Do-it-yourself insulation of the floor of the first floor in a wooden house. Do-it-yourself insulation of the wooden floor of the first floor above the basement

The construction of any house is a complex process that includes several stages. Among these stages, the process of erecting floors stands out separately. In wooden structures, many prefer a wooden floor. This decision is quite justified, because a country house implies closeness to the surrounding nature, so natural material will look most impressive compared to concrete screed and synthetic finishes. The device of the floor in a wooden house is characterized by its own characteristics, so the installation of the floor structure should be taken seriously. What floor can be built in a private house?

Floor types

According to experts, the floors in a wooden house can be either concrete or wood, as these two materials are suitable for use in the construction of private houses. The floor in a log house can be made using the technology of underfloor heating - modern technologies make it possible to implement this option as well.

The concrete floor is a pouring of the screed, which can be done independently. The choice of this option for the floor in a wooden house in some cases saves a certain amount of time. It takes almost a month to completely dry the screed, and it may take even more time to install a high-quality lumber floor from scratch.

The advantages of a concrete floor in log houses include a reduction in the cost of finishing the coating. A properly made screed has a flat surface on which you can mount any finishing coating. The ability to lay a coating on the screed without additional work on leveling the working base reduces the time of work and the cost of materials. The screed process itself is not technically complicated; you do not need special skills here.

When installing floors in a wooden house made of concrete, it is necessary to take into account the possibility of cracking the screed under the influence of vibrations of the walls of the structure. Cracks formed during the operation of the concrete floor will not lead to serious consequences, but they can increase heat loss. To keep heat loss at a minimum level, during the installation of a cement screed, it is recommended that you carefully consider laying high-quality insulation.

The cement floor in a wooden house has another drawback: it itself presses with its weight on the foundation. Before carrying out construction work, experts recommend making the necessary calculations so that during the operation of the house, the foundation can withstand a heavy concrete screed. If you can't do it yourself, contact an experienced builder.

Another type of flooring in a wooden house is the flooring of the same wood. The advantages of such a floor structure include the environmental friendliness of the material and aesthetic appearance. Wood is a natural material that does not contain synthetic additives and does not emit substances harmful to the human body during operation. The appearance of the wooden floor is in perfect harmony with the building itself and the surrounding environment. For a country house, a cement floor, unlike wood, will seem superfluous, even foreign.

Modern means of protecting wooden floors, which include various oils, varnishes and impregnations, allow not only to provide the floors in a wooden house with a long service life, but also a beautiful appearance in accordance with the general interior of the rooms. In the process of work, the wood floor can be given the desired shade or emphasize its original texture and color. Natural wood provides a feeling of warmth and coziness in the room, contributes to the creation of a comfortable atmosphere throughout the house.

The advantage of a wooden floor is the ease of its repair. If necessary, you can replace the damaged part yourself using a standard set of tools.

The disadvantages of a wooden floor usually include high financial and labor costs. Installation of the floor in a wooden house is quite difficult: sometimes a large amount of work cannot be done alone. Achieving a perfectly flat surface at such a cost can be problematic.

Ways to install wooden floors

A wood floor can be made in a country house in three ways. The first method is used in cases where laying the floor in a wooden house is not associated with the installation of load-bearing beams in the log house itself. The resulting wood flooring will be a floating structure that is not connected to the walls. Such a coating is collected on supporting pillars.

The second and third methods of organizing wooden floors are used when the log house is assembled with the installation of load-bearing beams. Based on these beams, either a single or double plank floor is laid. The arrangement of a single-layer floor in a wooden house is not difficult even for a beginner. This method of installing the coating is easy to implement in practice, but is only suitable for houses that are operated during the warm season. A single coating can be assembled in a country house or in a summer house; for structures in which year-round living is planned, such a design is unacceptable.

For a frequent house built for living throughout the year, only a double wood floor is suitable. Such a floor construction in a wooden house consists of the installation of rough and finishing flooring, between which hydro- and heat-insulating materials are laid. The upper finishing floor is usually assembled from a grooved board.

How is the floor on the supports?

The erection of the floor on the supporting columns begins with the preparation of the base. To do this, it is necessary to remove the top layer of the earth, and then fill it with gravel, crushed stone or sand. The best option would be a base of crushed stone, and on top of it - tightly packed sand. Next, brick support pillars are placed on the base, for which standard red bricks are most often used. Laying the floor in a wooden house must be done taking into account all the basic requirements, therefore, when assembling the supporting posts, it is necessary to correlate their height and cross section. The higher you raise the level of the pillars, the larger their cross section should be. For supports with a height of more than 25 cm, a width of two bricks is recommended.

The installation of pillars for floors in a wooden house begins with the perimeter of the room, after which they proceed to the installation of the same structures in the middle of the working surface. A roofing material is laid on the ends of the supports, which acts as a waterproofing material. On top of it, wooden linings are mounted on the poles, on which logs made of timber or logs are installed.

Logs are placed when installing the floor in a wooden house at a certain distance from each other, the step between the lags depends on the width of the boards that are supposed to be used in the future. To prevent displacement of the floor structure in winter due to freezing of the soil, it is recommended to fill the space under the logs with slag. The embankment should not reach the lag by about 5 cm - that air gap is left specifically for ventilation processes.

The floor itself is laid on mounted logs, and it is recommended to place the boards in the direction of light from the windows or in the direction of travel. Experts advise starting the flooring 1.5 cm from the wall, such gaps around the perimeter of the floor in a wooden house are made on purpose - to ensure the required level of ventilation.

