Until recently, people did not pay such scrupulous attention to the repair. Modern design requires strict compliance with certain requirements. Walls, floors and ceilings should be as even as possible so that the finish coat looks perfect on the surface. Therefore, you need to correctly align the walls with your own hands before painting them or sticking wallpaper.
Unfortunately, even in modern new buildings, the walls are far from ideal, to say nothing of secondary apartments, old houses. High-quality alignment of walls, ceiling and floor is an obligatory component of a high-quality overhaul. To learn how to align the walls in the apartment with your own hands, you need to familiarize yourself with some of the intricacies of the work. Today we will examine this issue in detail.
What can be used for alignment?
Despite the fact that building technology does not stand still, align the walls under the wallpaper with your own hands beforestill possible either with the help of gypsum board, or with the use of plaster. It should be borne in mind that you can use different materials, which contain gypsum or cement. It is possible to carry out the installation of gypsum board using glue, or by fixing it on a special frame. The main thing is that the connection is as strong as possible.
Not so long ago, gypsum fiber material was used instead of standard gypsum board. However, as practice has shown, it is unprofitable to use it. A mixture of plant fibers and gypsum does not withstand heavy loads and even with a slight mechanical damage breaks, deforms, and forms chips. Now this material is rarely used, sometimes they level the floor.
Approximately 30-40 years ago, it was possible to align the walls with your own hands only with the help of inexpensive plywood. It quickly broke down and swelled on contact with moisture. As a result, we can conclude that drywall is the best materials for wall decoration.
Sometimes putty can be used for this purpose, but it will be useful only for flat surfaces, when the maximum difference is no more than 5 mm. Of course, it is much easier to work with gypsum board, but if you understand the method of installing beacons and applying a leveling mortar, then this work will not create any particular difficulties.
Using plaster
First you need to choose the right material. The gypsum solution dries quickly, but a large layer of such material cannot be applied. Whatfor cement mortar, you can apply about 10 cm of the mixture, but you will have to wait much longer for it to dry completely.
In addition, it is necessary to take into account the conditions in which the plaster will be applied and used. For example, in a bathroom with a high level of humidity, it is better not to use gypsum material, it is prone to absorbing moisture. But it is perfect for decorating the living room, bedroom, study and other rooms. For rooms with high humidity, it is preferable to purchase a cement mixture.
You need to clearly follow the technology to align the walls with your own hands. The step-by-step instruction is as follows:
- walls being cleaned of old coating;
- treatment with a primer;
- special beacons are installed;
- thrown solution;
- carry out alignment for putty;
- beacons are being removed;
- pruning.
Preparation for work, primer
How to align the walls in the house with your own hands? First you need to get rid of everything superfluous. The wallpaper needs to be peeled off, the paint scraped off. The protrusions must be knocked down with a hammer. You can use a puncher for this, but the work will need to be done as carefully as possible so as not to deform even sections of the wall.
Sometimes there may be old putty on the walls. Many cannot decide whether to remove it. To find out, you need to knock on the walls. If pieces of trim begin to fall off or make different sounds (more sonorous and deaf), then it is betterget rid of this putty. Otherwise, there is a high risk that the coating will collapse in the future.
If there are too large potholes during processing, then you need to work with them separately. First, the largest pits and large cracks, if any, are covered over, and only then the solution is applied to the entire wall. This is necessary so as not to use too thick a layer of putty during processing, which can then fall off.
To correctly align the walls with your own hands, you can’t do without a primer. It is necessary to choose the right material for processing, depending on the type of plaster. It is necessary to strictly follow the instructions, observing the proportions. In some cases, it is required to pre-moisten the surface of the walls or clean it from dust.
Installation of beacons, use of mortar
To understand how to align walls with lighthouses with your own hands, you need to remember which beacons are best to use. These can be small plastic items, galvanized beacons in the shape of the letter "T" or wooden planks. It is most convenient to use metal beacons. However, they are expensive, and the solution itself may have poor contact with the metal.
Some masters prefer to use beacons made of wood. This is the most budget option. The main problem is that it is difficult to find a large number of planks of the same size, and the wood begins to deteriorate from exposure to moisture. It is possible to make beacons from mortar, but this process is very laborious.
How to level the walls in the apartment with your own hands using mortar? You need to act as follows:
- The mixture is diluted with water according to the instructions, knead the solution and throw it on the walls with a wide spatula.
- Starting from the bottom, working the wall from one level to another.
- Then you need to take the rule, attach it to the wall and pull it up, leveling the solution. Repeat this action several times until the wall becomes even. The remains of the mortar are removed from the rule, thrown back onto the wall or thrown into a container with plaster.
Thus, you need to process one part of the wall from the floor and ceiling. When the first stage is over, the surface will not be perfectly flat. Small bumps will be present but will be corrected later with a thinner grout.
Alignment process
Many people are interested in how to level the walls with putty with their own hands. You must first prepare the walls for this process. When the first layer dries slightly, you need to work with the same solution, only it should be more liquid. The mixture is pulled along the wall with a spatula, focusing on the beacons.
