay the parquet with or without plywood. It depends on the distance between the lags of the old coating. But in any case, an audit of such a floor will have to be made. If squeaks, dips and other external structural defects are observed, the floorboards in problem areas must be removed and the support beams inspected. All rotten boards and logs should be replaced by treating new lumber with an antiseptic before installation.

Methods for laying parquet on the floor

Laying parquet on the floor differs in the method of fastening to the base and the formation of a pattern on the surface of the coating. Fastening of parquet boards is carried out in several ways, which differ in their functionality and reliability:

• Floating floor installation. In this case, the fastening of the parquet to the base is completely absent. The slats are simply joined to each other according to the "thorn-groove" system. The advantage of this installation is the lack of sensitivity to changes in humidity and room temperature - linear deformations of the slats in this case will not affect the solidity of the entire structure. However, as soon as one connection loosens or fails, the entire floor can immediately begin to warp, creating irregularities on its surface. Therefore, parquet laid in this way needs timely care. However, repairing the floor is not difficult: it can be easily disassembled and laid again even in another room. This is its second advantage. To avoid squeaking of the joints of such parquet, it should be laid on a soundproof substrate - cork, for example.
• Adhesive laying. This method of installing parquet planks is considered more reliable, but less suitable for possible repairs, since it will be rather problematic to remove any element from the coating as a whole. Laying parquet with this method looks like this: the base is plentifully processed with glue, then strips are installed alternately on it and connected to each other according to the “thorn-groove” system. The method is quite laborious and requires additional costs for glue.
• Fastening parquet with glue and nails. This is the most reliable way to cover the floor with parquet. Rigid fixation of the slats excludes any shifts in the coating, which can lead to its deformation. But it is very difficult to repair such a floor, so there is only one hope left - this is a long period of its operation.

Strip parquet can be laid in different patterns when the planks are arranged in different sequences and at different angles relative to each other, for example:

1. "Herringbone". This method of installing a parquet board involves joining the elements of the coating to each other at a right angle. To implement this method, each plank must have one spike on the longitudinal and end sides, as well as two grooves on the other side faces. The “herringbone” method is quite difficult to perform, since in this case the perfect alignment of the parquet rows is required.
2. "Deck". It couldn't be easier than this method of laying parquet. All the planks of the coating here are arranged according to the type of brickwork: parallel to each other with an offset in the rows by? or 1/3 the length of the plank. The first row of planks is laid near the wall. For a snug fit to the structure, taking into account the deformation gap, “spikes” are cut off on them.
3. "Network". Such a parquet pattern is also easily formed. First, several planks are joined together in a square and laid on the base, then others are joined in the same way, but are arranged perpendicular to the first. With the successive alternation of rows made up of such figures, an organic coating pattern is created. "Braid" can be made with inserts using other types of wood.
4. "Diamonds". Laying parquet in this way is carried out using special diamond-shaped wooden elements.
5. "Sheremetyevo Star". For the installation of the coating by this method, two types of parquet planks are used: rectangular and diamond-shaped.

All of the above schemes for laying parquet on the floor can be combined with each other to create various patterns and shapes.

Parquet floor installation technology

To create a beautiful and even parquet pattern on the floor, you must first perform it on paper. The covering plan drawn up should take into account the dimensions of the boards and the room in which they are supposed to be laid. Proper installation of parquet should be planned in such a way that whole rows are located in the middle of the room, and cut off at the junctions - along its edges.

The technology of laying the coating depends on its future pattern. Therefore, for example, consider it for the "Christmas tree":

1. First, you need to determine the midpoints of two opposite walls and connect them along the floor with a stretched cord, which will serve as a guide when installing parquet rows.
2. After that, you need to pick up a couple of planks and, inserting the spike into the groove, connect them with a herringbone. Glue should be applied to the ends.
3. Then it is necessary to treat the plywood base with an adhesive. This procedure is performed with a notched trowel.
4. Now the “lighthouse Christmas tree” should be attached to the plywood base so that the edge of the left plank presses the cord to the base, and the edge of the right one rests on the cord.
5. Both planks need to be pressed against the plywood until excess glue is squeezed out from under them. After that, the planks should be fixed with screws, screwing them at an angle of 45 degrees into the grooves and sinking the hats. There should be at least two fasteners per forty-centimeter bar. When laying parquet, it is recommended to sit so that the spikes of the boards are located towards the performer.
6. After installing the "lighthouse Christmas tree", the remaining planks are laid according to the pattern. The plywood base must be smeared to the width of the plank with a layer of glue 1-1.5 mm thick.
7. Then it is necessary to attach a plank, inserting it into the longitudinal and end groove of the previous element and finishing it with a mallet. Then the bar should also be fixed by screwing the screws into the groove.
8. First you need to lay the rows of parquet along the "lighthouse herringbone", then to the left of it, then to the right.
9. It is necessary to increase the laying area until it expands to the walls.
10. Narrow junctions are recommended to be filled with strips cut to the appropriate dimensions.
11. Wedges must be inserted between the extreme row of planks and the wall, providing a deformation gap of 2-3 mm.

The remaining stages of the parquet floor installation should be carried out after the glue has dried in 1-2 weeks.

Features of parquet flooring

During the installation of parquet, small defects may appear in the form of bumps, protrusions or small cracks. To eliminate them and make the floor surface as smooth and beautiful as possible, it is necessary to finish it. It consists in grinding, puttying and varnishing the parquet.

Grinding a wooden surface can be done using a grinder or grinder equipped with an abrasive wheel. In the first case, there will be much less dust during operation. But the use of a grinder will allow you to grind the floor in hard-to-reach places: in the corners, for example, or under radiators.

This work is being done in stages. First, the main unevenness of the floor is removed using a coarse-grained abrasive material fixed on the tool disk. One or two passes with the machine over the surface will be enough. Then you need to take a fine-grained grinding wheel and continue sanding the parquet until a smooth finish is obtained. The final stage of the procedure is cleaning the floor from wood dust.

If there are small cracks on the surface, they should be sealed with wood putty using a spatula. Excess material must be immediately removed from the parquet. After the mixture has dried, the embedding points must be sanded with a fine-grained abrasive and the floor cleaned again.

The final stage of parquet finishing is painting the finished surface with varnish. In order for its adhesion to wood to be of high quality, the floor should first be treated with a primer solution using a roller or a large brush and be sure to wait for it to dry.

To protect the floor with varnish, you need high-quality material. This is important, since its layer must protect the surface from mechanical damage and moisture. In addition, the varnish performs an aesthetic function. It can be matte and glossy. Matte should be used if you want to reduce the brightness of the wood pattern. Glossy varnish, on the contrary, emphasizes it and gives the floor a shine, making the room brighter.

Parquet can have from three to nine layers of varnish. The more of them, the more pronounced the depth effect of the image. Lacquer should be applied to the entire surface at once without lunch breaks. This is not difficult to do, since each of the successively applied layers must dry for at least 24-36 hours.

The last of them must be kept until complete polymerization for at least a week. After 7-10 days, the parquet will be suitable for careful walking, but after a month and a half it can be exploited mercilessly by installing furniture in the renovated room.

Important! Layer-by-layer varnishing of parquet should be done in soft and clean shoes. While the varnish dries, there should be no air movement in the room. Drafts, air conditioning and ventilation of any kind are excluded.

How to lay parquet on the floor - look at the video:

That's all. When installing a parquet floor in your home, you should remember that success in such work is ensured by the knowledge of technology, the manifestation of accuracy and the endless patience of the master. Good luck!