How to level the floor with your own hands using insulation and gypsum fiber sheets for laying laminate

During the renovation, everyone is faced with the problem of leveling the floors. Except in cases when the base screed has already been made and it remains to either use the self-leveling floor or lay the floor covering. In my case, there is a room with old wooden floors. The task is to make a flat floor and lay the laminate.

Leveling the floor

There are several ways to level the floor, for example, without removing old wood floors. In our case, it was necessary to do this, since they were already unsuitable for walking on them. So the first thing to do is remove the old flooring, sweep out all the debris and vacuum the base of the floor.

Alignment methods

After preparing the floor for leveling, it is necessary to decide on the type of floor leveling. Selected from:

· Cement screed + self-leveling floor;

· Plaster screed + self-leveling floor;

· Semi-dry screed (expanded clay);

· Lathing made of wood + plywood;

· Dry screed made of polystyrene foam and gypsum fiber sheets.

We chose the latter method, because this method of alignment does not require additional equipment or tools. This method is not suitable for those who have too large differences in height.

Dry screed

In fact, it is not even a screed. Its essence is to level and raise the floors, to provide good thermal insulation.

1) From the very beginning, the insulation should be laid. Namely, extruded polystyrene foam. (I used 5 cm thick orange Penoplex)

2) The second and third layers are laid with gypsum fiber sheets (Knauf). They have great compressive strength and are not afraid of stress.

3) To get the best effect, I fastened all 3 covers with self-tapping screws.

4) Please note that a vapor barrier is needed between the insulation and the concrete coating.

Laying laminate

To start laying laminate flooring, you need to lay the interlayer. Take your pick, I used foam. There are also cork, but they are more expensive, but better. The laminate is laid directly onto this floor. The main problem was laying near the walls. Therefore, take care of an electric jigsaw, it will be irreplaceable. Now on the laminate market it is difficult to choose an inexpensive and high-quality one, so lay it carefully, without damaging the fasteners.

It is interesting to see the criticism in the comments, since I myself came to this idea. Repair experiments are not always successful, but intuition should not be ignored.