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How to Level Walls
Wall leveling is an inevitable stage in any renovation or cosmetic repair of a room. The importance of properly and conscientiously executed work is directly proportional to the labor involved. The complexity of wall leveling is primarily due to the fact that the wet method is most commonly used, i.e., plastering the surface followed by puttying.
Both processes require large amounts of water and handling of liquid materials.
For this and several other reasons, many finishers are increasingly abandoning the wet method in favor of wall leveling using drywall or other sheet materials. This method is known as dry leveling.
Although this method is easier than plastering, it still does not eliminate the need for full or localized puttying. Additionally, installing drywall consumes part of the usable room area—between 5 and 12 cm on each side.
Plastering Walls with Screeds
As mentioned above, this method is more complex than others and requires at least basic skills in using a straightedge and trowel. Below is a concise step-by-step guide to leveling walls with cement-sand plaster.
- Determine wall curvature (inclinations). The simplest way is to use a basic plumb bob—a weight attached to a strong string. To measure inclination: fix a nail or screw at the top of the wall, hang the plumb bob about 1–1.5 cm from the wall surface. Along the taut string, install at least two or three more screws. Then align the screw heads into a flat plane using any flat surface. Repeat this process in each corner of the room, on all walls to be leveled.
- Install screeds according to the level of screw heads. Prepare a small amount of putty and apply it under the straightedge, which is placed vertically against the screws in one row. After applying the putty, carefully remove the straightedge, leaving a perfectly flat vertical plane. Once the putty sets, it can serve as reference markers (screeds) for applying the plaster layer.
- Next, apply plaster (for large deviations and inclinations) or putty (if wall irregularities are under 5 mm) evenly across the wall surface. Both materials must be applied outward from the screeds in all directions and evenly leveled, sanded, and troweled across the entire wall surface. For walls with significant inclinations or deep irregularities, only plaster is suitable. Filling deep holes or leveling wall planes with thick putty is strictly prohibited, as thick putty layers will inevitably crack during drying. Additionally, plaster is significantly cheaper than putty.
- The final, finishing step is troweling. This is done using a specialized tool called a float. The float ensures final wall leveling, and after completing the leveling process, the wall can also be primed to improve adhesion with the final finishing layer and to reduce dust.
