Quick and Easy Slab Leveling

Let’s say you’re sick of the cracked, chipped uneven basement floor in your house. It is unsightly, unsafe, and is doing nothing to improve the value of your home. Not only that, but your wife is complaining because she keeps tripping and dropping the hamper on the lopsided floor in the laundry room. You’re also getting tired of spending all your time and money driving your kids to the emergency room because of twisted ankles and sending out search parties because they keep getting lost in the crevasse sized gaps. You want to put tile, carpet, or hardwood down but you can’t. It’s just in too poor of shape. One way or another, you’re looking at concrete resurfacing and slab leveling as the first step. Sounds like an expensive and tricky project. You should probably just forget it, or call a contractor right? Well before you pick up the phone book I urge you to consider this: self-leveling concrete. With this product, a basement floor leveler project becomes much simpler.

Before you can install anything on top of the old floor, you’ll need to make sure its level. This is especially true for tile leveler and wood floor leveler jobs. Start off by grinding down any high spots and use a concrete patch mix or concrete repair mix for any spots more than ¼” below level. An easy way to check for high and low spots is to run a 4’ bubble level over the entire slab. With this accomplished, it’s almost time for your flooring leveler (or subfloor leveler). First, make sure your surface is clean of debris, oil, grease, sealers, contaminants, and loose material. When your floor is cleared of those things it is time to apply your primer. This is necessary for a good bond between the floor leveler compound and the subsurface. It will also improve the flow of the floor levelers as well as the final concrete surface. Apply the primer with a clean push broom or a medium to thick nap paint roller for larger areas. By using the push broom you are allowing the primer to seep into the pores of the material you’ll be covering. Make sure all areas are primed and excess puddles of the primer are brushed off. When the primer has dried to a tacky film (between 1 and 24 hours), you are ready to begin laying your concrete.

As a general rule, 50 pounds of floor leveler cement will cover 50 square feet at 1/8” thick. For the mixing and application of the product you will need a mixing container, a spreader which is used to gauge the thickness of the placed material, and a smoothing tool to break the surface tension of the concrete. A 1/2” heavy duty drill (650 rpm min) with a paddle mixer extension will also help with the mixing. Barrel type mixers should be avoided if possible. Follow the manufacturer’s recommendation for mixing and water requirements. You should also hold back 1 part (~10%) of your water content to minimize material lumping during mixing. After 30-60 seconds of mixing you can add the water you have held back. When a minimum of 2 minutes into your mixing time has gone by, it is time to lay your new floor!

Pour your leveling concrete mix on the floor and work it around with the spreader. A well-batched plaster mix will spread out evenly over the area to a nice, level surface. Most manufacturers recommend that the spreader gauge is calibrated to allow ¼” of material to be placed. Aim for a minimum thickness of 1/8” over the highest point on the floor which will result in an average thickness of ¼” over the entire floor. After the initial pour, immediately smooth the material to break the surface tension. This will minimize pinholes and allow the material to flow into any marks or gaps left by the spreader. Any featheredge you may wish to add should be done now. Most self-leveling products will be ready for light traffic in 4-5 hours under normal temperature and humidity conditions. If you’re planning on using the new surface as a sub-floor for tile, carpet, or hardwood allow it to set for at least 24 hours before further work. As always, follow appropriate curing methods for best results!

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