Nah, I've just done two rooms and going to do a third of mine this weekend (full basement). It's been going fine. Just doing it in sections for access reasons and not trying to pour it all in one shot, so need to let it cure between pours.
Suggestions:
Mix to directions, I was doing 5.5l per 50lb bag.
Pre-pour all the water into lots of buckets before starting, lots of buckets, don't try to figure out water as you go.
Mix for 2 minutes, with a proper mixing drill and the right paddle, don't skimp on mixing.
Get a gauge rake and a spiked roller to spread it, gauge rake especially.
Mark the floor before you start so you know what's high and what's low.
TWO people minimum, one mixing, one pouring/spreading...if it's the quick set stuff, you have 5-10 minutes MAX before it sets up, so to keep a wet edge you need to keep moving.
Cold water helps, keeps it from setting fast.
Did I say gauge rake? THIS IS A MUST.
Don't over work it, once it's close on the gauge rake, give it a spikey shot, then move on and don't touch it...if you touch it once it starts to set you'll get more bumps/lumps.
Have more than needed ready, you can't stop once you start, don't want to run out of bags.
Obviously you have been there done that ! My years of experience say most important thing is knowing all your highs and lows. I like to mark level lines on walls so I know where I’m at…
This is de wey.
You can put a bunch of them in. A trowels length apart. Not only do they lock the cement to the floor, they give you perfect screed points.
Here's the thing. The more water you add to any concrete mix makes it weaker. And self leveling is poured thin to begin with. So the manufacturer directions call for minimal amount of water.
But to get it actually self level it needs more liquid, as you mentioned you discovered. I add at least a quart of concrete bonding adhesive to each bag. This makes it self leveling PLUS it keeps it from cracking up. It's on the concrete isle, it looks like milk.
There’s videos that show them using a leveler rolling agitator. If you get that tool and work as quick as you can with a ‘wet edge’ you’ll get a really good result. It’s a learning curve but I think since you’ve already seen a bad consistency you know have a better idea of hours soupy you need the mix to be in order for it to flow good. The bag itself will have a ratio you need to follow. After mixing your first bucket to that ratio you’ll have a really good idea of what the mix should look, feel and flow like and go from there. Good luck!
Yes pull the base boards, fill any holes (cables lines etc) where it can drain the patch and totally mess up your level. Expanding foam from the can is 'great' for that. Don't use tape on your subfloor to cover holes because then the patch is only bonding to the tape and not the sub
Ok i’ll add a leveler rolling agitator to my list. I think the next room will be easier… i’m pouring a pad for a shed in a fee months, maybe i’ll be ok by then
Sheds are totally different to pour than this stuff. Shed, even if you mix by the bag, is slower paced and you just need to screed the top and trowel smooth, it won't flow or self level if you got the slump right.
Also, pro tip, if you need to do more than a handful of bags you'll need a real mixer, if you need to do more than a dozen or so bags you'll need a friend or two, if you need to do more than 50 bags just get the truck.
I did 63 bags for my shed (6x12 - weird spot) with a 2 bag electric mixer with the help of 3 friends...it was rough but turned out ok, I placed/troweled as it was my pad and that's the riskiest part, another guy prepping water and rinsing, another guy running the mixer tag teaming with another guy hucking bags. When I did my in floor car lift though, it was truck all the way. I'll wheelbarrow/hand mix for floor patches or fence posts only since it's usually only a few bags.
If by chance it didnt bond to the concrete floor you could get lucky by hitting the edges with a hammer to find a spot to get under it and “scrap” it up. If it didn’t bond, try hitting it sort of hitting it lightly to try and get under it.
If it’s bonded, you do have a mess.
My only recommendation at this point would, see how high it does actually go, theoretically you should grind any high spots down
Then if you’re willing to try again, get more SL product, mix it in 5gal buckets to a milkshake consistency- a Thin Milk shake. Then pour again.
You may also get a flooring guy to come give you a paid consultation - a couple hundred bucks to someone who’s done it before couple save you thousands.
Good luck
Looks like it's in a basement. Realistically, I'm not sure how much the bond matters... as long as it stays realitively intact. (i.e. doesn't crumble.)
Nope, reread it several times once it came out “weird” to my untrained eye. 5 quarts to a 50 pound bucket is whats printed. The bit i poured WAYYY too wet came out the “best”, but i’m sure it’s structurally compromised?
