Do-it-yourself wooden floor repair in the kitchen

In detail: DIY repair of a wooden floor in the kitchen from a real master for the site my.housecope.com.

One of the most important steps in a kitchen renovation is to renew the flooring. This can be a simple linoleum replacement or more complex construction work, including pouring the foundation. In most cases, you cannot do without a rough floor repair. More details about the process and some of the nuances will be outlined below.

The renovation begins with the fact that the gas or electric stove is optionally turned off in the kitchen and all household appliances are removed along with furniture. The room must be ready for the rest, rather time consuming and dusty work.

The first step is to dismantle the old floor tiles, laminate flooring, remove linoleum or perform similar actions with other types of flooring. After that, it is worth checking the condition of the floor at the time of fungus, mold and other damage. If such flaws are found, the surface is dismantled until the next layer.

Replacing sex rarely happens alone. As a rule, apartment owners strive to update the overall design of the kitchen and changing the flooring is one of the components. That is why the next stage after dismantling the old surface is the construction of a general concept for the future interior. When replacing a floor, this concept includes various factors:

  • View of the future flooring. The composition and sequence of preliminary rough work depends on whether it will be a laminate, linoleum, tile or other surface.
  • The quality of the flooring.
  • Color spectrum.
  • The need for additional communications. In private houses, changing the floor covering can be directly related to the introduction of water or sewage into the house, when it is necessary to blow up the floor and dig a trench for laying pipes.
  • Floor insulation. The choice of insulation can significantly affect the further stages of the work. It can be either polystyrene or a floor heating system.
  • Financial opportunities. Unfortunately, not everyone can afford to put expensive porcelain stoneware. Therefore, in most cases, they are limited to floor tiles or linoleum.
  • Available building materials. Intending to re-equip a kitchen in a country house, its owners often focus on the assortment of materials from the nearest hardware store, since delivery from the regional center can be an order of magnitude more expensive.
Video (click to play).

Image - Do-it-yourself wooden floor repair in the kitchen


To carry out a rough repair of the floor in the kitchen, you need to calculate in advance the entire set of building materials that you will need. Otherwise, it may happen that after a high-quality screed for a tile, the financial resources for this very tile will not be enough.

The amount of building materials is calculated based on the footage of the kitchen, the consumption of building materials per 1 square meter. Then this value is multiplied by the cost of the materials themselves, and as a result, the amount necessary for a rough repair is obtained. Optionally you may need:

  • Cement
  • Sand
  • Plasticizers
  • Gravel or crushed stone (for pouring the foundation)
  • Roofing material (for waterproofing)
  • Insulation
  • Aluminum profile (for installing beacons)
  • Primer
  • Self-leveling mixture

Additionally, you will need a building level, dowels, a wide spatula, or usually a drill with a whisk or a building mixer.

With the introduction of autonomous septic tanks and water wells on the market, private houses are gradually acquiring individual water supply and sewerage systems. To carry them out, a trench is dug 50-60 cm below the floor level.Quite often, this trench runs through the kitchen directly to the adjacent toilet and bathroom.

If the renovation of the floor in the kitchen is associated with communications, the following points must be taken into account when carrying out a rough repair of the floor in the kitchen:

  • The pipes of communications should be at least 10 cm in the sand cushion. Otherwise, gravel, brick or other solid aggregate of the concrete mixture for the foundation pressing on the plastic will cause premature damage to the pipes.
  • Utility pipes must be hidden by the foundation. This should be taken into account when shaping the floor level.

In addition to carrying out water supply and sewerage in a private house, there are several more reasons why it will be necessary to fill the foundation in the kitchen:

  • Arrangement of a fireplace
  • Installing a solid fuel boiler
  • Furnace masonry
  • Falling asleep in the basement

Despite the individuality of each of the listed cases, the requirements for the concrete mix for the foundation are the same. The solution must be at least M350 grade in order to withstand the load. In the case of installing individual heating and a significant mass of the device, the concrete mixture should be selected as M400 or even M500.

When carrying out floor repairs in the kitchen, many people forget about this crucial stage of work before the screed. There is a reason for waterproofing concrete slabs or foundations:

  • When wet, the screed releases moisture both into the air and down the ceilings. Lack of waterproofing can cause you to repair a wet ceiling from your neighbors below.
  • Waterproofing the floor on the ground floor will help protect you from basement dampness and fungus.
  • Floor waterproofing creates optimal conditions for uniform drying of the screed mortar, which will affect the quality of the floor for the better.

20% of the heat loss in the room falls on the floor. Therefore, the desire of the owners to insulate it is fully justified. Floor insulation can be done in the following ways:

Underfloor heating... Regardless of whether you choose water, infrared or electric underfloor heating, you will need to take into account the additional load on the energy system of your home and the supply of communications. For example, for water-heated floors, you need to select a separate boiler or a circuit in the boiler for each room to be insulated. Underfloor heating is usually carried out in the case of using ceramic tiles or porcelain stoneware as flooring for the kitchen.