As fixtures for wooden floors, long nails are used, which should be hammered into the board at an angle. After painting work, the nail heads will no longer be visible. When the floor is fully assembled, temporary skirting boards are attached to opposite sides of the room. The slots of these skirting boards, when laying the floor in a wooden house, are used as buffer zones, which are necessary for a while until the wood is completely dry. When the lumber is completely dry, these skirting boards can be replaced with conventional structures. To understand the procedure for carrying out installation work to create a floor on supports, it is recommended that you familiarize yourself with the photos depicting each stage of the process.

Single board covering

A single floor can be implemented on a structure of supporting pillars. In this case, beams are attached to the support pillars, and a tongue-and-groove board is laid on top of the beams. Such a floor in a wooden house is fully consistent with the above-described design, assembled on pillars.

There is another option for single flooring: when the coating is mounted on beams embedded with load-bearing walls. In such a situation, the construction of brick supports is not necessary. The role of the working base will be performed by the supporting beams. Since the distance between them is usually very large, before working on the plank floor, a crate of logs should be built.

The design of the floor involves the use of a beam with a side of a square section of 5-6 cm as a lag. In a wooden house, the step between the lags is determined by the thickness of the board of the final coating. The thicker the grooved board, the greater the step between the lags can be. When installing the crate, experts recommend constantly monitoring the evenness of its surface. Only a well-assembled crate will allow you to lay an even plank flooring without any problems.

When the logs are assembled and fixed with nails, you can proceed to the installation of the single deck itself. The flooring can play the role of both a rough and a finishing coating. If you are not going to additionally lay a decorative coating in the form of linoleum or other material on the floors in a wooden house, then the boardwalk will be considered fine. After completion of all work, it is recommended to cover the finished surface in several layers with a protective varnish.

If you cover the wood floor with some other material, then in fact it will play the role of a rough flooring. For the installation of a rough coating, it will be enough to use unedged material.

Installation of single floors on supporting columns or on a log crate is quite simple to do it yourself. Such a coating is done quickly and easily, and also does not require serious expenses. The disadvantage of single-layer floors in a wooden house is their low degree of thermal insulation. In winter, the ground in the underground will freeze. In the case of using pillars, this can cause displacement of the brick columns and the coating itself. A single floor can be used either for houses that are intended to be lived in during the summer, or if heating is available during the cold season.

Double floor decking

A double floor in a wooden house can be considered the best solution for year-round living in the countryside. Such a coating is called double, as it consists of two obligatory layers - roughing and finishing. How is the installation carried out?

First, a rough coating of unedged lumber up to 0.45 cm thick is assembled on the beams. Since this floor layer is at the bottom, when arranging it, you can save on the purchase of materials. It is not necessary to use expensive boards for the subfloor in a wooden house; slab or low-grade materials are suitable here. This does not mean that the draft layer can be made of poor quality. For him, it is recommended to choose boards of coniferous trees, as well as pre-impregnate them with antiseptic solutions.

The boards of the rough coating should lie close to each other. When this layer of the structure is ready, it is necessary to lay heat-insulating material on top of it. For these purposes, mineral wool, polystyrene foam, expanded clay, sawdust or other modern types of insulation are suitable.

The device of the floor in a wooden house without fail includes not only the placement of insulating material, but also a layer of waterproofing. All these components of the design provide the future coating with a long service life. The final coating is mounted after laying the thermal insulation, a gap of 1.5 cm should be left between these two layers. The fastening of the boards is carried out in the same way as in the construction of other types of floors.

On the finished double floors in a wooden house, you can lay a finishing coating, and also use the finishing layer of the structure as a decor. To do this, the wood must be treated with protective varnishes or other special compositions with a tint effect.

The foundation is poured, the walls are raised, the roof is mounted and windows with doors are installed. You can also start laying the floors in a wooden house with your own hands. The stage of work is not difficult, but requires a careful approach to details.

Proper laying of the floor cake is the key to its long service life. A small mistake with waterproofing is enough and you will have to re-lay the entire coating in a few years. Lack of ventilation of the subfloor will lead to the same result. And without insulation, you will not only have to walk around the house in warm slippers, but also fork out for additional heating costs.

Draft floor - what is it?

It is important to protect a wooden house from moisture - rotting makes building elements unusable very quickly. Therefore, you should not cut logs into the first crown of the log house, even if they are made of larch and treated with an antiseptic - in any case, they will have to be changed sometime. It is optimal to lay the logs on the foundation and fix them after the walls have been raised.

It is also important to ensure good ventilation of the subfloor by organizing air ducts of sufficient size in the basement or foundation. According to the regulations, in a subfield without forced ventilation, the area of ​​​​the vents should correspond to 1:400 of the subfloor area. Otherwise, regardless of the waterproofing measures, the picture under the house will be unpleasant.

When the flooring is ready, you can start warming. But before laying the insulation, it is worth resolving the issue of protecting it from moisture - after all, wet mineral wool not only does not retain heat, but also contributes to the formation of fungus and mold on adjacent wood.

Waterproofing and vapor barrier - what's the difference?

Waterproofing protects materials from direct ingress of water, and vapor barrier prevents the penetration of wet fumes. Thus, all waterproofing films are laid on the outside, and vapor barriers on the inside. Everything is clear with the walls. But how and what to put on the floor?

Under the hygroscopic insulation on the rough flooring of the first floor, it is better to lay any vapor-tight films, even simple polyethylene ones. They will protect expanded clay or basalt slabs from fumes rising directly from wet ground. At the same time, expensive membranes that remove moisture to the outside will not be useful here - all evaporation still rises. But, given the ventilated subfloor, they are increasingly returning to the time-tested glassine as a “breathable” material.

