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Self-leveling floors. Materials and technology

This WordPress post discusses the materials and technology behind self-leveling floors, and how they are one of the best options when creating smooth and beautiful floors for various settings. Self-leveling floors are quick and easy to install, and can be used to cover large and damaged surfaces with a durable and reliable flooring solution. These floors come with multiple benefits, including being resistant to stains, scratches, and wear, as well as providing sound reduction and being slip resistant. Furthermore, self-leveling floors are low-maintenance, cost-efficient and last for many years, making them an excellent choice for any setting.

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In this article: a history of self-leveling floors; polymer self-leveling floors; dry mixes for self-leveling floors; recommendations for work; manufacturers, brands of self-leveling floors and their cost.

Self-leveling floors. Overview

An even plane of the floor without any, even the most insignificant flaws in the form of cracks and grooves, on which you can safely lay finishing materials and not be afraid that they will form hills and hollows so characteristic of the British Isles and absolutely undesirable in our homes. Unfortunately, the glorious builders of our houses were very little interested in the needs of future tenants, therefore, the floor plane in our apartments and houses can have very serious differences in height, up to 100-120 mm. The floor needs to be leveled, which requires a dry floor screed, the more common name of which is self-leveling floors.

History and types of self-leveling floors

The self-leveling floors owe their name to the American company โ€œArdex Incโ€, which developed the technology for the production and use of cement-based self-leveling floors in 1978. The composition of the first polymeric floor coverings was based on PVA emulsion, but its use was quickly abandoned, because floors based on it were weakly resistant to mechanical damage and moisture. The main advantage of modern self-leveling floors is their compressive strength is significantly higher than that of conventional cement-sand screeds, because when mixing, self-leveling floors containing cement require less water.

Self-leveling floors. Overview

Initially, self-leveling floors based on cement, gypsum and polymer were developed for industrial and public premises, since their coating is durable and practical, with a long service life, has no seams, can withstand mechanical damage, temperature extremes, high humidity and chemicals. Over time, their performance has been evaluated by residential construction companies, and today building materials for the construction and renovation of our houses and apartments include self-leveling floors on polymer, as well as on cement and plaster bases..

Polymer self-leveling floors

This type of flooring is classified into polyurethane, epoxy, polyester and acrylic floors..

Polyurethane self-leveling floorsThey are resistant to chemical and mechanical influences, the surface formed by them is not slippery, does not create conditions for the vital activity of fungi and bacteria. They are used in industrial, public and residential buildings. They contain two or three components โ€“ modifiers, reactive oligomers and hardeners.

Epoxy self-leveling floorscharacterized by mechanical strength, high-quality adhesion to the substrate, increased resistance to chemicals. Designed for the formation of flooring in industrial premises, resistance to mechanical stress allows loaded trucks and forklift trucks to move around them. Epoxy floors are formed from two components โ€“ hardener and epoxy resin.

Self-leveling floors. Overview

Polyester self-leveling floorsare made of polyester resin and hardener. Complete curing of the surface of such floors takes only a few hours, i.e. after one night, you can freely walk and move around them. Typically used in industrial buildings.

Self-leveling floors containing hardener and acrylic resins are intended as extra durable 10 mm flooring for industrial buildings, parking lots, bridges, etc. Acrylic self-leveling floors of lesser thickness are used in food industry enterprises, warehouses and laboratories.

To increase the roughness of polymer self-leveling floors, a filler is introduced into their composition โ€“ fine-grained quartz sand. The main purpose of polymer floors with a sandy filler is the formation of a finishing floor covering in rooms with high humidity, areas of industrial workshops with a high mechanical load on the floor, for example, the area around ramps and ramps.

Depending on the thickness and content of the filler, polymer floors can be thin-layer (paint), self-leveling and highly filled.

Thin-layer polymer floorscontain a small amount of sand filler, their thickness does not exceed 1 mm. The task of such a coating is to protect the concrete base from mechanical and chemical influences, prevent the spread of dust and form a decorative coating on the floor surface. Thin-layer coatings last no more than 4 years, they are not able to withstand severe mechanical stress and frequent wetting with chemical agents.

Self-leveling floors. Overview

Self-leveling (self-leveling) polymer floors, with 50% filler by weight and a maximum thickness of 5 mm, they withstand medium and short-term high mechanical stress quite well. They are resistant to chemical attack, vibration and shock loads, and have a good decorative look. Designed for indoor industrial, public and domestic purposes, their service life will be up to 25 years.

Highly filled polymer floorshave a thickness of 8-10 mm and 85% sand filler content. They have the highest characteristics in terms of resistance to any mechanical and shock loads, as well as abrasive wear. The content of a significant amount of filler makes their characteristics in many respects similar to polymer concretes. Applications โ€“ industrial premises with permanently high mechanical stress on the floor.

The average cost of a self-leveling polymer floor up to 2 mm thick is 1000 rubles. per m2, up to 5 mm thick โ€“ 1,500 rubles. per m2.