When the plaster hardens a little and resembles plasticine in consistency, you can get the lighthouses. They usually come out quickly and easily. Holes will remain in the wall, they need to be covered with mortar, slightly stretched with a spatula to form the same plane. How to align the corner of the wall with your own hands? If this causes great difficulties for the master, then it is better to use dry plaster for work.
Bathroom wall alignment
Since ceramic tiles are used for decoration in a room with a high level of humidity, it is necessary to achieve the most even plane. The tile will never last long, cracks will start to appear on it, it can simply fall off if it is installed on a curved wall.
Traditionally, you can level the walls in the bathroom with your own hands using cement material. A gypsum-based solution is less resistant to temperature extremes, moisture, mold and mildew. The cement mixture is versatile and durable, it is in excellent contact with other materials.
How to align the corner of the wall with your own hands? First you need to dismantle the old plumbing, get rid of old coatings, prepare the surface for priming and puttying. The work is also carried out with the help of beacons made of galvanized steel.
Using plasterboard
How to align the walls in the apartment with your own hands quickly and easily? To do this, you need to use a practical and durable gypsum board. This leveling method is perfect for those who do not want to mess around with liquid mixtures, trying to evenly distribute them on the wall. In addition, there is no need to wait for each layer applied to the wall to dry.
How to align the walls for painting with your own hands? You need to take sheet material and fix it on a special frame. This method of applying plaster is called "dry", because in this work the minimum amount of wet materials is used.
The result of this alignmentnothing worse than using plaster. The master can thus achieve a perfectly flat surface. In addition, it is with the help of gypsum board that you can quickly align the corners.
Cons of using plasterboard
Be sure to remember that, despite the high speed of such work, this technique has two significant drawbacks. Firstly, it will not be possible to fix the gypsum board to the wall without using a special frame. It can be either metal or wooden bars.
Secondly, when using such a complex structure, a large amount of space is “eaten up”. In small rooms it is better not to use this technique. However, this only happens when a special frame is mounted. If you follow modern frameless technology, the design will take up much less space.
Gypsum board on frame
It is easiest to align the walls under the wallpaper with your own hands by installing the frame and mounting sheets of gypsum board. Even the most crooked wall with a large number of defects can become perfectly smooth using this particular technique.
To begin with, the frame is assembled. It will form a flat plane and become a strong base for attaching sheets of gypsum board. During the assembly, you need to remember a few important rules:
- It is necessary to use a special guide profile, which should be placed on the floor and ceiling.
- Vertical profiles must be installed every 50-60 cm, and metal products are fixed horizontally on them.
- Between the guide profiles there must be more reliable load-bearing products that will take on the entire load.
- Profiles must be set in the same plane. To do this, it is recommended to use the building level.
When working with profiles and plasterboard, it is better to use a laser level. This is an expensive professional product that not everyone has. If it is possible to borrow the device for a while, then the work will go much faster.
Some masters use a wooden frame instead of a metal profile. You can make it yourself, unlike the profile that you need to buy. It should be remembered that the steel structure with anti-corrosion coating is better and more convenient to use.
How to level the walls with drywall with your own hands? After the material is fixed, it is necessary to stick a special masking grid on the joints, cover the seam and align it in one plane with the entire surface.
All holes must be sealed, even if it is a small screw mark. If the wall needs to be painted, then you will have to additionally apply a small layer of plaster to the wall surface in order to achieve a perfectly even surface. If the walls will be pasted with wallpaper, especially if they are dense enough, then additional leveling treatment will not be required.
Installation of plasterboard on glue
Becausesheet gypsum cardboard has a perfectly flat surface (only if it has not bent during improper storage), then it can be fixed to the wall without using a frame. To do this, use a special adhesive.
Usually, ordinary brick glue is applied to the walls. If the surface is almost flat, you can use gypsum plaster for this. The composition is applied to the walls with large "bloopers". Their size depends on how flat, convex or concave the section of the wall is.
Then you just need to lay the sheet of gypsum board against the wall, making sure it is fixed evenly. To do this, use the building level. The material should be lightly pressed against the wall with fists or special pressure. The main thing is not to overdo it and not break through the plasterboard.
When the sheet is level, you need to apply a little glue or gypsum plaster on it, apply the adhesive again to another section of the wall and attach the next sheet of gypsum board. To keep it as strong as possible after the mortar dries, you can fix the material on the wall with self-tapping screws.
When carrying out such work, even with all the simplicity of the methodology, many mistakes can be made. For example, minor fluctuations may occur. When all sheets of gypsum board are fixed, it is necessary to cover the seams, level them, and if necessary, additionally level the surface with a thin layer of plaster.
Conclusion
As you can see, leveling the walls in a private house and apartment is a complex and lengthy process that cannot always be done on your own. If a person has never been involved in repairs, has not worked with building mixtures, then this process will seem laborious and very difficult to him, there is a high probability of serious errors and defects, the coating may turn out to be fragile. In this case, it is better to entrust the work to a professional team of workers.