But on top of the insulation, it is imperative to lay vapor-permeable films that remove possible moisture. To do this, leave a special ventilation gap (at least 5 cm). If the lag boards are not high enough, a counter-rail is nailed along them, over the membrane, on which the finishing floor is laid.

Underfloor heating - why is it necessary?

Even schoolchildren know the principle of convection - warm air rises. According to this logic, an uninsulated floor cannot release heat from the house in any way. In fact, heat loss in a cold field reaches 20%!

All because of the same convection - the air from the underground rises into the house, cooling it, and the energy resource is also spent on heating the air in an unheated basement or underground.

Each type of insulation has its own advantages and disadvantages:

• perlite, vermiculite, shungizite - analogues of expanded clay, do not absorb moisture, but are more expensive;





• Styrofoam and its derivatives are not exposed to moisture, so they do not need waterproofing, are lightweight and inexpensive, but create a "greenhouse effect" in the house and are not recommended for wooden houses.

Bulk heaters are laid on a solid flooring, slabs and mats can be placed on a sparse subfloor, one has only to properly lay the waterproofing and protect the insulation from rodents.

Finishing floor and its types

Depending on the desired interior design, almost any floor can be laid in a wooden house:

Wooden floors are great for living rooms. The main thing is to put a good waterproofing to protect the insulation. But it is better to lay tiles in the kitchen and in the bathroom - places with high humidity.

In addition, there are variations with the installation of warm wooden floors and even a concrete screed along the logs. So the choice depends only on building skills and design preferences.

Do-it-yourself flooring technology in a wooden house

Underfloor heating is comfortable, economical and extremely functional. Especially when you have to dry winter overalls, jackets and mittens of three children after winter games on the street. And so the entire floor area turns into a capacious battery - it's a sin not to use this!

Concrete screed in a wooden house - reliability and functionality

In a wooden house, a warm floor in a concrete screed is difficult to make, but quite possible:

1. The most important thing when pouring a concrete screed is to correctly calculate the load on the logs in advance. After all, the weight of the finished slab, taking into account the finishing floor, will be about 150 kg / sq.m, and this is without taking into account furniture and residents. The step of the beams when pouring concrete is halved, while the logs themselves are lowered to the height of the screed (if the pouring is done only in the kitchen and bathroom, and not in the whole house).



2. A great way to reduce the weight of the floor is not to lay a subfloor. It is enough to fix the vapor barrier film on the bottom with slats so that the insulation plates do not sag.



3. A dense waterproofing is laid over the log with a mandatory ventilation gap of 5 cm. It is very important to glue all the places of its attachment to the beams with butyl rubber tape - so that there are no holes left through which the screed will wet the insulation.



4. Slate or cement particle board is placed on the waterproofing - they have the best adhesion to concrete. A formwork of the same height as the future screed is installed on top of the level. A reinforcing mesh is laid on the substrates from the same slate. The height of the substrate is about 1 cm.
5. A "snail" of underfloor heating pipes is laid out. It can be attached to the grid with conventional cable ties. It is important not to forget to lay a damper tape between the formwork and reinforcement - to compensate for the expansion of the future floor.



6. To protect yourself, make a trial run of underfloor heating systems with high pressure. If no leaks are found, you can start pouring.



7. After pouring, it is better to vibrate the screed and only then level it with a long rule. It takes 1-2 weeks to water the concrete for it to gain strength. After a month, you can start laying any floor covering.

Wooden floors - simple and beautiful

If the floor joists aren't strong enough to support the weight of the concrete slab, don't fret! After all, you can make a dry warm floor with water heating. To do this, you need boards with grooves for pipes, and foil is used as a heat-reflecting layer. The laminate is on top. The whole process is presented in detail in the video:

Heat loss is not always related to the thermal conductivity of the material, very often the reason for this is the different temperature in the basement and on the ground floor of the house. Thermal insulation of the floor in a wooden house prevents heat leakage, thereby reducing heating costs. High-quality floor insulation in a wooden house can be done with the right choice of insulation.

This is what an insulated floor looks like in a section

Why is it necessary to insulate the floor in wooden houses

It is very rare to find wooden houses with high-quality thermal insulation of the floor, which ensures a comfortable stay even in severe frosts. In most cases, a cold floor is a fairly common phenomenon in wooden buildings.

This happens according to the laws of physics from the school course, according to which heavier cold air accumulates below. The lack of thermal insulation on the floor or a violation of the insulation process causes cold bridges between the dried boards.

This phenomenon contributes to the loss of almost a quarter of thermal resources.

Video description

Clearly about the feasibility of floor insulation in the video:

Based on this, it is safe to say that the insulated wooden floor eliminates the following problems:

Increased indoor humidity.

Low temperature inside the building.

The accumulation of condensate, which is the cause of the formation of mold.

The appearance of harmful microorganisms.

The formation of rot inside wood structures.

The combination of these factors encourages the homeowner to insulate the wooden floor, and to do the job in accordance with all the rules.

Laying thermal insulation in interfloor ceilings

The result of the actions taken will be a comfortable and cozy stay, and most importantly, the leakage of thermal resources and the corresponding costs will decrease. Thermal insulation can be carried out not only in old buildings, but also in commissioned buildings.

How to choose the right thermal insulation material

Owners of private buildings often wonder if they need floor insulation in a wooden house, which one is better to buy to get the best effect. The selection of material for this purpose can be called a rather crucial moment, so it is important to adhere to the following:

Weight of materials. It makes little sense for owners of private wooden houses to take into account this characteristic, since their houses themselves do not create a large load on the foundation tape or pillow. It is necessary to know the mass of the material only when working in multi-storey buildings, where too heavy insulation will exert an additional load on the floor slabs.