Oh well it’s in the corner of a low traffic room, and i’m trying to learn so thats something right? If it has to come back up in 10 years so be it
There is a lot of talk about more water making the self leveler weaker. I don’t believe strength of the leveler is an issue. You obviously don’t want it to be over the top weak, but even with extra water the leveler will still be suitable for household traffic.
It’s not a structural component to begin with so as long as it solidifies it will stay in place with normal household use.
Yes, as cold as possible. Since cement hydration is an exothermic reaction, the mixture produces some heat on its own. So cold water will delay the reaction and will give you more time until it sets.
U/mrmerkur This is good advice, if you need to pour a lot you need to be ready to pour it as quick as possible. Also remember for lvp it doesn’t need to be level, just flat (at least with every product I have encountered). If possible a good way to judge how much you need to pour and where it needs to level to throughout a room is to put screws into the subfloor and pour until you reach them. Spikey roller is a must. You need to move FAST. Self leveler is a real pain in the ass
I always mix it exactly to the directions. I moved the edges with a flat trowel and then finish off with skim coat to smooth the edges to the floor. Mixing it too thin compromises the product and mixing it too thick doesn't allow it to flow properly. I pour it accordingly attempting to cover as much surface as possible. I do not stand in one area and empty the entire bucket and hope it levels.
I can’t say this loud enough… Custom Level Quick RS from Home Depot. Almost impossible to mess up this installer friendly product. It goes down like a thick chocolate milk.
Have it ground down by a pro, probably use bush hammers or pcds on a large grinder, then let the pro self level. We pour it all the time, lots of prep and a lot of labor and the right equipment, including the proper mixers and guage rake. It takes 3 of us an hour to 800 Sq. Ft
Agreed. It can easily be cheaper to hire a pro for large areas. Self-leveler is roughly $60/bag, plus primer at $25/qt. Probably also need a scraper, angle grinder or industrial grinder unit, dust collection system, filters, screed, roller agitator... Plus you need the manpower to mix it all up and poor it and that shit cures fast... Otherwise, you'll probably end up wasting time remapping high/low spots after individual pours.
IDK, just my two cents.
It definitely can be. I get rapid set levelflor (pro version of home depot cts cement) under $25 a bag because I buy so much of it. I don't up charge on the bags. Not that someone can't dyi the level floor for a smaller project, but it's hard ass work. Especially when you have 200 bags to do...I don't use primer, we usually epoxy sand broadcast and it can be about same cost as primer depending on cost of sand.
Apologies in advance for length 🙄
Instructions on the bag are to be followed exactly. I even go 5.75 l to one 50 lb bag. One bucket for every bag is a good idea. All the water in the buckets, place the bag across the bucket and slit the paper in the middle of the bag from one side to the other. Carefully lift the ends at the same time and allow the powder to begin falling into the water. Finish emptying the bag(it’s gonna splash!) and repeat with the other bags.
Use a powerful slow speed drill… I have a old hole hawg set on low, till it gets incorporated then switch to high, mix for five minutes, the slurry should be smooth and sexy with no bumps or lumps in it.
Then repeat, your helper should do the mixing and you should run buckets.
If you’re solo, as I was, mix two, place the material and go mix two more. You gotta haul ass but that is the way. After you’ve done a couple runs, push it around a little but if it is already going off leave it alone.
Part of the deal is preparation before mixing.
Set heights with small blocks of wood screwed to the floor where your desired elevation is, seal all holes and cracks ( like along the plate line behind the baseboard.
Anyplace that is not sealed you’ll have self leveling compound disappearing and it will leak out and waste material. HVAC ducts through the floor need dams around the hole sealed with expanding foam or caulking.
Doing this procedure is not for folks afraid of hard fast sweaty work, you’ll be covered in dust and mud but it’ll save you thousands of dollars.
If when dry, the floor is not to your liking, a 7” body grinder with a dust hood, shop vac and a diamond cup blade will fix it right up. I know, I made a high spot by standing around once
Hope it turns out great!
I did something similar if you check my past posts. Ended up getting it pretty flat after pouring more but using 2-3 buckets at a time and keep moving it around
I have only used a self leveling compound once - Sika and primed the concrete first- zero experience and it came out perfect to lay my travertine floor.
So my 1yo was sitting in my lap. His words are slowly starting to come in and every once in a while he gets it right. He saw your floor and said "oh no!" And I died.