Image - Do-it-yourself wooden floor repair in the kitchen

Warm floor

Thermal insulation with bulk materials... One of these materials is expanded clay, although its effectiveness has long been questioned. Loose material is evenly distributed over the floor, and from above it is poured with concrete mortar.

Image - Do-it-yourself wooden floor repair in the kitchen

Expanded clay

Warming with expanded polystyrene... More efficient and less labor intensive than using bulk materials. In addition, expanded polystyrene does not conduct heat and therefore the feet will not feel cold, as when using expanded clay.

Image - Do-it-yourself wooden floor repair in the kitchen

Expanded polystyrene

In addition to the positive properties of the insulated floor, it should be noted that the floor level will increase by 5-7 cm, which is essential for rooms with low ceilings.

The installation of beacons is necessary to evenly distribute the screed over the kitchen floor to achieve the same level at all points. The first step is to designate a single line of the floor relative to the walls. The building level will help you with this.

With the help of such markings, you can determine in which places the floor in the kitchen is more curved or has pits. If there are pits below 10 cm from the marked level, it is worth aligning them before pouring the common screed.

Beacons are installed in several ways:

  • Rails soaked in water are used as beacons, the height of which is regulated by self-tapping screws. The screed is carried out in 2 stages. At the second stage, voids are poured after dismantling the wooden slats.
  • Bumps or a continuous strip of cement-sand mixture are laid along the threads.An aluminum profile is laid on the tubercles and pressed into them to the floor level, parallel to the stretched threads. Suitable for a shallow screed of 2-3 cm. Since the material is flexible enough and bends easily, the aluminum profile is not suitable for a deeper screed.
  • On both sides along the stretched lines, self-tapping screws are screwed in at equal intervals. Between them, wire or fishing line is wound in several layers. Further, a kind of reinforced border from the mortar is formed, leveled at the floor level. The advantage of such a lighthouse is that it does not need to be dismantled.

Other common beacon options include:

  • from a metal profile
  • from metal pipes
  • benchmarks or tripods
  • from self-tapping screws

The final option for roughing the floor in the kitchen is the screed. Its main task is to level the floor and eliminate the existing shortcomings. After screed, the kitchen floor is completely ready for the final flooring.

A wet floor screed consists of the following steps:

  • Cleaning the floor from dust and other debris.
  • Primer application for better adhesion.
  • Mixing the screed solution. Usually 3-4 measures of sand are taken for 1 measure of cement. Liquid soap is added as a plasticizer. So much water is added so that the solution is the consistency of liquid sour cream.
  • A solution is applied to the dried primer.
  • The surface is leveled with a spatula or the rule according to the installed beacons.

This procedure is suitable for concrete, cement and self-leveling screed. In the case of a dry screed or screed with foam plastic, dry filler (for example, fine expanded clay) is leveled along the beacons, and then sheets of foam or dry screed are laid.

Image - Do-it-yourself wooden floor repair in the kitchen

Wooden floors always look respectable and stylish, regardless of the type of room where they are used. Recently, it has become a fashionable trend to use wood flooring in the kitchen to create a cozy and classic interior.

Of course, a wooden floor for a kitchen is not the best solution for flooring, but it meets all the requirements of environmental friendliness and is unpretentious in cleaning, and besides, it is not a cold coating. Therefore, many housewives are very happy with their choice of wood flooring for the kitchen.

But like any other flooring, wood floors wear out over time and need to be repaired. There are several reasons for this.

The first is high humidity in the kitchen, frequent temperature changes in the room, which does not have a positive effect on wooden floor boards. Due to high humidity, they swell and deform, and with temperature changes they can dry out, resulting in squeaks and extraneous noises from walking on such a floor.

The second reason is the wear of the boards, since the kitchen is an area of ​​high traffic, and the floor covering in it has to endure frequent falls of objects and other mechanical influences. Household chemicals, which destroy the top layer of the board, also have a negative effect on the wooden floor.

Over time, the color of the tree can fade from the sun's rays or take on a tint from the fumes accumulated in it from the cooking process. Therefore, it is worth taking care of a good hood in the kitchen in advance.

One way or another, wooden floors need to be repaired, like any other floor covering, no matter how high wear resistance they have.

Cosmetic or overhaul of the wooden floor in the kitchen?

Depending on the degree of wear and tear of the floor covering, one or another type of repair is chosen. In most cases, cosmetic repairs or narrowly focused repairs of some areas of the floor are quite enough.