Moisture resistance. Most often, this criterion is looked at when they are finishing “wet” rooms - a bathroom or kitchen. It is also necessary to focus on it when building a house in latitudes with a humid climate.

Operating period. This parameter directly affects how many times and after what time the homeowner will carry out work related to the repair or replacement of the floor.

On the packaging of quality and certified materials, their full characteristics are always indicated.

Thermal conductivity index. The lower the value of this parameter, the more heat will remain in the house.

The degree of complexity of laying the material. Every master dreams of simplified installation work, therefore, the simpler the installation of insulation, the better.

The presence of a basement or basement. If there is an unheated room under the insulated floor, then it is important to choose a thicker thermal insulation.

Ceiling height. Laying insulation is always accompanied by a decrease in usable space, so in rooms with low ceilings it is better to opt for thinner insulation.

Features of use. Permanent or temporary residence also determines the thickness of the thermal insulation.

Fire resistant. It is very important that the heat-insulating material is resistant to fire or at least does not support combustion. In addition, it should not emit harmful gases when heated.

In our catalog, you can find a list of companies of companies specializing in finishing materials and works, among the houses presented at the exhibition Low-rise Country.

Popular types of thermal insulation materials

Ease of use is one of the most important criteria for choosing materials. Some of them are solid and can only be used on flat surfaces, while others are also successfully used for thermal insulation of areas of complex shape. Before insulating the floor in a wooden house, you should choose the most suitable type of insulation.

When choosing a material, it is necessary to take into account the conditions under which it will have to be laid.

Heaters in rolls

In this form, heaters are supplied, the basis of which is cork or mineral wool. The physical characteristics of these materials (softness and reduced density) make it possible to lay thermal insulation without much difficulty, not only on a perfectly flat surface. Roll insulation can be laid with the least number of butt joints, which increases the degree of thermal insulation. In most cases, this type of insulation is afraid of high humidity, so when laying it, you should take care of waterproofing. Sometimes roll materials have an outer foil layer that protects the material from moisture.

Rolls are easy to unwind on a flat surface

Plate materials

These are lightweight slabs or insulation mats that can not change shape during installation. They are characterized by low thermal conductivity and low weight. Easily mounted on the surface with minor errors.

Tiles can be installed alone

Liquid polymer thermal insulation

This type is a special formulation that forms a solid foam structure when exposed to air. With the help of such thermal insulation, all hard-to-reach places and errors are filled. Among the well-known representatives of this type of insulation, penoizol can be distinguished, which is applied to the surface from a can using a special sprayer. The only drawback of liquid heaters can be called a high price.

Liquid insulation sticks to any surface

Loose thermal insulation

This type of insulation is represented by such bulk materials as slag, expanded clay or sawdust. They fill the prescribed volume quite tightly, while laying is possible both on a pre-equipped base and on ordinary soil.

When using such heaters, it will be necessary to install additional beams for a finishing coating and, as a result, raise the floor level.

When choosing a method of insulating wood flooring, one should be guided by the efficiency of the use of the material and the material benefit.

Least effort on flat surfaces

Popular materials for wood flooring insulation

Usually you don’t have to look for a long time for the best way to insulate the floor in a wooden house - in building stores there is a large selection of various materials and all that remains is to choose the right one, starting from their characteristics.

Styrofoam and expanded polystyrene

In addition to good thermal insulation, one of the main characteristics of these materials is their vapor impermeability, so it is most effective to use them for warming the floor of the first floor or basement. Under normal conditions of mid-latitudes, it is enough to use slabs 5-13 cm thick. If you take thinner slabs, then over time, the savings will be covered by increased heating costs.

Work with foam

Mineral wool

The properties of this material do not allow its use in floor screeds on the ground. But wooden floors, insulated with mineral wool, can boast an increase in service life. It is recommended to insulate the floor between the basement and the first floor with a material whose thickness is 20-30 cm. Higher floors are insulated with materials 10-15 cm thick.

Video description

The procedure for working with mineral wool on the video:

Ecowool

The material is produced from shredded waste paper and cardboard packaging with further impregnation with flame retardants and antiseptics. Ecowool cannot be used for ground insulation due to its low density, but for beam slabs, the material is considered the best option. In this case, the thickness of the floor insulation in a wooden house can be 20-25 cm.

Backfilling of ecowool

Foamed polymers

The main difference is the high cost compared to other heaters. The use of this insulation on the floor and ceilings along the beams cannot be called effective. Therefore, it is best to use foamed polymer heat-insulating materials for thin-layer structures for floor coverings.

Before installing the finished floor

Foam glass

The material is obtained by foaming quartz sand. The mass of such a heater is much less than that of a dry tree. The main advantages of the material are good vapor barrier properties, the ability to withstand heavy loads without changing shape and losing quality characteristics, as well as good sound insulation.

Foam glass is produced in slabs that can withstand the weight of a heavy vehicle, or in granules for backfilling wooden floors.

The standard density of the material is 150kg/m³, which makes it possible to use it for insulation of the basement and ceilings located above. In this case, the thickness of the thermal insulation should be respectively 18 cm and 15 cm.

Foam glass plates

Expanded clay

Recently, this insulation has become much less used due to the appearance on the construction market of more efficient thermal insulation materials. Some characteristics require an increase in the thermal insulation layer by 4-6 times compared to stone wool or ecowool. Overlapping along the beams cannot always accommodate such a volume of insulation.

