Arrangement of the floor in the house on a strip foundation

As a rule, when performing a strip foundation in a house, the floors are laid on the ground. At the same time, there are several technologies for their implementation. The choice of one or another option depends on the preferences of the owner and operating conditions. So, the front floor covering can be laid on a wooden base, a concrete screed or a monolithic slab. When choosing an option with a slab, it is either connected to a strip foundation, or a floating screed is made, which in turn can be dry or self-leveling.

Ground floor floor features

To speed up the construction of a house on a strip foundation, a reinforced concrete slab is used to construct the floor of the first floor. It will be the basis for creating the future floor in the house. This plate lies at a short distance from the ground, which even in the most severe frosts under the house will not freeze. Such soil is saturated with moisture and radon, so it can transmit dampness to the stove and emit radon.

In this regard, ventilation holes must be made in the basement of the house on a strip foundation for natural ventilation of the concrete slab and protecting it from destruction by dampness. These openings should not be closed even in winter. On such a concrete slab, you can perform a traditional floor with insulation and use any heat-insulating and finishing materials.

However, if a low plinth is used in the house, then there is not enough space for a full ventilation device. In winter, these holes can be completely covered with snow. In this case, the floor is arranged on the ground.

Tip: since it is necessary to lay engineering communications under the house, it is better to lay duplicating sleeves of all networks under the floor to facilitate their maintainability at the construction stage. This will allow you to connect to backup networks in case of clogging and failure of the main pipeline and not to tear off the screed or other floor base to repair the networks.

Features of floors on the ground

Before you make a floor on the ground in a house on a strip foundation, you need to understand what requirements are placed on it:

1. Usually the floor on the ground is not subject to the forces of heaving of the earth, since a constant temperature is maintained under the house due to the geothermal heat of the bowels.
2. To protect the subgrade from saturation with moisture that will be transferred to the floor, it is imperative to carry out drainage and storm sewers around the supporting structures of the house.
3. In most cases, the soil under the house on the strip foundation will definitely sag, therefore, for backfilling, you should not use the soil obtained in the process of digging a foundation pit under the house. For these purposes, it is better to take non-metallic materials (crushed stone and sand) and compact them in layers when laying every 20 cm.
4. Do not use a layer of geotextile, which will nullify the effectiveness of soil compaction.

"Pie" floor on the ground

• The bottom layer will be sand and gravel cushion, which is carefully rammed. This will ensure the stability of the entire structure and protect against shrinkage.
• After that, it executes concrete preparation. For this, a slab with a height of 40-70 mm, made of low-strength concrete, is sufficient.
• Waterproofing layer protect the thermal insulation material from moisture coming from the ground. For floor waterproofing, roll materials, films or membranes are usually used.
• thermal insulation layer made of durable and effective heat-insulating material. The height of the layer depends on the climatic conditions in the region and the material used. This layer will help you reduce heat loss, which in turn will reduce the cost of heating your home.
• Reinforced concrete screed is the basis for laying different types of floor coverings. Laminate, linoleum, board, cork, porcelain stoneware or tile can be laid on it. For laying parquet on the screed, it is necessary to make a base of multilayer plywood.

Important: since the depth of the pit is greater than the design mark of the bottom of the pillow, this part of the pit is covered with soil with a layer-by-layer rammer. After that, you can make a pillow 60 cm high. In this case, every 20 cm, the backfills are rammed separately.

Floating screed technology on the ground

In any case, the arrangement of the floor on the ground involves pouring a screed of low-strength concrete. This screed will be based on the self-leveling floor structure or adjustable logs, which are usually used when facing the floor with parquet or floorboard.