In case of complete or major repairs, you will have to dismantle the flooring and replace it with a new one. Which is problematic for a room such as a kitchen, due to the large amount of furniture and the need for its frequent use.But major repairs can also apply to certain areas of the floor with rotten or cracked boards, which will somewhat simplify the task.

In order to increase the life of the kitchen floor and to resort to complete repairs of the wooden floor as rarely as possible, it is best to carry out regular cosmetic repairs at the slightest suspicion of cracks, creaks and scratches.

In addition, there are many ways and modern means for caring for wooden floors, which are relevant for any living space, including the kitchen. These include both paraffin-containing detergents for wooden floors and various mastics.

For a longer service life of a wooden floor in the kitchen and its moisture resistance - you can apply a special varnish or paint to the coating. But these protective equipment will also need to be replaced over time.

How to replace rotten kitchen floorboards?

After a long service life, due to high humidity in the kitchen, or its flooding, rotten floor boards appear, which should be immediately eliminated in order to preserve the rest of the flooring and prevent the appearance of fungus.

Before proceeding with the replacement of such boards, and even with the repair of the wooden floor in general, it is worthwhile to carefully examine the floor covering for damage and find out the main steps for its repair.

To identify rotten boards, you need to lightly tap them with a hammer - in the case of a dull sound, which means that the board has begun to rot, it should be replaced. To do this, you will need to dismantle, which is performed using a jigsaw or a special saw for a wooden floor - you need to remove the ridge of one of the boards and remove all the elements of the coating that have rotted, replacing them with new boards.

During this procedure, you should be careful and de-energize the wiring in the room so as not to touch any of the important electrical wires in the kitchen.

How to get rid of the squeaky wooden floor in the kitchen?

Another common problem with wood floors associated with long lifespan is squeaking.

To eliminate them, it is necessary to wedge the boards, which is not so easy to do. This process will require wooden wedges and a hammer, as well as a steel finisher.

Most often, getting to the bottom of the wooden floor in the kitchen is not possible, so the procedure to get rid of squeaks is done along the surface of the coating.

For its implementation, it is necessary to carefully drive the wedges between the worn-in boards, which emit an extraneous sound, maintaining a distance of 150 mm between the wedges.

Another option is to insert screws and attach the creaking boards to the beams underneath, but this is not suitable for everyone, as some people lay a wooden floor like a laminate on a simple substrate. And this option, the elimination of squeaks, requires further cosmetic improvements - putty and sanding, in order to eliminate the cavities from the screws.

How to fix gaps between wooden floorboards in a kitchen?

An equally common problem is the appearance of gaps in the floor.

To eliminate them, two methods are used, one of which is designed to remove small gaps and cracks, and the second is used in extreme cases for large discrepancies between the floorboards.

So, for the first method, you will need either a special grout for a wooden floor, which can be purchased at any hardware store, or a homemade PVA-based mastic. Before starting work, remove all furniture and thoroughly sweep the trash out of the kitchen. Then start grouting in accordance with the instructions on the package.

For the second method, you will also need to clean. In addition, you will need special tools and wooden blocks, which must be placed in the cracks to remove them.

How to restore a protective varnish on a wooden kitchen floor?

And one more thing that is closely related to the repair of wooden floors in the kitchen is the repainting or re-painting of the floors. This is a time-consuming process, consisting of a number of steps that are necessary both when re-painting and changing the varnish on the floor.

To begin with, you should remove all garbage and furniture from the kitchen, thoroughly clean the floor from traces of grease. Further, depending on the condition of the floors, either sanding the paint and varnish to a clean board is performed, or immediately sanding the floor if the varnish and paint are wiped off to mattness.

The next step is to remove dust from sanding, apply varnish or paint in two or three layers, at intervals necessary for these layers to dry.

You can also tint or varnish the painted wood floor for a more attractive appearance. For the kitchen, this will be an excellent solution, as it will give the floor greater resistance to moisture and scratches from falling objects.

Before proceeding with tinting or varnishing, you should carefully inspect the flooring - eliminate all cracks and drive the protruding nails to the required depth. Then sand with a special machine and remove traces of dust from the floor. Do not overdo it here in order to avoid the effect of variegated holes on the floorboards.

After that, in the same way as indicated above, varnish is applied. For tinting, you can use two base colorless coats and one with a more pronounced varnish tone to give the floor a shine and achieve a play of natural shades on the wood board.

Thus, wooden floors are not an impermissible luxury for the kitchen, but a comfortable floor covering that gives comfort and coziness to the room, which, with proper care and timely repairs, will last a long time and reliably for more than a dozen years.

