An Overview Of Ways To Install Beacons To Level The Floor Yourself

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

What influences the choice of the type of lighthouse design
Pin beacons, the role of which is played by screws
Lighthouses made with mortar marks
Benchmarks used when using prefabricated self-leveling floors
Lighthouses of the so-called "linear type"
Video about modern systems for installing beacons

Any person, at least once, who has poured a screed, or worked with self-leveling floors, knows that it is almost impossible to level the surface as accurately as possible without pre-exposed beacons.

The main task that beacons for self-leveling floor solve is to set the horizontal of the upper plane of the surface to be poured, which allows you to control its thickness at any place of the screed. In addition, these structures are used as guides for the rule by which dry backfill or poured mixture is evenly distributed over the surface of the base.

What influences the choice of the type of lighthouse design

Lighthouses are constructed from different materials and in various ways, which are selected taking into account the physical and mechanical properties of the material used to level the surface of the room, the type of base on which the pouring is performed, the planned thickness of the future layer and the level of professional training of the person carrying out the work.

Most often, when arranging self-leveling floors, beacons are used. Details on how to select materials for beacons.

All guides used for leveling the pouring surface, if viewed from a geometric point of view, can be divided into two groups: linear and point.

Pin beacons, the role of which is played by screws

Lighthouses under a self-leveling floor of a similar design are most often used by experienced craftsmen who are well versed in the technique of arranging screeds for any reason. In addition, such a choice is optimal for self-leveling floors, which is due to the inherent ability of a polymer leveler to spontaneously level the upper surface, on the one hand, and the low power of such screeds, on the other.

Some craftsmen prefer bolts to self-tapping screws, because they can be adjusted in height with a key, which is much more convenient than a screwdriver.

Self-tapping screws are, in fact, the simplest version of the second type of beacon (point).

For reference. Having decided to install such beacons for self-leveling floors, remember that it is used exclusively on concrete bases. This is explained by the fact that the self-tapping screw is screwed into the base, while damaging the integrity of the waterproofing coating, which protects any wooden base.

The choice of the length of the screw depends on the planned thickness of the screed. 20 - 30 millimeters are added to it.

Pin-type point beacons for self-leveling floor are installed in the following sequence:

Two holes are drilled in the corners opposite the entrance to the room at a distance of 300 mm from each of the walls forming the corner. Then a plastic dowel is installed or a wooden boss is hammered;
A pair of self-tapping screws are screwed in to the height to which it is planned to bring the surface of the screed being equipped. This value is reflected along the perimeter of the walls using a water or laser level;
A construction cord or fishing line is pulled between the resulting pins (parallel to the marking of the future surface and at the same height);
With a step of 500 (option - 600) mm, holes are drilled for installing other self-tapping screws. A professional builder can extend this distance up to 1800 mm. The main thing is that there are at least two points to support the rule, the length of which is 2000 mm;
The operation is repeated the required number of times. If the preparation of the person performing the work is insufficient, it is required to more often control the height of the screws screwed into the base and the tension of the fishing line by the building level;
This work begins with the installation of two self-tapping screws in the remaining corners of the room.

For reference. The installation of point beacons for a self-leveling floor is carried out at a distance between the longitudinal and transverse rows of the exposed beacons, which should not exceed 1850 mm (so that the rule is overlapped).

After the filled filling has dried, the screws must be unscrewed, because, otherwise, the soundproofing properties of the equipped screed will significantly deteriorate.

In all cases considered in this article, before the start of pouring, a damper tape for the self-leveling floor is laid between the wall and the future screed, which compensates for thermal expansion.

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Lighthouses made with mortar marks

This option does not pose a danger to the waterproofing layer. However, it is more overall, although it belongs to the category of point. A significant drawback of the lighthouses under consideration is their increased sensitivity to careless movements of the master and his mistakes. A brand exposed with a solution can easily be knocked down at the stage of its solidification. Deviations in height of several millimeters are extremely difficult to “catch”.

The technology of forming marks consists in sequential placement of the required number of heaps of solution, the consistency and composition of which are identical to the material selected for pouring. If the filling is planned with the use of a polymer smoothing agent, then the marks are most often formed from alabaster.

The mentioned type of lighthouses is widely used in the arrangement of self-leveling floors on wooden bases using concrete-based solutions.

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Taking it as an axiom that the required height of the future screed surface is marked along the walls, we proceed to the installation of beacons.

On the basis, longitudinal and transverse lines are marked along which beacons will be placed. The rows closest to the walls should be at least 300 mm away from them.
The required amount of the mixture of the required consistency and composition is mixed (analogous to the filling material). Then, from the resulting solution, we form piles of approximately the same volume along the marking with a step of 350 - 550 mm. In this case, the highest point of these piles should rise above the future level of the screed surface.
The rule (2000 mm) is laid flat on a row of equipped mortar beacons and, gently pressing on it, we form their uniform height corresponding to the level of the future screed. As a rule, it is advisable to put a building level in order to control the horizontal.

Excess mixture is removed. The rule carries over to the next row. Within 24 hours after their exposure, you can start pouring. Before this, the surface of the equipped mortar beacons is primed.

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For reference. If such beacons are placed on concrete, the preliminary screwing of self-tapping screws, due to which the leveling is carried out, allows to simplify the work and reduce the time of its implementation. Piles are formed around them, the height is leveled over the head of the screw. After the beacons dry, the screws are unscrewed.

Benchmarks used when using prefabricated self-leveling floors

Theoretically, such self-leveling floors are installed without beacons. But professional builders know that the theory

does not always coincide with practice. Therefore, even in these cases, they use special devices that allow leveling with an accuracy of tenths of a millimeter.

These are special metal (option, plastic) bench mark beacons, on which a millimeter scale is applied. They are fixed to the base with self-tapping screws. The long-handled corner removes the excess or adds a certain amount of leveling agent. In this case, the master is guided by the measuring ruler of the benchmark. At the end of the pouring, they are removed.

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Lighthouses of the so-called "linear type"

The main difference that such beacons for a self-leveling floor have is that they are not set pointwise, but with a linear roller, the upper surface of which marks the surface of the future screed. This method is used already under a cement screed with a thickness of 3 cm. The method of fastening directly depends on the base material.

The ridge is mortar. It is formed on top of a wooden base, on a waterproofing covering it. To make the screed easier to level, a pipe is placed on top of the ridge, a U-shaped profile, used for the installation of gypsum plasterboard structures (PN profile), or a T-shaped beacon for plaster mortar. The main thing here is not to forget to take into account the height of the guides in the total height of the formed linear beacon;
Mortar grade. Combines into a line in the same way. Plus - saving solution;
Lighthouses from PN profile, exposed by self-tapping screws. Algorithm: marking the base, installing screws, laying the profile (shelves down). In cases where it is allowed to leave the profile in the screed, it is placed with the shelves up. In this case, the desired height is fixed precisely according to them. The option is applicable in cases when, after the initial pouring of the screed, after waiting for it to dry, a layer of several millimeters is poured using factory-ready self-leveling floors.

The use of such beacons dictates the filling technology, which should be performed in stripes (between two lines) alternately. This does not affect the solidity.

How to put the beacons under the self-leveling floor in each case is decided by the one who carries out the filling. There are much more options for placing beacons than described in this article. But even this is quite enough to fill it yourself.