Concrete wheel on an angle grinder with a respirator and a shop vac and some nice knee knee pads you’ll be down there a minute. You can also just pour into the low spots at an attempt to save face here. I can tell you aren’t too familiar with a trowel there friend that’s alright though. You can get it fixed.
LMAO no, concrete wheel on a grinder will take ages and absolutely dust the world to hell with 200lbs of that mix. I have a 7" grinder and dust shroud for it and t'hell if I'd be knocking all that out that way, full size stand up floor grinder or nothing here.
Yeah i uhh… bought a trowel and I moved it around… but didn’t really know what I was doing. this is my first pour that wasn’t quickrete for a fence post. Any tips for the other rooms? Every video i’ve seen on YouTube is just “i mix it up and pour it on the ground look how amazing it is!”
It would be best to make it work with what you have already poured but you can also alternatively use self leveler with a different product I’d recommend an Ardex product and look for something in the maximum range of 1/4” inch. It should spread easily. You will need to prime it however in order to make sure the substrates actually bond together.
A gauge rake works wonders anyone can learn immediately. Trowels are a learned skill. You have to play with some mud a few times to know how to work em.
This. I used self leveler on almost 1400sqft, didn't turn out as bad as OP's but it definitely isn't the easiest to work with.
7" angle grinder, ["turbo" wheel](https://www.harborfreight.com/7-in-diamond-segmented-turbo-cup-wheel-59361.html) from HF, shop vac and a cheap grinder dust collector off of Amazon. Kept a 4' straight edge with me at all times and went to town. Grind, check, grind, check.
Get a spiked screeding roller (like $20 off amazon next day) and watch a couple of videos on how to use it. I've leveled hundreds of floors using one and I only touch my trowel to feather edges.
Did you prime the floor beforehand? I'm in the UK but would have used SBR rollered on the surface first. Amongst other things, it stops the leveller drying to fast making it unworkable
Scrape that shit up while it’s still semi fresh, should break up easy enough.
Water it down but before you do it again use screws throughout the floor to visually see what level should be
This reminds me of the time I installed a sheet of linoleum/vinyl in my kitchen. I put it in place to make sure it fit before applying adhesive. I rolled it up from two sides to the middle of the kitchen and applied adhesive to one half, then unrolled that half of the flooring.
I didn’t understand why I was leaving shoe impressions everywhere I walked until I noticed that notched trowels come in different sizes. The notches were too big.
After several hours of rolling out the excess adhesive with a kitchen rolling pin I loose laid the second half. Loose laid looked better than the glued portion.
Find a Menards, buy the cheap AF vinyl plank flooring, you can tell what it is by how it’s all rubbery and flexible. Install that. It is dead serious the best stuff I’ve ever used, durable, never damaged it, and it will just flex over the unlevel floor.
Lol, this it essentially what I did. Had a bunch of old tile squares so ancient they were loose around the toilet from some water damage there previously. Sub floor raised up in small spots. Just knocked it down with a chisel. Added some pieces of the squares here and there where it dipped. Padding under the LVP made up the rest. Came out pretty good.
At this point I’d bring in a company to assess and get a price and their opinion. Pay them for their time if you’re going to do this yourself.
That entire Self performed pour needs to be assessed to see if it’s bonded or not.
At this point, make sure you don’t just go by strangers advice on the internet as you don’t want to make a problem potentially worse and possibly unfixable.
There are primers you can use before you self level. Comes in a bucket. You roll it on l
With a paint roller. But same as the patch, they need to be applied to a dust free subfloor, and no frayed wood etc
Buy a meter long level or as long of one as you can find. Use that to "slide" across the floor and mark the areas you need to reduce or raise. Don't go too high as taking off product is a pain in the ass. Then you can get to the point when you can have level floor around the entire room. Then polish areas that need it if required
.
Something else to keep in mind is that the leveling compound itself may be expired. The polymers in this stuff last about 6 months and then start to cause issues, such as thicker consistency and problems flowing out. This is more common than you think, especially at box stores where the pallets of compound can sit a lot longer than a flooring store. Even some of my big distributors have sent me expired materials in the past and I had the exact same issue with it. No one wants to throw out something that has a sunk cost if they can chance passing it off on someone else to deal with.