Expanded clay needs a lot of space

Fiberboard

This type of insulation is obtained by mixing cement powder, liquid glass and wood wool. The advantage of such thermal insulation of the floor in a wooden house is the ability to dampen noise of various origins, as well as significant heat retention when gluing the load-bearing walls of the house with this type of insulation. The high hygroscopicity of the material limits its use in floors on the ground, but it is ideal for insulating floors along beams and for creating multi-layer pies of wooden structures. The insulation of the floors between the basement and the first floor is carried out with a layer of 15 cm, for the upper floors 10 cm of insulation is sufficient.

Fiberboard

Sawdust

Such insulation cannot be called the most effective way to insulate residential premises, since in order to reduce heat loss it is necessary to lay a layer with a thickness of at least 30 cm. Therefore, sawdust is most often used in non-residential attic spaces. Recently, sawdust has been used in the production of highly effective thermal insulation and materials with similar characteristics.

Leveling the layer of sawdust

Izolon

This thermal insulation, obtained from polyethylene foam, has a low thermal conductivity even with a thickness of 0.2-1 cm. This quality makes the material indispensable for insulating a wooden floor. Among other advantages, good sound insulation can be noted, which makes it unnecessary to lay additional soundproofing layers. When using isolon, laying is mandatory not end-to-end, but with an overlap of the strips, the resulting seams are treated with polymer glue or bituminous mastic.

Rolls of Izolon

Penofol

The material is a roll insulation of a new generation. This lightweight and easy-to-use material provides shielding to prevent radiant energy from dissipating. Heat preservation occurs due to the reflective layer, which makes the material especially popular when insulating the floor between floors. Among the advantages are the ability to resist heavy loads, low thermal conductivity and easy installation.

The thickness and flexibility of Penefol allows it to be used in difficult places.

Comparing the properties and features of use, we can conclude that for wooden elements it is better to choose vapor-permeable materials, and in other cases, use high-density insulation.

The procedure for the installation of thermal insulation

Before insulating the floor in a wooden house, it is important to familiarize yourself with the general rules for the work.

Video description

First of all, you need to understand what you can’t do - clearly about it in the video:

And the process of warming is as follows:

First you need to remove the baseboard and remove the old floor. In this case, care must be taken not to buy new material.

Open floor beams are inspected for rotten elements that must be replaced. It is best to fasten new wooden parts with galvanized self-tapping screws that are not subject to corrosion.

The support beam is best fastened from the bottom of the log.

The rough flooring is made of unedged boards, the length of which corresponds to the distance between the lags or 2 cm less than this parameter. The rough floor is not laid closely, and the beam can be omitted from the elements of this coating.

Houses located in areas with a high level of groundwater very often suffer from high humidity, with all the ensuing consequences. Therefore, it is very important to protect the floors with roofing felt or glassine. The waterproofing strips are overlapped, gluing the joints with adhesive tape.

Insulation is laid on top of the finished floor log. In addition, another layer of waterproofing is needed.

To create a ventilation gap, counter rails are nailed over the insulation.

The final step is laying the new flooring.

Final floor finish

Whatever material or technology is used, first of all, you should always remember that a high-quality result can be obtained only if the technology of work is strictly observed.

Wooden floors allow you to keep warm in the house using minimal technical and material means. It is thanks to this feature that such floors have remained and remain the most common throughout their centuries-old history and do not yield their leadership even to the most modern high-tech flooring and coatings.

Floors made of high-quality wood, with proper care, retain their performance characteristics for centuries, are relatively inexpensive, versatile (they can be installed on any type of base), harmless to the human body and look very impressive. If necessary, they themselves can serve as the basis for a different type of flooring. In addition, wooden floors are quite easy to install and can be installed in a private house or apartment by just one person.

General principles for wooden floors

Directly sexual boards are always laid on logs, but the logs themselves can be laid both on a concrete or even earthen base, and on supports - usually these are brick, wooden or metal poles. Rarely, but still, a technology is used in which the ends of the log are embedded in opposite walls or laid on specially provided ledges near the walls and are operated without intermediate supports. However, in this case, it is very difficult to block wide spans - logs of a very large cross section and weight are required, and it is almost impossible to install them correctly alone ...

Installation of wooden floors on a concrete base practically no different from the arrangement of floors in an apartment with floors made of reinforced concrete slabs. Much more difficult is the case with floor installation on the first floor of a private house, since in this case it is highly desirable to arrange a ventilated and DRY underground. Its presence largely determines the strength and durability of the finished floor, especially in cases of high groundwater.

A few words about the tool

From the chosen method of floor installation depends on what tool you need for work. But in any case, you can not do without:

• laser level; in extreme cases, you can use the hydraulic level, but you will need an assistant to work with it;
• conventional or cross building bubble level with a length of at least 1 meter; the cross level is preferable, since it allows you to align the plane simultaneously in two directions;
• hammer weighing no more than 500 g;
• chain or circular saw, or a good hacksaw.
• jointer and (or) grinders.

The usual carpentry tool will not be superfluous - a square, a small ax, a planer, a chisel, a nail puller.

Floor installation on support poles

Traditionally, a wooden floor is assembled from the following "layers" (from bottom to top):

• the basis of all flooring is logs;
• rough ("lower") floor;
• waterproofing layer;
• thermal insulation layer;
• directly wooden floor (finishing flooring);
• finishing flooring.

This whole multi-layered "sandwich" is usually kept on supporting pillars - concrete, brick, wood or metal.

