Do-it-yourself Dry Floor Screed Video. GVL Technology Of Dry Floor Screed, Installation And Device With Photo

2023 Author: Philip Bishop | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-08-25 07:54

• Do-it-yourself dry floor screed in an apartment - an introduction
• Dry floor screed device
• Do-it-yourself dry screed installation technology
• Installation of dry screed GVL
• Quick dry floor screed video tutorial

Floor screed is a must, an essential condition for the preparation of flat floors. A dry do-it-yourself floor screed hides communications, creates a perfectly flat surface for laying the finishing flooring, ideally for laying the laminate with your own hands. The conventional process using cement is very labor intensive and time consuming. It is difficult to produce for one person, and, in addition, in order for the cement to dry without cracking, the floors will have to be well moistened every day for two weeks. The coating can only be laid after 20 days. The do-it-yourself apartment renovation website continues to delight its readers every day with new and good repair articles with photo materials, and at the end you will find a video example of the screed installation technology.

Do-it-yourself dry floor screed in an apartment - an introduction

To reduce this time, to minimize the work, but to leave the screed as reliable, a new material was invented - gypsum fiber sheet, or GVL.

This material is created on the basis of two well-known materials - a hybrid of fiberboard (fiberboard) with gypsum plasterboard (gypsum board). It is prepared by dry pressing from loose cellulose with a gypsum-based binder. The result is a homogeneous, environmentally neutral building material with increased strength. The finished fiber fully meets the requirements of firefighters and doctors. GVL has certificates of hygiene and fire safety.

These elements, having a rectangular shape and one sanded side, are recommended for creating a dry screed when installing floors, for cladding wooden walls. They are perfectly combined with any type of flooring and reduce the risk of fire.

Gypsum fiber can be ordinary or moisture resistant, therefore, the scope of its application is practically unlimited. Moreover, there are different sizes of sheets. More common are ten-millimeter, meter by one and a half. Sometimes on sale you can find twelve-millimeter blanks only twenty meters wide. The most convenient are ready-made panels with a rebate and a groove, glued in a factory way, as shown in the photo. Such panels significantly speed up the process of dry floor screed with your own hands.

GVL almost does not conduct heat, the material is always pleasantly warm to the touch. Moreover, when the humidity is high, the fiber draws in excess dampness from the room, and then, when the room becomes too dry, releases it.

The technical features of gypsum fiber, its low weight allow not to make technological breaks when creating a floor screed, which greatly shortens the construction time. Very lightweight, GVL sheets do not increase the pressure on the supporting structures, as ordinary cement does. Fiber is an excellent heat insulator. Since lightweight sheets are easy to cut, they can be used in rooms with irregular or complex shapes. It is indispensable for creating rounded ceilings and curly partitions.

Tests carried out by both creators and customers have shown that it is very easy to drive nails into walls sheathed with such material, but it is very difficult to pull them out.

GVL technology creates an excellent dry screed, but in order for the floors to meet all strength requirements, to be reliable, they need to be installed strictly observing the technology.

Dry floor screed device

The work algorithm is as follows:

• Linoleum, tiles, any other coating are removed from the old floor. Garbage is removed from the exposed concrete floor, dust is swept away. Possible old cracks are carefully sealed with cement, given that the higher the number on the grade of the solution, the more reliable it is. The joints between the walls and the floor are also thoroughly putty. Instead of cement, you can use ready-made masonry or assembly dry mix.

• Around the perimeter of the room, an edging tape cut from mineral wool is laid (the photo shows the installation of the tape, after covering with a film). Its optimal thickness / width is 10x10cm, and its task is to absorb noise, not to let the flooring "walk", to prevent cracks.

• Since the floors are sometimes excessively wet, and the insulation deteriorates from moisture ingress, a layer of waterproof (polyethylene) film is laid on the floor. If its width is not enough, you will have to carefully ensure that the panels are overlapped. Otherwise, moisture will be able to wet the insulation, it will lose its qualities.

Do-it-yourself dry screed installation technology

It's the turn of the insulation. Dry mix for floor screed is different, for example, bulk. Expanded clay, sand, pumice, fine gravel, blast-furnace slag are simply poured onto a plastic wrap, then they are well leveled. Usually, pre-installed beacons are used to create a horizontal line. The video example below shows how the dry mix is leveled. Bulk compounds are very cheap, but to create more or less good thermal insulation, they will need to be poured in a very thick layer - they do not keep heat well.

Expanded polystyrene insulation retains heat much more reliably, they are absolutely not afraid of moisture, or mice, or fungus, or time. They cost more than bulk, but more practical than them.

Mineral or fibrous insulation has very similar properties: glass wool, basalt wool. They are made from molten glass or natural minerals, sometimes poisonous formaldehyde is added to them. Such cotton wool cannot be used for residential buildings.

Expanded polystyrene or fibrous insulation is cut to the size of the room, stacked on top of a waterproof film. Be sure to lay several layers, otherwise the insulation will turn out to be very fragile, unstable.

Installation of dry screed GVL

Now you can do it yourself with a dry gypsum fiber screed, installation is simple. If the builders used bulk insulation, then the laying of GVL sheets pre-cut taking into account the room and the edge tape starts from the door. If the insulation is different, it is better to work from the window.

The plates of the first layer are carefully coated with special glue, as shown in the photo on the left and in the video below, then the second layer of gypsum fiber board is laid on top of it so that the layers adhere tightly to one another. For greater reliability, the sheets are fastened together with self-tapping screws with an anti-corrosion coating. Then all unnecessary is removed from the floor: gaps, traces of fasteners are covered with putty, excess edge tape is cut off. For greater reliability in rooms where it is excessively humid, a waterproofing tape can be laid on top of the slabs, at the joints of the floor with the walls, and then insulation can be made from any bituminous composition on the GVL.

So the dry floor screed is over. The video below shows everything in an accelerated form. With certain skills, installation will take no more than one day for each room, which cannot be compared with the installation of a "wet" screed. GVL technology of dry floor screed will significantly reduce the time to the final floor covering. This option is certainly not suitable if you want to install an electric floor heating or install a water heating floor with your own hands.

Quick dry floor screed video tutorial

Video installation instructions from Knauf - from the beginning of production to installation