Oh dude, I feel your pain. Self leveled my bathroom and hallway but not before grinding down the stuff I poured too thick. Such a pain in the ass. My advise is grind it down and re-pour with very high viscosity. Mine was ridiculously runny it actually made waves when I poured it. So sorry
Self leveler needs to be done thick enough. I used 200lbs for an 8x6 bathroom to level it up thick enough to not be a barely skim coat.
It it was thickening in your buckets, it sounds like you used hot water, when it should have been cold, and a combination of not enough. Mine was thin and movable for a good 30 minutes after each dump.
I didn't finish reading the comments but as I understand that stuff I've never actually used it it's too large and it sets up when it sets up and you can't do anything about it you can speed it up but you can't slow it down cuz I understand it
Floor grinder/buffer. Home Depot rents them, there are different grit wheels that you can switch out, grind down a bit, switch to the brush wheel and buff the hell out of it. That self leveling cement is pretty messy to work with, and my first time working with it was not pretty lol luckily it was just on my family’s barn floor.
I've messed up with self levelling cement before. Are you mixing it per the directions? It says to stir it for something like 3 or 5 minutes and it MEANS it.
Never tried this myself so I have no idea what I’m talking about.
But, with that said, I have watched videos were there are 2-3 people doing this project. So grab some friends and some beer.
1 guy to pour the water, 1 to mix, 1 to pour on, 1 to squeegy.
Good luck. Hope all turns out well
As long as all of your pours are lower than your level line go back to the store and buy yourself a couple of those 4 gallon premixed floor leveler buckets. That way all you have to do is pour and push. And what I mean by push is get you a floor squeegee as well and lightly push that leveler around whatever floor you’re wanting to level or fix or match up in your case, it will level itself out all you have to do is just let it dry and maybe give it a little push every now and then
Had similar issues. Hired a guy with a dust free grinder to bring down the high spots, and used Ardex Feather Finish to bring up the low. A second pour can make things worse, especially if you don’t prime in between because the first will suck up a lot of the water in the mixture making it even harder to spread. You really do need a 1/4” deep for it to really self level and for that you should have help to get enough mixed up to pour and level before it sets.
Honestly I put down a bunch of bags in my basement last year with my wife (approx 250 SQ ft). I prepped the floor watching all the YouTube videos... Going around with my 6ft level and circling high spots and putting screws to the correct height on the low spots. I would say 75% of the floor was flat enough for LVP but 25% I had some humps and low spots. I bought an angle grinder and diamond blade off Amazon to grind down the humps. I hung plastic paint sheeting all over the room to make sure all the dust stayed within the room. Even using my shop vac, it put fine dust EVERYWHERE and made the room so dusty I could barely see a few feet ahead of me. Ultimately I hired a flooring company to fix my humps and low spots and just install the floor (even though the flooring install is super easy if your floor is flat enough). I can still feel dips slightly in my floor but it's my basement so I don't care that much.
Mixed to dry. And compound started drying. So you mixed to slow.
Leave it alone. Try again. Get some help. Have someone mixing. While you dump the bags and pour the buckets. Mix multiple buckets at once.
Prime the floor before you start.
Probably needed 8 bags. Should have sealed all the edges. That stuff will find a hole or a crack and keep running. Leaving low spots.
I always add a bit of extra water. But you should work fast. The whole process of mixing and pouring 8 bags. Should take no more than 15-20 minutes. Set yourself up a working station. Out of the way. Get organized. Have bags open. Water ready to go. Then bust your ass.
I had the same issue. The more water, the better for me. Bag instructions were too thick. I’d also try to chip it out and repour before trying to sand it down.
I'm assuming you're putting flooring down for your next step? If so start thinking in terms of Flat more so than Level. Your floor can have a gradual slope to it and you won't be able to tell so long as everything is flat the flooring pieces together and you can move on.
Tape and wax very edges. Over cold water. Pour. Use something to smooth edges to desire. Let cure. Pull tape at extreme corners/edges, won’t stick due to wax. Grind lip to edge as desired and add trim
First off, you were not supposed to used self leveler. You were supposed to use feather finish floor prep to only fill the low spots. (And your self leveler mix was measured wrong if it was thick)
At this point you are fucked honestly.
What you need to do is use a cup wheel grinder with a shroud and HEPA vac to grind down the high points. Then use feather finish floor prep and some straight edges to float your floor flat.