Installation of brick pillars

The best choice today is brick pillars that have acceptable strength characteristics, are quite affordable from a financial point of view and do not require much labor during construction. The only limitation is the height of such supporting pillars should not exceed 1.5 m; if it is larger, in order to maintain the strength of the supports, it will be necessary to increase their cross section, which will lead to a sharp increase in the required amount of bricks and, accordingly, an increase in material costs for construction. With a height of pillars up to 50-60 cm, a section of 1x1 brick is enough, with a height of 0.6-1.2 m, the section is made at least 1.5x1.5 bricks, columns up to 1.5 m high are laid out at least 2x2 bricks.

Anyway under the brick supports it is necessary to pour concrete "pyataks", the area of ​​​​which exceeds the cross-sectional area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe columns by at least 10 cm in each direction. The distance between the centers of the platforms is selected within 0.7-1 m ALONG the log and 0.8-1.2 m BETWEEN the logs with a section of 100 ... 150x150 mm. After marking, holes about half a meter deep are pulled out in the places where the pillars are erected; the main thing is that the bottom should be below the fertile layer of the earth. At the bottom of these mini-pits, a sand and gravel "cushion" is made, on which the concrete mixture is poured. It is desirable that the surface of the resulting "penny" is a few centimeters above ground level.

It is at the stage of laying out the supporting pillars the horizontality of the future floor is laid, and it is at this stage that it is best to use a laser level. With its help, the level of the LOWER EDGE of the LAG plus 1 cm is marked on the walls, a construction cord is stretched between opposite walls along this level, and the height of the pillars is already adjusted to its level. It is not necessary to bring it strictly down to a millimeter - a gap of a couple of centimeters is quite acceptable. When calculating the total thickness of the floor, it should be taken into account that at least its upper plane must be higher than the level of the basement of the building - otherwise it will be extremely difficult to avoid "cold bridges".

Some features of the pillars

It is worth considering them the presence of fasteners for beams-lag. Usually, as such fasteners, vertical “studs” with threads or anchor bolts embedded in 10-20 cm are used - later, through holes are drilled in the logs in appropriate places, with which the beams are “put on” on the resulting pins, and are attracted by nuts with washers. The protruding excess of the "thread" is cut off by the "grinder".

The lateral surfaces of the columns and, especially, their upper plane on which the lag will be laid, preferably cover with a layer of durable plaster- it will additionally strengthen the structure and play the role of additional waterproofing. On the surface of the finished columns is laid 2-3 layers of small pieces of roofing material.

After the masonry mortar has completely dried and hardened (it takes about a week), logs can already be laid on the finished support pillars.

Laying lag on brick columns

The length of the lag is selected depending on the design of the floor. When laying on supporting pillars, there are only two options for such structures - “floating” and rigid.

Floating or hard floors?

In the first case, the entire "sandwich" of the floor lies and rests exclusively on the posts, without being rigidly tied to the walls or. In the second, the ends of the log are rigidly attached to the walls in one way or another; this design virtually eliminates the “walking” of the flooring, but when the building subsides, it may well lead to deformation of the finished floors.

With a "floating" version of the floor, the length of the log is 3-5 cm less than the distance from wall to wall. In the second case, the gap should be no more than 2 cm - otherwise the logs will be difficult to rigidly attach to the walls. If necessary, logs can be made from two or more pieces, connecting them into "half-paws" - but the joint must necessarily fall on the support post and be nailed or (for a lag section of up to 10x100 mm) screwed with self-tapping screws.

If the final length of the lag is less than three meters, then they can be laid directly on the supports (not forgetting the roofing material waterproofing gaskets!); however, it is much better between the roofing material and the lower plane of the beam-lag to lay flat a piece of board with a thickness of 25-50 mm. In the case of butt lags, this must be done!

Log alignment

After laying out the lag on the prepared support pillars, they must be "set" in level. This is done as follows: with the help of wooden spacers of small thickness two extreme beams are laid strictly horizontally, according to a pre-calculated and marked height level. Gaskets are still used only on the extreme support pillars, while you can ignore the intermediate ones. The ends of the exposed logs are nailed to the walls; in the case of "floating" floors, this fastening will be temporary.

On both sides, at a distance of 0.3-0.5 m from the walls, on the upper planes of the laid lag tightly the construction cord is pulled. All other intermediate beams are displayed on it; then, if necessary, gaskets are installed between the remaining posts and lags. ALL gaskets must be RIGIDLY tied (nailed) to the joists, and, if possible, to the support posts. The beams should lie tightly on the pillars, in extreme cases, gaps of no more than 2 mm are allowed - but not on adjacent pillars.

Draft floor

After laying the log, a draft floor is made. To do this, along the entire length of the lower cut of the log, a narrow bar (“cranial” bar) is nailed on each side of it. Raw boards with a length equal to the distance between the lags are laid on it between the lags. After laying these boards “solidly” they are covered with a vapor barrier film, on which insulation is applied or filled up. From above, everything is completely covered with a windproof cloth.

Underfloor ventilation

When arranging the floor on brick pillars in the underground space ventilation must be provided- forced (with a large cubic capacity of the underground) or natural. An obligatory element of such ventilation is the so-called "perfume": Through holes in or walls below floor level. Such openings should be available along the entire perimeter of the building and under internal partitions, the distance between them should not exceed 3 m.

The dimensions of the vents are usually chosen 10x10 cm, the center of the hole should be at a height of 0.3-0.4 m from the ground level (above the thickness of the winter snow cover). Be sure to provide for the possibility of overlapping the ducts in the winter. In addition, in order to protect against rodents, the openings of the vents are closed with a mesh with a fine mesh.

When unless the underground is too deep(no more than 0.5 m) and the installation of products is difficult, ventilation holes are made in the floor itself - usually in the corners. These openings are covered with decorative grilles and must always be open.