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How pleasant it is to walk barefoot on the warm wooden floor! But what if the floor is no longer so smooth, if it is already covered with a thick layer of paint, if an unpleasant draft blows through the cracks in it, and the floorboards themselves creak and sag under your weight? There are different ways to answer this question. And these answers depend on several conditions - the knowledge and skills of the owner, his financial capabilities and his own desires and imaginations. You understand, with such a variety, you can do anything - from covering the floors with another coat of paint to completely replacing the old wooden floor with one of the modern floor coverings. Therefore, now we will talk about repairing a wooden floor - from the simplest to the major one.

When planning to put the floors in order, you should determine exactly what exactly your floor needs at the moment - renewal of the coating, routine repairs, overhaul or complete replacement of the flooring. Let's go through each of the options:

  • the renewal of the coating must be carried out every 2-5 years, depending on the coating itself and on the condition of the floor under it - it is usually carried out either as planned (as follows according to the instructions), or as the previous layer wears off in places subject to the greatest stress
  • normal repairs are done when the floor begins to sag slightly and creak underfoot, when gaps form between the floorboards and the boards begin to "lift" the edges
  • major repairs are required in two cases - if you decide on a complete renovation of the apartment or your floor begins to rot and deform to a complete disgrace
  • a complete replacement of the flooring is performed during the global renovation of the entire home with the replacement of “outdated” finishes with more modern ones

Only one thing can be said about the durability of floors made of massive wooden boards - if high-quality material was used (properly dried boards without rot and excess knotty, treated with protective impregnations), and they were properly looked after, then such floors can last up to 150 years without a complete replacement. Therefore, we will only consider renovations - you are unlikely to live in a house where wooden floors were laid over 100 years ago.

Any business consists of three stages - preparation, the actual business and the final finishing. Repair of wooden floors will not be an exception to the rule. It's just that in each specific case of repair, the steps in the stages will be slightly different. And let's start with the most laborious.

Usually, when overhauling a floor, they carry out a partial replacement of floorboards (rotten, cracked or broken) and work on insulation, vapor barrier or even laying a system of "warm floors" (you can read about them in other articles - the whole process for different types of warm floors is indicated in detail - electric, water and film). And the scheme for the overhaul of wooden floors looks like this:

  1. Preparing floors for renovation:
  • remove the skirting board
  • if the boards are painted with oil paint, it must be removed to clean wood
  • the floor boards are numbered so that later it would be convenient to lay them back
  • carefully remove the floorboards, determining their suitability for further use (damaged boards must be replaced with new ones, and it is not necessary to throw out the whole board if only some part is rotten - in this case, you can remove a low-quality piece and put a more durable one in its place)
  • floor boards from the inside (facing down) side should be treated with a special impregnation that protects against mold and decay - this way they will last much longer
  • remove all debris from the "subfloor" until the concrete base (or floor slab) appears
  • you can remove the lags, or at least carefully inspect them for the integrity of the material - the bars that have become unusable need to be replaced
  1. We carry out all the necessary work to improve our floors:
  • we lay insulation between the logs, various materials can be used as insulation - from expanded clay to mineral wool and foam
  • a vapor barrier - we lay the film strips overlapping (about 20 centimeters) and fix them to each other with foil tape (the simplest vapor barrier is a plastic film, but you can use more expensive and reliable materials, such as penofol)
  • we lay the floor boards - according to the numbers printed in the process of removal
  • we fix the boards to the logs using self-tapping screws - this is more reliable than using nails (we deepen the screws into the surface of the tree by 3-5 mm)
  • we check the horizontal level of the floor with a spirit level (level), and where the edges of the boards protrude behind each other with a noticeable discrepancy in height, we go through the plane
  • roughly leveled floors are looped to make the surface even (differences in height of a couple of millimeters per linear meter are permissible)
  • we putty the cracks (if any) and the places of deepening of the self-tapping screws, we grind the filled places again
  • we remove all debris - with a brush, vacuum cleaner, damp cloth
  • we treat clean and even wood of our renovated floor with protective impregnations (if we are going to paint the floor with ordinary oil paint, then ordinary drying oil can serve as such impregnation)
  • put the plinth
  1. Our floors are almost ready for use, all that remains is to apply a finishing protective coating, for example:
  • varnish - today this is the most popular coating, because in addition to excellent protective properties, varnish allows you to fully enjoy the beauty of the tree itself
  • paint - special floor paints allow you to keep our floor strong for a long time and give it any color
  • oil - modern oils for wood floors penetrate deeply into the wood, making it more wear-resistant and durable, but still it is better to use them as an impregnation
  • wax - the excellent effect of waxed wood has been known for a long time, however, it requires constant and rather expensive maintenance

Not that much effort, right? Of course, it takes a lot of time, but the result is worth it - practically new floors at quite modest prices. For those who are interested in the opportunity to independently make a major overhaul of a wooden floor - a video where all the work is done by the hands of the owners under the strict guidance of a specialist.