Self-leveling floors are both the technology of performing work and the material used to fill a seamless cement-polymer floor covering. Due to their properties, self-leveling floors can be used as a preparatory stage before the subsequent finishing of the floor, or as a finishing coating. Such a screed is often used for underfloor heating, in public houses, industrial and industrial facilities.
What is a self-leveling floor, its difference from a floor screed?
The floor screed solution may vary in composition, depending on the operating load, design preferences, and other requirements. Since the self-leveling floor is used in one or several layers of 2-3 mm each, their task is to provide a beautiful, durable, and most practical surface. We remind you that cement screed for floors is used with a thickness of 3-5 cm, so self-leveling floors allow you to save material, but require careful preparation before the next filling of the mixture.
Difference with screed:
- Electric and water underfloor heating cannot be used under self-levelling floors;
- Screed-rough coating, self-leveling floor can be used as a finishing finish;
- The screed solution is rougher, filling is done in a large volume, no extraction of air bubbles from the mixture is required. Self-leveling floor is made more liquid, requires careful removal of any defects, including air bubbles;
- Cement-sand mixture and cement have good performance characteristics, but some objects require special properties. Therefore, you can use a “pie” made of screed and self-leveling floor, protected from aggressive chemicals, resistant to abrasion, and more resistant to daily use in administrative and office facilities.
- Self-leveling floors consist most often of polymer compounds, in finished form they have a creamy texture. The screed has the same color, if you do not add toner to the solution, self-leveling floors can be completely transparent, non-uniform in color, or tinted in the same color.
Most often, polymer compounds are used to solve certain engineering, design, and architectural problems, while screed is used as a rough finish or as a prepared base for using other finishing materials (ceramic tiles, granite, self-leveling floors, laminate, linoleum, etc.).
Types of self-leveling floor
On construction sites, four main types of self-leveling floors are most often used, depending on their main binder component:
- Epoxy self-leveling floors;
- Cement-acrylic compositions;
- Methyl methacrylate solutions;
- Polyurethane.
Less commonly, combinations of these materials or a multi-layered structure are used.
Since epoxy, methylmethacrylate and polyurethane self-leveling floors are extremely demanding for compliance with the filling technology, the use of professional equipment and compliance with safety rules, cement-acrylic compositions are mainly in demand in residential construction. Their advantages:
- No need to hire expensive teams and use special equipment;
- The mixture is completely safe, working with it is practically no different from mixing tile glue or masonry mortar;
- You can make a layer sufficient for laying electric underfloor heating (up to 3-5 cm);
- Low material cost;
- Fully meet the requirements for low-rise construction in terms of operational loads.
Self-levelling self-leveling floor with cement and acrylic can also be used on such objects:
- Industrial and manufacturing enterprises-regular maintenance is simplified, cracking is prevented, and the necessary coating strength is provided for the operation of light lifting equipment and transport.;
- Office, commercial, and administrative buildings-here reliability, durability, and stylish design of the finished surface are valued;
- Places of public catering, shops, hotels-the coating has a flat, smooth surface, can be used in places where mechanized cleaning is carried out or aggressive cleaning agents are used;
- Private apartments, cottages-rough finishing may not be satisfactory in quality, and filling the screed will significantly reduce the height of the rooms. The solution is to use a self-leveling floor to obtain a functional, beautiful, inexpensive coating.
When filling, you can set a specific texture, change the color scheme, and achieve compliance with the designer’s requirements.
Why choose self-leveling floors as a finishing coat?
- The material is resistant to abrasives, both during cleaning and during intensive operation. Resistance to abrasives is several times higher than when using a screed;
- Materials based on acrylic and cement are eco-friendly, do not emit toxic substances, and can be used for residential buildings;
- No static charge accumulates;
- The coating is chemically neutral to basic chemical media (acid, alkali);
- You do not need to use special or expensive cleaning products for maintenance;
- The entire room is filled without the formation of steps, seams, cracks, deformation breaks;
- The term of use of even a small coating is from 25 to 40-50 years;
- The cost remains affordable if you take into account the duration of operation and endurance of the self-leveling floor.
Every year this technology of floor arrangement becomes more popular, although the main purpose is still to level the floor.
How to use a self-levelling self-leveling floor?
Instructions for the use of mixtures are located on each bag of self-leveling floor, including the dosage of water indicated there. Usually, the self-levelling floor is brought to a liquid state or to a consistency comparable to sour cream, but for some works, relatively dense compositions are also allowed.
For mixing, a conventional whisk or concrete mixer is used, the mixture is poured into a container with pre-filled water. It is not allowed to use solutions with lumps or heterogeneous composition. To quickly and efficiently remove bubbles from the surface and thicker than the solution, it is convenient to use needle rollers. They simplify work, speed up alignment, remove lumps and air bubbles. To move the solution, the master must use special leggings on a needle sole. Step-by-step filling is not allowed. The entire floor is filled in in one step to prevent the formation of cracks and spills.
The following tools will be used in the work::
- Spatulas of different widths – leveling the mix;
- Buckets or basins for preparing the solution;
- Needle roller with long and short handle;
- Gaiters for moving around;
- Film to cover the frozen floor to prevent moisture loss.