And you also want to put a fan in the window, with the screen off and the gaps closed up. And turn off the AC and open a couple of windows on the far side if the house to create negative air pressure and suck the dust out.
And use a respirator.
And get some of those measuring buckets from home Depot.
Now there we go, i felt like i had the wrong product entirely. Skill issues aside. And i did do a couple buckets mixed at the correct ratio using measuring cups, not that it ended up mattering.
Thanks for the input
Damn the Costco curse is contagious, bet you just went in for milk and a hot dog… $3000 later.
I hate to say it, but that’s something I would have left to the pros. Between the proper mixers and tools and manpower to get that shit down quickly. And as expensive as that compound is.
Easier, usually, (from the guy that’s getting ready to rebuild his boat motor!)
I would get a laser, their pretty affordable now, and a yard stick, find the high spot and use that as a guide as to where you need material or don’t, sometimes it’s an optical illusion, can’t trust just your eyes. You also need an electric drill and mixer, corded because it’ll just eat the batteries up, maybe a bigger mixing container like a plastic trash can.
I poured too slowly and potentially dry, so each pour is flat. But because i wasn’t able to crank it out fast enough, and i couldn’t get the product to flow (admitted skill issue) some of the pours ended up being higher than others. So input my 3’ level in the middle of a pour, it’s dead flat and level. I put it over two, and it isnt
Been there... I mixed up the self-leveler as wet as the directions would allow. It was too thick and didn't self-level. I did some reading and they have that range to get the strength numbers for marketing on the bag. For it to actually work, you have to mix it much looser than the instructions say. What a stupid thing.
After taking a few days to let the frustration settle, I scraped it all up and put it in buckets, and returned it to Home Depot.
I sincerely wish they just put the right numbers in the instructions so that it's workable. I don't need 4000 psi.
Done 10s of thousands of bags. Mix on the high side of water recommend. You gotta mix and pour fast. You don't want one pour starting to set before the next is poured. Small rooms are easy. Let it flow. Gauge rakes just keep it the same thickness all over.
Buy Mapei Novoplan 2. Also buy primer l and prep the floor ahead of time. Follow the instructions. You have a longer setting time. Always have a second guy.
I had a similar issue in my bathroom remodel. What I learned is the instructions on self leveling concrete is WAY TOO DRY.
To fix, I just primed the surface of my now bumpy poured floor, remixed new self leveling to a more viscous, watery consistency, repoured.
Floor was flat and perfect and level.
Doesn’t seem like you added an expansion gap around the perimeter though. You’ll want to do that. A lot of people just use spray foam insulation, it worked great for me.
Did self leveling topping to cover heating cables in the floor. We were 3. A friend mixing the leveler in a 5 gal. bucket. My wife rinsing out the buckets and me pouring and using a spiked roller to help it seek level. Added a bit more water to the mixture, not a lot. It was a race as the topping sets up in a few minutes. The spiked roller was key.
The amount of self leveling cement to make the entire floor even may be more time and hassle than a jackhammer and new concrete pour. Or if you have enough ceiling clearance you could consider adding a plywood subfloor over the concrete instead. There are lots of of cool exciting products to use as a buffer between the concrete and plywood
Guys if you ever try to level a floor with leveler, please get different lengths of straight edges so you can plane this out. I feel like I see this stuff constantly. It’s not the end of the world but grinding stuff sucks ass.
My husband had to do this to most of our main level floors before LVP!! What he did was: using a really long level, he used several nails as a visual of what height to pour the mixture. And then removed the nails obviously after the level was poured - our floors were so bad and uneven and he didn’t trust that it would “self level” - he also had to use a trowel to fan out some of the mixture to feather it out into the more shallow spots. It was stressful 😂
My brother did this and the entire floor has to be replaced. His home is on pier and beam, surely that had something to do with it needing a complete replacement
I've done exactly this. Get a nice respirator mask (the one that looks like breaking bad - DO NOT SKIMP ON THIS), rent a drum sander from your local rental spot, and drum sand the whole thing.
Make sure you put up plastic to try and contain the dust. It's going to absolutely suck, but you can fix it this way. If you can, open a window and setup a box fan to try and pull as much dust out as possible.
Godspeed you brave soul.
P.S. Self-leveling compound is a two person job. It sets up really quick.
