The prelude to any finishing works with their own hands in the apartment is always a rhetorical question: "How and how to level the walls." If the walls are crooked, the most creative and bold design ideas will not save the situation. The only correct way is to level the walls manually.
Existing methods of preparing walls for decoration
Professional builders when preparing the walls of a house or apartment for subsequent finishing use two main methods:
• Wet, using plaster mixtures and solutions
• dry, uses wall lining with drywall sheets.
Wall preparation and leveling with plaster mixtures is a traditional and very time-consuming process. Hence the significant cost of manual finishing works in a "wet" way.
A well prepared wall of the apartment must have a wiped surface without visible defects. The thickness of the plaster layer should ideally meet the following criteria:
• a simple layer up to 12 mm.
• Improved layer up to 15 mm.
• High-quality layer of 20 mm.
Vertical and horizontal plaster is controlled by a rule or cord. String the cord, taking into account the indentation of the thickness of the plaster layer and arrange brands and beacons. The surface of the walls is carefully stitched: the rule is applied to the wall in different directions: vertically, horizontally and diagonally. In case of significant deviations, they are removed by cutting off excess solution or vice versa, additional application of the solution to defective areas.
The ancient and proven way of leveling walls with the use of guides or "beacons" is applied to the present time. Building "beacon" is also necessary when preparing the walls of the apartment for finishing, like the building mixes Ceresit.
The technique of installing "beacons" for wall leveling
Preliminary visual inspection of the walls is carried out and its verticality and straightness are checked. For this purpose, a level of 1500 mm and a strong thread are used. Dimensions of the walls are made according to the technique "cross-wise". After the measurement, a vertical marking is done at a distance of 300 mm from the corners of the room with a pencil. For the future "beacon", a section of the wall 15 mm wide from small irregularities is peeled off.
To install the beacon, alabaster or gypsum mixture is diluted to a creamy state and applied to the wall by a throwing method. The solution is thrown vertically at a uniform distance in three places of the future fastening. The beacon is placed on top of the level by two points. Well, how can one not remember that "two points can always be a straight line".
We fix the first beacon with a solution and check the verticality of the received guide. Just carefully, with the observance of the sequence of work, put the next "beacon". After it has solidified on the alabaster guide, an empty space is filled with a spatula between the wall and the guide "beacon" along the entire height. Again, the straightness and verticality of the "lighthouse" is checked.
For this, a strong nylon thread is stretched between two extreme "beacons":
• from the top at a distance of 200 mm
• below the floor at a distance of 200 mm
• In the middle between two already stretched threads.
We detect defects by measuring the distance from the thread to the wall.
Plaster solutions must have workability. This is the ability to quickly and easily lay the solution with a thin dense layer with full filling of all irregularities and cracks. Of course, such a property depends on the mobility of the working solution, namely, the ability to spread under the action of its own mass and elastic forces.
Aligning the apartment wall is preferably performed by a team of several people. In this case, it is preferable to entrust preparatory work to professional plasterers.
When distributing the works, one plaster will apply a solution of spray and soil. In this case, the solution is leveled according to the "beacons". The second cuts down the "lighthouses" and covers up the remaining places with a working solution. In this case, the leveling of the coating solution is made. The third leveling the covering, adding the missing solution in places or removing excess. At the same time, the third rubs seeds, chamfers and husks. And, finally, the fourth, is engaged in the final trowelling of the wall.
For the device "beacons" the wall surface is stitched after nailing the nails to the extreme "beacons".
Stucco according to "lighthouses" is not an easy job, because at the same time a plane of the wall is created, which is no longer aligned with the putty or wallpaper.
How to level the walls of professional plasterers with the use of cement mortars for brick walls can be found by looking at the proposed video.
The heavy and laborious work of the plasterer, performing the leveling of the walls with the "grandfather's method" using ancient technologies and building materials of the last century, gradually dies away, giving way to new construction dry mixtures.
How to level the walls using dry mixes
When plastering with the use of dry mixes, the preparatory works stage remains traditional: the walls of the apartment are cleaned from the old plaster layer, wallpaper, dust or falling debris and fragments of the walls. The working base of the walls of the apartment must be smooth, bearing and free from foreign spots. Recommended priming of the substrate in several layers significantly improve the subsequent application of the leveling compound.
The preparation of the working solution is carried out according to the recommendations of the manufacturer and with the observance of all rules for the preparation of the solution. The leveling solution is applied in several layers:
• the first layer pre-aligns
• second intermediate reinforcing layer
• The third preparatory layer prepares the wall for finishing.
The application of the solution is carried out according to the technique of "beacons" with the surface stitching and the control of verticality and horizontality.
Learn more about wall alignment using dry mixes will help you video.
The most profitable, in terms of material and physical costs, the way to level the walls is to finish the walls of the apartment with plasterboard. What is attractive for finishing walls with plasterboard and what are its advantages?
The thorough advice from experts and professional builders when decorating walls with plasterboard is presented in the video.
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