How to properly lay floors

Before laying the floorboards, the insulation is covered with a windproof sheet. The choice of board depends on what kind of surface the finished floor will be. If it is conceived as natural, a tongue-and-groove floorboard (with a lock) is required; if linoleum or laminate is to be laid, it is quite possible to get by with an ordinary edged board. BUT IN ANY CASE THE WOOD MUST BE WELL DRY!

We fasten the grooved board to the lags

The first board is placed with a gap of 1-1.5 cm from the wall, and not close to it, with a spike to the wall. The following boards are pressed against the previous ones with the help of some kind of stop (clamps, for example) and a pair of wooden wedges. Boards, especially if they are thicker than 25 mm, are nailed - self-tapping screws are not suitable in this case, they do not attract the board to the upper surface of the log. The specified gap of 1-1.5 cm must be maintained around the entire perimeter of the room. The existing joints of the ends of the floorboards must be staggered.

Floor finishing

After laying the floorboard, the floor is ready for finishing, which consists in its sanding (sanding) and coating with paint or varnish. It is almost impossible to do this manually - you should use an electric jointer or grinder. After this very dusty procedure, all “opened” Treat cracks and crevices between boards with wood putty made on the basis of drying oil. The last operation before painting is fixing the baseboard around the perimeter of the room.

The polished surface is painted or varnished, for example, yacht; modern paints and varnishes allow you to imitate almost any type of wood or material surface. Usually at least two layers of coating are applied, a paint roller and a good respirator are used for work. If you want to get not a glossy, but a matte floor surface, you can use wax or oil.

Today, sustainable construction is in the spotlight, and wood, as a building material, occupies the first place in it. This is facilitated by the fact that wood is an environmentally friendly and affordable material that has been processed by man for many thousands of years. Increasingly, you can see country houses and cottages made of wood, which combine nature and technology. As in any other house construction, one of the important stages is the creation of the floor. The very arrangement of the floor in a wooden house is a very important and crucial moment, requiring increased attention to the work performed. Therefore, in order for the floors in a wooden house to be strong and durable, it is necessary to follow the technology of their laying and adhere to certain recommendations and rules.

Floor construction and wood selection

The floor in a wooden house on the ground floor is laid on the ground and consists of the following elements: logs, subfloor, hydro and thermal insulation, finished floor and floor covering. The entire structure is installed on beams or support posts made of brick or concrete. Between the floor and the ground there is an underground, which is carefully ventilated to keep the wood in optimal condition and create a microclimate on the ground floor.

Scheme of the device of a wooden floor

Important! The arrangement of wooden floors on the ground is a fairly cheap option, but for their arrangement it is necessary to take into account the level of groundwater. If it is high enough and the soils are wet, then you should take care of waterproofing the entire floor structure and high-quality ventilation of the underground.

Since the floor is subjected to frequent mechanical stress, the wood for its creation must be selected carefully and adhere to the following rules:

• the moisture content of the tree should be 12%, this will directly determine how long the tree will keep its shape;
• the tree should be free of chips and cracks, so that later you do not have to replace or repair part of the floor structure;
• boards should be treated with flame retardants and antiseptics, this will help increase fire resistance and avoid damage by pathogenic flora;
• to create a durable and strong structure, you should choose hard coniferous wood - spruce, pine, larch, cedar, fir. Although the most durable will be deciduous oak or ash.

underground space

Underfloor ventilation installation

The microclimate in the house will depend on how dry and well-ventilated the underground is, and how long the wooden floor will last. Therefore, to ensure ventilation around the perimeter of the basement, holes are equipped, which, regardless of the time of year and the direction of the winds, will provide natural ventilation. In case of snowy winters, ventilation pipes with a visor are taken out of the openings of the underground, and several window fans can be installed to increase air circulation. It is also necessary to take care of protection against various rodents. To do this, gratings with cells up to 8 mm should be installed on all openings.

wooden floor base

In order for the floor to be strong and durable, it is necessary to prepare a high-quality base. Wooden floors in a private house are laid on support beams laid in the foundation. If support beams are not provided for in the project of a wooden house, then it will be necessary to equip support posts made of brick or concrete. The only difference is in the supports on which the logs are laid; further work on laying the wooden floor is identical.

If the beams are laid together with the foundation, then the supporting pillars have to be done separately.

We determine the places for arranging support columns. To do this, we make marks on the embedded beams and pull the cord along the entire length of the underground. We do the same in the perpendicular direction. At the intersection of the cords will be the corners of the posts. It is also necessary to calculate the number of columns so that the step between them is 70-100 cm. The length of the step between the supporting pillars directly depends on the thickness of the beams or logs that will be laid on the pillars. The thicker the beam or lag, the smaller the step can be taken between the pillars. For beams with a section of 150x150 mm, the pitch of the supporting pillars should be no more than 80 cm. The dimensions of the recesses for the pillars should correspond to the sides of the pillar. When laying support posts, it is necessary to take into account the fact that the higher the posts are from the ground, the more stable they should be. Accordingly, the larger should be their cross section.

Arrangement of support posts made of concrete under the logs

In the places of installation of the pillars, we select the soil to a depth of 40-60 cm and lay the pillars themselves. They can be made of brick or concrete. Brick columns with a height of up to 250 mm are laid in "one and a half" or "two" bricks, higher columns are laid in "two" bricks.

Important! For greater reliability of the construction of columns of bricks, it is desirable to pour a foundation under them, which will protrude at least 5 cm above the ground level. Fix the bricks with cement mortar and waterproof.

Concrete columns are more durable due to the reinforcing mesh inside. The dimensions of the sides of such columns range from 400 mm to 500 mm based on the height of the column itself.