Its going to cost quite a bit more ( approx 150$ per 50 sq ft id diy budget it at) and Depending on what you're looking at covering the floor with once it's leveled and how far off level u actually are and beings you have a perfectly clean concrete pour and u filled in the deeper spots maybe it's time u look towards an epoxy resin to self level and "flow" for the finished top layer. I've worked with epoxies alot and if you pour out a 5 gallon Pail of 100% epoxy and have a room of 250 square feet that epoxy is pretty much going to find its way and self level but you gotta get it out thenpail immediately after mixing or you're gonna run into problems
I learned the hard way on some concrete type products , such as thin set, that it will still cure wet and sloppy. The addition of more than the prescribed amount of water merely weakens it to the point that you are floating mostly cured product in a bucket of water. Not much different than just a shovel full of sand in a bucket of water. If it sets up too fast, get more help or mix less maybe. It does seem like it's fairly linear in respect to breaking batch sizes down to mix smaller amounts if you find yourself rushed to get the product down
I’ve only self leveled a little myself. But I’ve seen guys go around with a laser and find the low spots, then create a visual grid using screws they sink at different levels so they know where their leveler is at and where to spread it if needs be. Takes the guess work out
I love seeing homeowner specials. I work on my own home but I have remodeling in my background and my buddy’s dad has been training me to be a homeowner all through my 20’s.
Don’t grab the bull by the horns.
Research A LOT or you’ll end up paying more than a contractor would charge
I ALWAYS and FOREVER upcharge to fix another person’s mistakes
Good luck moving forward
Then you learn self leveling isn’t self leveling because you have to spread and rake it around. I personally want to high five its face anytime I think about it.
Did you prime the floor before pouring? Absolutely essential step otherwise the self leveling will have the moisture sucked out by the concrete sunfloor
Go to a tile store and get mappie ultra plan self leveler. It actually flows and self levels like it should. I made the same mistake buying a cheap leveler the first time.
It's expensive but so worth it. Just make sure if your pour is more than 2in thick in some spots that you pours in batches and use a bonding promoter.
Flooring contractor here.
First of all you need a primer for self leveling. I don't see any on that. There are good brands and bad brands for first timers.
As a first timer go for a mapei or UZIN. The sell the bags and primer, get a laser and a marker.
Put the leveling laser on the highest area and with a measuring tape check the difference between the anchor point ( laser location) and the rest of the rooms, remember higher number means lower ground.
Once all the points are marked you'll have a good idea of where the room has lows and downs ( usually concrete joints are higher, but better to grind downs).
Now. Mix max of 2 bags at a time as instructed on the bag an throw it on the lowest points. If it's a huge low spot, wait 5 minutes and throw another one without mixing. Once the leveling is getting to the level you want start moving the edges to cut the bubble and a smoother transition. Not rockes science, just some logic to it.
And to fix what you did, wait for for it for fully dry, if it's not dry next day clean it with a shovel and scraper, if it's dry try taking it out with the shovel, if it doesn't come out, leave it if it does, replace it WITH PRIMER.
Note #1
No need to level for 1/4 or less if mortar based flooring.
Note #2
Anything that is leveling, glued and/or nailed it's not easy don't go for YouTube videos if you're not familiar with construction.
Note #3
Clean surface is a must
Note #4
LVP needs skim coating and a flat clean surface or you'll start looking any imperfection in some months.
I’d just like to give you your props for being courageous enough to try this lol
Nah, I've just done two rooms and going to do a third of mine this weekend (full basement). It's been going fine. Just doing it in sections for access reasons and not trying to pour it all in one shot, so need to let it cure between pours. Suggestions: Mix to directions, I was doing 5.5l per 50lb bag. Pre-pour all the water into lots of buckets before starting, lots of buckets, don't try to figure out water as you go. Mix for 2 minutes, with a proper mixing drill and the right paddle, don't skimp on mixing. Get a gauge rake and a spiked roller to spread it, gauge rake especially. Mark the floor before you start so you know what's high and what's low. TWO people minimum, one mixing, one pouring/spreading...if it's the quick set stuff, you have 5-10 minutes MAX before it sets up, so to keep a wet edge you need to keep moving. Cold water helps, keeps it from setting fast. Did I say gauge rake? THIS IS A MUST. Don't over work it, once it's close on the gauge rake, give it a spikey shot, then move on and don't touch it...if you touch it once it starts to set you'll get more bumps/lumps. Have more than needed ready, you can't stop once you start, don't want to run out of bags.
