Screed flooring with claydite own hands: step by step instruction with photo

When they begin to consider the issue of floor insulation, specialists from the very beginning discourage the introduction of complex systems, since the most common insulating materials are quite able to cope with this task.

Therefore, do not spend money and energy on the device of complex designs, and it makes sense to learn how to make a floor screed with expanded clay with your own hands.

With this material it's so easy to work that anyone can handle the screed device, no special equipment or tools are needed.

The only thing you need to pay attention to is the thickness of the layer to be laid. It must be at least three centimeters. As a rule, expanded clay is used when it is required to level the floors in all rooms.

Such problems have to be solved often, and the material is often used for floor heating in private houses, apartments and other premises. Light weight makes the expanded clay even more popular in the construction of insulation screeds, since the whole construction does not weight the slabs having an individual margin of safety. If you want to organize a screed with a thickness of more than 10 cm, then it should be done not just from a clean mixture of sand and cement, but with the addition of lightweight filler - expanded clay. Often, foam foam or gypsum-fiber sheets are also used.

If the floor slabs do not inspire confidence, and you decide to insulate the floor yourself, the floor screed with expanded clay is just what you need. Is it difficult to do it yourself?

Screed using claydite

Let's look at how the floor screed with expanded clay is handled. The process is not complicated, but will require attention and effort. Expanded clay are ordinary clay balls, subjected to heat treatment. In other words, burnt clay.

The level of the future sex

First you need to determine the line, which will need to carry out floor leveling. It is convenient to use the laser or water level. As a result, horizontal lines should appear on the walls of the room, along which the surface will be leveled.

Elimination of ground floor defects

After the level of the future floor is applied to the walls, it is necessary to get rid of various defects. Do not rely on the fact that the screed itself will fill all the irregularities, notches and chips, as it is necessary to fill the floor with expanded clay, and therefore there is a possibility that it will not be possible to get rid of all the flaws. Therefore, it is better not to spare time and money and to fill them with a liquid solution, similar to that which will be prepared for screed.

Beacon Installation

The next important stage of the screed device is the installation of leveling beacons. To do this, you will have to determine where the highest point of the floor is located. Precisely in this place it is necessary to establish the first of the lighthouses. This is the most important moment when you make a floor screed with expanded clay with your own hands.

Lighthouses are ordinary guides made of metal, sometimes of plastic. They are laid along or across the premises, dividing it in this way into sections. Expanded lighthouses are strewn between the lighthouses.

In order to ensure that all guides are in the same plane, under them lay wooden wedges or just pieces of boards or plywood. However, you can do even easier: dilute the gypsum with water and lay this dough-like mass with a slide along the intended installation site of the guide. The lighthouse should be put on a hill and evenly distributed with a level.

To align long beacons, it is convenient to use a rule or a level of two meters in length. When determining the distance between the guides proceed from the size of the rule: the beacons are arranged so that it is convenient to place the tool on two adjacent guides or three. If, for example, the width of the room is four meters, you should place the beacons at a distance of no more than 70 cm, because then the level will cover not two but three guides, which will positively affect the speed and quality of the work performed.

Backfilling the base with expanded clay

After the beacons are exposed and aligned, it is necessary to cover the floor with expanded clay. We can assume that the floor screed with our own hands is almost completed. Claydite falls asleep strictly on the marked sites, which limit the lighthouses. Backfilling is considered to be the simplest step in the installation of a screed. The main thing is to monitor the height of the layer of expanded clay. It should be evenly distributed so that there is still room for the screed, that is, for a mixture of cement and sand. In other words, the layer of expanded clay should be such that to the top level of the beacons there is still 25-20 mm. After the expanded clay is evenly spread between the beacons, we prepare the "milk" from the cement. They fill our heater with water.

The role of cement milk

This solution is a material designed to secure the insulation. As a result, you can safely walk on the expanded clay layer. In addition, the solution covers the granules with a special film, which reliably protects them from moisture, otherwise the moisture from the liquid cement screed will be absorbed into the expanded clay. This is also necessary because in the event that the screed will lose moisture, the quality of the cement slurry will inevitably decrease. Subsequently, cracks, chips and other defects will appear. In other words, the floor screed with claydite made in this way will lose its strength with its own hands.

Proportions of preparation of cement milk

It should be understood that this is the same cement-sand mortar, only in liquid form. Here you can not do without experiments. In a mixture of cement and sand, you need to pour three times more water than for a conventional screed. Then fill the resulting solution with a separate small area with expanded clay and see the behavior of the mixture. If it spilled through the expanded clay, and there was not a trace left on the granules, too much water was added. If there is a residual layer of milk on top of the heater, we can conclude that there is not enough water. It is necessary to find a compromise.

After the whole surface is filled with cement milk, it must be allowed to dry completely. This takes at least 24 hours. Only then you can start the next stage of the work, which will be the actual floor screed with expanded clay with your own hands.

Preparation of mortar for screed

To prepare mortar for screed use cement grade not lower than M400 and building sand, which are mixed in a proportion of 1: 3, respectively. It is better to use a special construction mixer, rather than a conventional shovel.

Remember that usually add two liters of water per ten kilograms of the mixture. It is much more convenient to pour the solution into the water, and not vice versa, although the instructions attached to the cement often indicate the "wrong" way.

Using a mixer, mix thoroughly for 5-10 minutes. Then leave for 5 minutes to settle, and after five minutes again stir for about 2-3 minutes. Now you can use the solution.

Mortar pouring on the floor

Filling the solution on the floor, it is leveled with a trowel, applying the rule, if necessary, to distribute the composition evenly throughout the floor. The rule is put on the beacons and stretch the cement mass throughout the site, trying to make the surface take a strictly horizontal position, and there were no hillocks and depressions. This is how the floor screed with expanded clay is handled.

How to quickly prepare a solution

There is an easier way to lay the expanded clay insulation under the screed. Preparation of the base is done exactly as described above. Only the solution is prepared differently. The water is poured into the container and the expanded clay is covered. After that, a cement-sand mixture is poured in, which is mixed thoroughly and quickly and placed between beacons.

In this way, the floor screed is made even faster with their own hands: expanded clay is a material that will help speed up the process. However, when choosing this option, it is extremely difficult to guess with the proportions of its components. In this case, it is recommended to use ready-made mixtures that are sold in construction shops and markets. They are poured into a container, where water is already poured and claydite is added. In another way, this method is also called "wet".

There is a "dry" option, and this is also a floor screed with expanded clay. Features of the technology are that water is added much less. If such a solution is taken into the palm and compressed into a fist, then no liquid should drip from it. But the disintegration of the mixture is also unacceptable. After such a solution is distributed between the beacons, it must necessarily be tamped. It dries quickly enough, and this allows you to start the next stages of construction without the time to dry.

So the standard floor screed with expanded clay with own hands is carried out. The instructions may vary depending on the specific conditions, but the principle of its creation is the same for most rooms in which there is a need for leveling the sexes.

Saving money is a major trump card in our difficult times. Do not be afraid that you will not get a floor screed with expanded clay: a self-tie device is a simple process, the most important thing is to observe the technology and not forget about some important points. Then it will serve you for a long time with faith and truth, and you do not have to constantly repair the floors.