The technology for performing a floating self-leveling screed in a house on a strip foundation looks like this:

1. First you need to backfill the pit with sand, tamping each layer with a height of 100-200 mm.
2. After that, proceed to the rough screed. Reinforcement of this layer is not required. Sometimes a layer of film waterproofing is laid under the rough screed, but this is also not mandatory. To equip this screed, a layer 50-70 mm high is sufficient, made of M 100 concrete with aggregate with a fraction of not more than 5-10 mm.
3. Now the waterproofing membrane is laid. For these purposes, you can take a roofing material or film and lay them in two layers. In this case, it is necessary to wrap the insulating material on the strip foundation to a height of 150-200 mm.
4. As a heat-insulating material for the next floor layer, it is better to use extruded polystyrene foam. Its efficiency is much higher than that of other heaters, so the layer height will be minimal. In addition, this material is resistant to moisture, strong and durable.
5. The finishing screed is made with reinforcement. To do this, you can use a wire mesh with a diameter of 4 mm with a mesh size of 50x50 mm. For pouring, concrete grade 150 is used with crushed stone aggregate with a fraction of 5-10 mm, river or washed quarry sand, but without the addition of clay.

Tip: to reduce heat loss, the floor of the first floor can be equipped with heating. To do this, when arranging the finishing screed, pipes for transporting the coolant, an electric cable or infrared heating mats are laid in it.

Wooden logs - budget technology

The design of adjustable logs is considered a budget option and is suitable for creating a floor on the ground in a house on a strip foundation. It runs like this:

1. First, a pillow is made of non-metallic material with a layer-by-layer rammer.
2. Then two layers of waterproofing film, roofing material or other membrane insulating material are laid. The edges of the material are wound onto the walls of the foundation to a height of 150-200 mm.
3. After that, a concrete screed 50-70 cm high is poured from low-strength concrete.
4. The lag is installed on adjustable supports. In this case, the upper part of the supports is cut after installation to the desired height.
5. Thermal insulation material is laid in the space between the lags. For these purposes, you can use extruded polystyrene foam or basalt wool.
6. After that, a draft floor is made from a floorboard or plywood. The chosen flooring can then be laid.

Technology for performing dry screed on the ground

The floor on the ground in a house on a strip foundation can be made using the dry screed method. In this case, the sequence of work is somewhat different:

1. The pillow and the rough screed made of grade 100 concrete are performed in the same way as in the previous case. Further work will be carried out using a different technology.
2. A layer of waterproofing is laid. To do this, you can use a dense plastic film.
3. Now it is necessary to install beacons along the rough screed. To do this, you can take special plaster profiles or guides for gypsum boards. Lighthouses are fixed to the base with self-tapping screws.
4. Then expanded clay is poured between the beacons. It is aligned with the rule according to the lighthouses and rammed.
5. After that, tongue-and-groove gypsum boards are laid. The joint of the sheets is glued with glue and fastened with self-tapping screws. If necessary, two layers of these plates can be made. In this case, the joints of the plates in two layers should not coincide.

The nuances of the floor construction

When performing any technology for flooring on the ground in a house on a strip foundation, the following subtleties should be taken into account:

• Fertile soil inside the contour of the strip foundation must be carefully removed. It is not suitable for ramming. All roots in this place are carefully removed.
• Since plastic sheeting can pass through radon, it is best not to use it as waterproofing. For these purposes, it is better to take vinyl acetate products, various modifications of PVC or polycarbonate.
• Laying waterproofing material should be done in two layers, changing the direction of the strips to the opposite.
• The waterproofing material must not only be protected from moisture, but also not let in water vapor, which is present in large quantities in the soil.
• A waterproofing film or other rolled material used to isolate the base must be installed on the walls of the strip foundation to a height of at least 150-200 mm. After completing the entire floor structure, the excess waterproofing along the edge of the walls is trimmed.
• The thickness of the heat-insulating material should not exceed the height of the strip foundation.
• When pouring the finishing reinforced screed, a damper tape is laid along the edge of the walls. It is needed to compensate for the deformation expansion of the screed and protect it from cracking.

Important: when performing a particular floor construction on the ground, the thickness of the insulation is calculated individually, taking into account the climate in the construction region and the characteristics of the material used. Calculation of the bottom mark of the pillow is performed after determining the thickness of all layers.