Cement-based self-leveling floors

Cement-containing (there are also self-leveling floors on lime binder) self-leveling floors consist of cement, plasticizer, lime and fine sand. They are used both for leveling floors with 200 mm height differences, and for self-leveling 2-10 mm unevenness. Such floors cannot be a topcoat โ€“ they create a base for a polymer self-leveling floor, linoleum, laminate, carpet, parquet, etc..

Self-leveling floors. Overview

The undoubted advantage of self-leveling floors based on cement or lime is that everyone can purchase them in dry form, while the components of polymer floors and their installation are supplied and performed exclusively by specialized construction companies, i.e. independent production of work is completely excluded.

Self-leveling floors based on cement can be used for both indoor and outdoor work, based on plaster โ€“ only for indoor. According to the method of leveling, building mixtures for the floor are divided into compositions for:

  • deep leveling of the floor. They are applied in a thick layer of 80-100 mm, allowing to level the differences and elevations of the floor, without creating shrinkage deformations, cracks and flaking, subject to the application technology;
  • final leveling of the floor. The finishing layer is applied in a thin layer of 1-2 mm, leveling out all the flaws of the coarse layer. Before applying the finishing coat, it may be necessary to sand the coarse coat in order to level it. The materials for its creation are able to independently adjust the horizontal level of the floor, if necessary, manual alignment is allowed. The time during which it is possible to influence the formation of the leveling finishing layer does not exceed 30 minutes, provided that there are no drafts at all. The full set of strength of self-leveling floors on a cement binder occurs in one to two weeks, depending on the season.

Work on leveling the floor plane can be carried out at temperatures ranging from minimum +10 to maximum +25 ยฐ C, while there should be no drafts. The technology for laying a self-leveling floor is described in this article, and now we will consider some of the nuances of these works.

Before applying the self-leveling cement screed to roughly level the floor, all holes and cracks must be repaired, cracked concrete must be completely removed, and all holes in the floor must be repaired or plugged securely, especially around heating pipes, otherwise the grout will leak through them. There should be no dust and debris on the base of the floor โ€“ thoroughly clean the floor with a vacuum cleaner, remove any paint and resin drips, if any. Then the cleaned base of the floor is covered with a layer of primer, if necessary, this operation is carried out twice โ€“ this operation is mandatory, because will completely prevent dusting of the base and significantly improve the adhesion of the self-leveling floor to it.

When composing a self-leveling floor mixture, an overdose of water will seriously worsen the strength characteristics of the floor, however, an insufficient amount will not allow the mixture to spread and level itself out. You can check the correct dosage of water experimentally โ€“ using a plastic cap from any aerosol can, with a diameter of 50 mm and a height of about 45 mm. Carefully cut out the bottom of the cap, without reducing the height of the walls, place it in the center of a glass sheet with dimensions of 200ร—200 mm or more. Then fill the cap with the prepared solution to the top and lift it up โ€“ the solution will spread evenly in all directions over the glass. After waiting two to three minutes, measure the diameter of the spread solution โ€“ if its value is from 160 to 180 mm, then the solution is ready for use. If the diameter is smaller, then slightly increase the water content in it, if it is more, add the dry mixture.

Self-leveling floors. Overview

When making up the main portion of the solution for the self-leveling floor, it is necessary to do this โ€“ to collect water in the container, and in a slightly smaller amount than is required, then gradually fill in the dry mixture, stirring it thoroughly. If you do the opposite, i.e. pouring water into a dry mixture, it will be extremely difficult to eliminate lumps. Stirring of the solution must be carried out carefully โ€“ it is necessary to distribute the modifying additives present in the dry mixture throughout the volume, otherwise the solution will not spread well and will delaminate. Check the quality of the prepared solution in the way described above, if necessary, repeat the test several times and, upon reaching the required quality of the mixture, remember the proportion of water and dry mixture โ€“ do not try to draw up a solution by eye, measure each introduced portion of water and dry mixture.

In the construction markets of Russia, self-leveling floors based on gypsum and cement binder are more than widely represented. Their products are offered by foreign manufacturers โ€“ Kiilto (Finland), Saint-Gobain Weber (France), Kreisel (Germany), Litokol (Italy), etc. โ€“ and Russian companies โ€“ LLC Umix (of the same name brand), OOO TD Stroymontazh MS (brand Osnovit), OOO Knauf service (brand Knauf), OOO Maxit (brand Vetonit), ZAO PP KREPS (brand Kreps) etc. The catalog of self-leveling floors will help to choose the optimal brand and characteristics of self-leveling dry mix. Domestic dry mixes for self-leveling floors cost an average of 500 rubles. per 25 kg, imported โ€“ 900 rubles. per 25 kg, packing โ€“ paper kraft bag.

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Comments: 2
  1. Juniper

    What are the commonly used materials for self-leveling floors and how does the technology behind it work? Are there any specific advantages or disadvantages of using self-leveling floors compared to traditional flooring options?

    Reply
  2. Zoey Bennett

    Can you provide more information about self-leveling floors? What materials are commonly used in the construction of these floors? And what technologies are typically employed to achieve a perfectly level surface?

    Reply
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