Important! In order for the floor to be even, it is necessary to observe the horizon even at the stage of laying the supporting posts and beams. To do this, you should constantly check their level so that they are all in the same plane.

Then, over the entire area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe future underground, we select a fertile layer of soil, level and fill up a layer of gravel, and then sand. Pour each layer with water and carefully tamp. To do this, you can use a special vibrating plate or an ordinary log with a nailed board.

Wooden floor installation

Once the base in the form of supporting posts or beams is ready, you can proceed with the installation of the wooden floor itself. We lay several layers of waterproofing on top of the posts; roofing material is perfect for this. We install logs or beams on top of the waterproofing layer, which we firmly fix in place. Logs can be laid directly on the support posts, but to increase the strength of the floor, beams should first be laid and logs already on top of them. If the length of the beam or log is less than the length of the room, then we lay the places of their joints on the support posts, connect them together into a lock and fix them with self-tapping screws. To fix the beams and logs on the support pillars, we use metal corners, which we firmly fasten to the posts with dowels, and to the tree with self-tapping screws.

Important! We process logs and beams with antiseptics and flame retardants. If somewhere they missed it, or it was not possible to withstand the horizon for the columns, then it's okay. This can be corrected by placing wedges or wooden spacers under the beam or lag in the place of its subsidence. The wedges and gaskets themselves are firmly fixed.

Single wooden floor

The device of a wooden floor in a private house can be single or double, but the design of the floor itself will be unchanged. Single wooden floors are usually made for summer wooden houses. Houses with such floors are unsuitable for year-round use. To keep the floors warm throughout the year, double floors with insulation are created.

To equip a single wooden floor, it is necessary to lay logs on the support posts and fix them. For logs, it is enough to use wooden bars 50x50 mm or 60x60 mm. A tongue-and-groove board 40-50 mm thick is laid on top of the log and fixed to the logs with self-tapping screws or nails. As a floor covering, you can use linoleum or just paint the boards. Sometimes, in order to give the entire structure of the floor strength, beams are first laid on the supporting pillars and logs are already on them. For support beams, in this case, a wooden beam with a thickness of 100x100 mm or 120x120 mm is used.

Draft floor double floor

Laying the floor in a wooden house, which will be inhabited throughout the year, involves the creation of a double floor with insulation. Such a floor requires a lot of effort and the amount of materials, but its level of reliability and strength will be an order of magnitude higher compared to a single-layer one. To make such a floor, you will need to perform the following steps:

Important! Boards should be laid at a distance of 15-20 mm from the wall to ensure ventilation and avoid swelling of the floor during seasonal wood swelling.

You can waterproof a wooden floor with a 200 micron polyethylene film.

• for waterproofing the finished floor and floor covering, we lay a 200 micron thick polyethylene film on top of the subfloor and additional thermal insulation made of foamed polyethylene. We overlap the film, and glue its edges with tape between each other. We make an overlap of 20 cm on the walls and glue it with tape;
• now that everything is ready, you can start laying the final floor and flooring.

To create a finished floor, you can use sheets of plywood or a massive board. Plywood sheets are laid on top of the heat-insulating layer and fixed with self-tapping screws along the perimeter and diagonally. Then you can lay the wooden flooring.

Grooved solid board

Groove board made of solid wood is not only beautiful, but also easy to install and use.

In the case of a massive board, everything is somewhat more complicated, although a significant plus is that such a floor can be opened with varnish or paint without additional flooring. There are two types of solid board: tongue-and-groove and regular. The difference lies in the installation method. More simple and practical in laying is a tongue-and-groove board. To install it, do the following:

• before laying the board, it should be aged in the room for three days and “get used” to the microclimate of the room;
• we measure 10-15 mm from the walls to create a ventilation gap and in case of seasonal swelling of the boards;
• Finishing floor boards are laid across the subfloor boards. We lay the first row of boards strictly along the line with a spike to the wall and fix them with self-tapping screws. We screw the self-tapping screws in such a way that they overlap with the plinth near the wall. On the other hand, we screw the screws into the groove at an angle of 45 °;
• in the gap between the wall and the board we lay a wooden gasket;

Important! If the length of the floorboards is smaller in size than the room, we lay them "in a row". This will provide additional strength to the floor. The length of the screws should be several times the thickness of the board. Under the self-tapping screw, it is necessary to pre-drill a hole, this is necessary so that the board does not split and crack.

• the second and further rows of boards are laid with a spike in the groove of the previous row. We seal with a rubber hammer and fix with screws on the other side into the groove;

Important! In order for the wooden floor to last for a long time, the boards must be laid with annual rings opposite to each other.

Parquet massive board

We lay parquet boards "out of the blue"

Another option for the finishing floor is solid parquet flooring. In fact, this is the same grooved massive board, only shorter. Her styling has its own characteristics:

• a massive parquet board can be fixed with self-tapping screws only from the side of the spike;
• it is performed only "on the run";
• if a plywood base is used, then it makes sense to glue the parquet board first, and then additionally fix it with self-tapping screws;
• a massive parquet board can be laid diagonally, thereby visually enlarging the room.

You can open the wooden floor with varnish or paint at the end of all installation work.

Regardless of which element of the wooden floor structure we lay, it must be treated with antiseptics and flame retardants, this will extend the life of the entire structure as a whole. The laying of the wooden floor will be fully completed with the application of the final floor covering. It can be varnish or paint, the main thing is that the floor in a wooden house looks natural and fits into the overall concept. Laying a wooden floor is a rather responsible and complex matter, requiring increased attention and care when performing work. You can do all the work yourself, but still, you should find a partner.