Do-it-yourself concrete flooring on the ground

Floors on the ground are an economical option for building a country house on a strip foundation. When arranging, costs are minimized, as publicly available materials and tools are used. Concrete as a building mix for screed is the most popular because of its availability, low cost, ease of manufacture, high strength and durability.

Requirements for a concrete floor on the ground

Despite the absence of the need for special skills, some requirements are imposed on the installation of a concrete floor:

1. Soils should be dry and immovable with a minimum level of groundwater - 4-5 meters.
2. It is recommended to first determine the magnitude of the planned load.
3. Choose the pouring technology: conventional on the ground or concrete screeds with lags.

When groundwater occurs closer than two meters to the foundation, waterproofing with coarse gravel is required. If underfloor heating technology is used, a thermal gap of 20 mm between the concrete floor and the wall will be required in order not to damage the casting during operation.

on the ground should be built only in a heated country house. Otherwise, soil freezing may occur, which will cause deformation of the structure due to increased loads. It is recommended to pour the floor when the walls and roof are erected, which will improve the quality of the work performed.

Advantages of the floors

Advantages of screeds, equipped on the open ground:

• cost-effectiveness compared to conventional designs;
• simplicity and ease of installation;
• high reliability, strength and stability;
• increased frost resistance;
• ease of arranging a warm floor.

Manufacturing technology

For concreting floors on soils with your own hands, you will need a mixture of cement, sand, crushed stone or gravel. To calculate the amount of mortar required, multiply the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe room by the thickness of all layers of the structure. The concrete mixture is prepared in a ratio of 1: 2: 3 (cement: sand: gravel or). Ready mix concrete can be used. To do this, one volume of cement will require 6 volumes of crushed stone with a fineness of 20 mm and 3 volumes of sharp-angled sand.

To prepare large quantities of concrete, you need a concrete mixer. First, dry components of the mixture with the above composition are poured into the mixer for 2/3. After thorough mixing, water is added in portions until a sufficiently plastic solution is obtained. The next servings can be started by pouring water. At the end of construction work, the concrete mixer must be cleaned and rinsed.

Level markup

The zero level of the concrete floor is deposited in two stages:

1. From the bottom of the doorway, 1 meter is measured, which is transferred to all perimeter walls.
2. From the drawn upper line, 1 meter down is again measured, and beacons are placed for the future floor.

Filling is carried out to the obtained zero level. For easy orientation along the edges, nails are hammered into the corners, on which a steel thread is pulled.

Clearing and compacting the soil

Preparation of the site for pouring is carried out in several stages:

1. Cleaning the soil from debris.
2. Removal of the top layer of the earth corresponding to the thickness of the future multilayer floor - 30-40 cm.
3. Careful tamping of the surface with a vibrating plate. In the absence of special equipment, ramming is carried out with an ordinary board or log. When there are no deep footprints, the ground is considered sufficiently compacted.

If the thickness of the removable layer of earth is more than 40 cm, sand should be added after compaction to the desired level.

To increase, the soil is covered with clay, which is watered and carefully rammed. Then sand is poured. Such a "cushion" will prevent leakage of groundwater.

Laying layers with gravel, sand and crushed stone

The next layer is a gravel layer 5-10 cm thick. For a more accurate determination of the required level, pegs of the desired height are driven in. The resulting layer is watered, compacted, the beacons are removed. Then ravine sand 10 cm thick is laid (possible with impurities). The reservoir is watered and rammed.

The next layer of crushed stone with a grain of 40-50 mm is only compacted. There should be no protruding edges on the surface. All layers of the concrete floor are aligned horizontally with a building level.

Waterproofing and thermal insulation

In order to improve the waterproofing properties of the concrete floor in a country house, an additional layer of 0.02 cm thick polyethylene film should be laid. As an alternative, a waterproofing membrane is used. It is necessary to isolate from possible ingress of moisture the entire area of ​​​​the room with an overlap on the walls of 2 cm and between the sheets. The joints are sealed with adhesive tape.

There is a wide range of materials to improve thermal insulation: polystyrene foam, expanded clay, ordinary or extruded polystyrene foam, stone-basalt or mineral wool, perlite, cork products, isolon in rolls, thick moisture-resistant plywood. Thermal insulation is laid after waterproofing.

Reinforcement

The required strength of the concrete screed is achieved by reinforcing with a metal or plastic mesh. You can also use reinforcing bars or wire. For laying the reinforcing frame, it is necessary to build supports 2-3 cm high.

Installation of guides and formwork

Guides and formwork will most accurately maintain the level when pouring concrete. For this, the area of ​​​​the future floor is divided into equal segments. Boards or bars are laid on the markup flush with the zero level. The guides are fixed with a thick solution of sand-cement and clay. The formwork is mounted between boards made of moisture-resistant plywood to form honeycombs. With their help, concrete pouring will correspond to the zero mark. It is recommended to coat the formwork and guides with special oil, which will facilitate the process of their dismantling.