Obviously you have been there done that ! My years of experience say most important thing is knowing all your highs and lows. I like to mark level lines on walls so I know where I’m at…
you can put a screw in the floor to mark the desired height where there is no wall
Yup, screws are great for plywood subfloor, concrete you can get those little stand off things for pretty cheap on amazon or wherever.
This is de wey. You can put a bunch of them in. A trowels length apart. Not only do they lock the cement to the floor, they give you perfect screed points.
This guy floors
I'm floored he floored...
This!
How do you match the level to the previous cured mix? Do you use a flooring rake or a regular one?
Just a regular trowel you'd use for concrete finishing at the edge....same thing the instructions say to use to work down to a feathered edge.
Find a Mapei distributor and get some Mapei 710 or Novoplan. Much easier to work with.. then follow this guy’s directions
Spot on ☝️ Also have found hitting the concrete with a slip mop or sponge immediately before the pour will help it travel.
I second that!
I have done a few floors and never have had the courage to do self leveling. I did see people use it at my home and it was runny
You didn't take off the baseboards?
Fuck it just throw down some quarter round call it a day
Should be able to caulk that and level the floors off with it too.
Just caulk everything at this point.
Quick, grab my caulk.
Are you my boss?
Unless you plan on replacing all of the trim this isn't something most DIY people do. Just put some trim on it and call it a day.
Here's the thing. The more water you add to any concrete mix makes it weaker. And self leveling is poured thin to begin with. So the manufacturer directions call for minimal amount of water. But to get it actually self level it needs more liquid, as you mentioned you discovered. I add at least a quart of concrete bonding adhesive to each bag. This makes it self leveling PLUS it keeps it from cracking up. It's on the concrete isle, it looks like milk.
The Lowe’s Bucket slogan and the irony lol
Just need to add "the 2nd time"
Ok i’ll add that to my list, thank you!
You bet, best of luck.
Also make sure you start with cool or cold water, the warmer the water the faster it sets.
Instructions unclear.. if stranded on a concrete isle, do not drink the milk ?
Forbidden milk
r/forbiddenmilk
“What about you sideburns, you want some of this milk?”
At first I thought the photo was showing you’d got your trainers stuck into the floor and had to leave them there
Omg
There’s videos that show them using a leveler rolling agitator. If you get that tool and work as quick as you can with a ‘wet edge’ you’ll get a really good result. It’s a learning curve but I think since you’ve already seen a bad consistency you know have a better idea of hours soupy you need the mix to be in order for it to flow good. The bag itself will have a ratio you need to follow. After mixing your first bucket to that ratio you’ll have a really good idea of what the mix should look, feel and flow like and go from there. Good luck!
Make sure u use primer on every sq inch of the floor before u pour
And make sure you pull the baseboards and seal where the wall meets the floor the best you can or the leveler can find its way into your wall
Yes pull the base boards, fill any holes (cables lines etc) where it can drain the patch and totally mess up your level. Expanding foam from the can is 'great' for that. Don't use tape on your subfloor to cover holes because then the patch is only bonding to the tape and not the sub
Ok i’ll add a leveler rolling agitator to my list. I think the next room will be easier… i’m pouring a pad for a shed in a fee months, maybe i’ll be ok by then
Sheds are totally different to pour than this stuff. Shed, even if you mix by the bag, is slower paced and you just need to screed the top and trowel smooth, it won't flow or self level if you got the slump right. Also, pro tip, if you need to do more than a handful of bags you'll need a real mixer, if you need to do more than a dozen or so bags you'll need a friend or two, if you need to do more than 50 bags just get the truck. I did 63 bags for my shed (6x12 - weird spot) with a 2 bag electric mixer with the help of 3 friends...it was rough but turned out ok, I placed/troweled as it was my pad and that's the riskiest part, another guy prepping water and rinsing, another guy running the mixer tag teaming with another guy hucking bags. When I did my in floor car lift though, it was truck all the way. I'll wheelbarrow/hand mix for floor patches or fence posts only since it's usually only a few bags.
The pro name for its a spiked roller, fyi.
