Levkas - what is it? How to make a levkas own hands?

Many people when repairing an apartment face such a concept as a gesso. What it is, not everyone knows. Because of this, and there can be difficulties when decorating the walls with your own hands.

Lefkas walls - finishing of the highest quality with the use of special materials. Most often, a chalky or plaster solution is used for this. This method of finishing is suitable for preparing walls for painting.

Technology of applying levkas

Plastering of walls using this technique can be done independently. All work takes place in several stages:

1. The preparatory stage involves cleaning the surface of the walls from the old coating. Cleaning should be deep, so even a layer of plaster must be cleaned.
2. Thoroughly inspect the surface of the walls. All existing cracks and holes (but only deep ones) need to be filled with putty. At this stage it is necessary to use the composition on a cement basis. You can also take alabaster (a dry mixture based on gypsum), especially if a levkas is planned in the future. What it is, was described at the beginning of the article.
3. Places where very large cracks were observed, in addition to cement plaster, should be glazed with a glass grinder. Also, for this purpose, a sickle can be used.
4. Only after all possible major defects have been eliminated, it is possible to conduct a primer. This stage can not be missed in any case. The fact is that the primer performs a very important function. Thanks to it, it is possible to achieve maximum binding of the finishing materials to the wall surface, and this minimizes the likelihood that the putty will fall off.
5. After the primer, apply a leveling layer of putty. Its thickness should be only 2 mm. This thickness should be enough to get a perfectly flat surface as a result. If this is not achieved, then another layer can be applied, however, each subsequent layer of filler can be applied only if the previous layer is completely dry.
6. Layer of primer.
7. Only now it is possible to apply gesso of walls with own hands, using thus a structure from a chalk or a lime. Care should be taken to ensure uniform application of the material.

After the gesso (what it is, described above) is completely dry, you can start painting or wallpapering.

Reception of patterned paintings

Levkas (what is it, described in the article) is also applied if the walls are finished with special patterned paintings. In this case, the technology is slightly different:

1. The entire area should be divided into squares with a side of 30 or 40 cm.
2. For each square, apply a pattern of the selected pattern, which is a circle.
3. Apply a plaster solution on the applied lines, and care must be taken to ensure that the pattern structure has the same structure in each square.
4. Leave on for two days to dry.
5. Remove all irregularities (unfortunately, they can not be avoided) using a special skin.

Now the wall with the pattern can be painted. In the case of gesso, it is better to give preference to acrylic water-based paint.

Composition of levkas

There are two variants of gesso: using chalk or lime. As they are not inferior to each other, however, there are some differences in the preparation of the solution.

You can prepare gesso with your own hands. A mixture based on chalk:

• 5 liters of water;
• 3 kg of sifted chalk;
• 30 g of glue.

Water should be heated to a temperature of about 40-50 degrees. After that, the sifted chalk is covered in a container, brought to its full dissolution, and only now it is possible to introduce glue into the mixture. Care must be taken to ensure that the composition is homogeneous, without lumps.

Calcareous levkas

For calcareous levkas it is necessary to prepare:

• 2-3 kg of hydrated soda;
• 0.5 kg of dye;
• 50-80 g of table salt;
• 150-200 g of alum-alkali alum ;
• Water.

The peculiarity of the composition is that it needs to be applied only to the moistened surface of the walls.

Putty for gesso

There are special ready-made mixtures based on gypsum, for example "Knauf", "Weber Vetonit", "Klims", "Ivsil". They are used if it is planned to receive volumetric patterns. Preparing them will not take much time, since the dry powder is sufficiently diluted with water to a state of viscosity.

After preparing any mixture, it is necessary to check the viscosity level, since this parameter can affect the quality of the final result. To do this, a small amount of material should be applied to a narrow spatula, which then deployed vertically. In this position, the mixture should slide down slowly, indicating that the putty is ready. If it turned out too liquid, then you need to add a little powder component, if too thick - of water. Keep track of the viscosity level every time you mix.

Tools for levkas

Before making gesso, you need to prepare and special tools:

1. Pneumatic spray gun, or spray gun, for chalk or lime wall finishing. It is possible to use a manual analog, however, it is worth considering the area of the treated surface of the walls. When using a pneumatic sprayer, you should also take care of the protective equipment, in particular, it concerns rubber gloves, glasses and a respirator.
2. Brush-maklovitsa. A cheaper replacement for a spray gun. The main thing in using this tool is the direction of applying the mixture for gesso. It is necessary to apply several layers, the last two being perpendicular to each other, and the latter - directed to the window. This method of application will avoid the appearance of divorces from the brush.
3. A wide spatula for applying a viscous gypsum putty. In doing so, you must follow certain rules. The amount of material that is superimposed on the spatula should not be too large or too small. You can apply the mixture from any convenient place, but, as a rule, do it better from the corner. The movements must be arc, with the layer of the mixture thin. Each adjacent layer must overlap with the previous one.

Also, you need to prepare a drill with a special nozzle to easily and without much effort to prepare the composition of the desired consistency.

Lefkas is a method of decoration, which can be done not only on walls, but also on the ceiling, which will make it possible to decorate the room in a single style.