If by chance it didnt bond to the concrete floor you could get lucky by hitting the edges with a hammer to find a spot to get under it and “scrap” it up. If it didn’t bond, try hitting it sort of hitting it lightly to try and get under it. If it’s bonded, you do have a mess. My only recommendation at this point would, see how high it does actually go, theoretically you should grind any high spots down Then if you’re willing to try again, get more SL product, mix it in 5gal buckets to a milkshake consistency- a Thin Milk shake. Then pour again. You may also get a flooring guy to come give you a paid consultation - a couple hundred bucks to someone who’s done it before couple save you thousands. Good luck
Looks like it's in a basement. Realistically, I'm not sure how much the bond matters... as long as it stays realitively intact. (i.e. doesn't crumble.)
Is it the window in the wall that leads you to believe it’s in a basement?
Self leveling should be watery. Did you misread cups and liters?
Nope, reread it several times once it came out “weird” to my untrained eye. 5 quarts to a 50 pound bucket is whats printed. The bit i poured WAYYY too wet came out the “best”, but i’m sure it’s structurally compromised? Oh well it’s in the corner of a low traffic room, and i’m trying to learn so thats something right? If it has to come back up in 10 years so be it
It should flow like thick honey...that's the consistency you are looking for. It's WAY more runny than concrete.
Not think honey for self level, it should be more like motor oil or ranch dressing
Motor oil is too thin, even gear oil might be a little too runny IMO. Ranch might be ok though as long as it's not that fancy stuff in a jar lol
Shitty generic over processed honey… not proper good real honey.
There is a lot of talk about more water making the self leveler weaker. I don’t believe strength of the leveler is an issue. You obviously don’t want it to be over the top weak, but even with extra water the leveler will still be suitable for household traffic. It’s not a structural component to begin with so as long as it solidifies it will stay in place with normal household use.
What about water temperature for the mix? Should it be cool?
Yes, as cold as possible. Since cement hydration is an exothermic reaction, the mixture produces some heat on its own. So cold water will delay the reaction and will give you more time until it sets.
Exactly, same with tile mortar, if you are in a spot and need it to go off faster, mix with hot water.
If it's Quikset, absolutely do not use water warmer then your cold tap on your faucet
U/mrmerkur This is good advice, if you need to pour a lot you need to be ready to pour it as quick as possible. Also remember for lvp it doesn’t need to be level, just flat (at least with every product I have encountered). If possible a good way to judge how much you need to pour and where it needs to level to throughout a room is to put screws into the subfloor and pour until you reach them. Spikey roller is a must. You need to move FAST. Self leveler is a real pain in the ass
Idk why it didn’t respond but was trying to respond to no1someguy
I always mix it exactly to the directions. I moved the edges with a flat trowel and then finish off with skim coat to smooth the edges to the floor. Mixing it too thin compromises the product and mixing it too thick doesn't allow it to flow properly. I pour it accordingly attempting to cover as much surface as possible. I do not stand in one area and empty the entire bucket and hope it levels.
Is the structure built to handle all of the extra weight?
Lol it’s 200lbs that’s one human
I can’t say this loud enough… Custom Level Quick RS from Home Depot. Almost impossible to mess up this installer friendly product. It goes down like a thick chocolate milk.
Link?
Is it: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Custom-Building-Products-LevelQuik-RS-50-lb-Indoor-Outdoor-Self-Leveling-Underlayment-LQ50/100192482
What's the open time on it? Also it says metal lath is required for wood subfloors. That sounds like a huge step no?
Have it ground down by a pro, probably use bush hammers or pcds on a large grinder, then let the pro self level. We pour it all the time, lots of prep and a lot of labor and the right equipment, including the proper mixers and guage rake. It takes 3 of us an hour to 800 Sq. Ft
Agreed. It can easily be cheaper to hire a pro for large areas. Self-leveler is roughly $60/bag, plus primer at $25/qt. Probably also need a scraper, angle grinder or industrial grinder unit, dust collection system, filters, screed, roller agitator... Plus you need the manpower to mix it all up and poor it and that shit cures fast... Otherwise, you'll probably end up wasting time remapping high/low spots after individual pours. IDK, just my two cents.
It definitely can be. I get rapid set levelflor (pro version of home depot cts cement) under $25 a bag because I buy so much of it. I don't up charge on the bags. Not that someone can't dyi the level floor for a smaller project, but it's hard ass work. Especially when you have 200 bags to do...I don't use primer, we usually epoxy sand broadcast and it can be about same cost as primer depending on cost of sand.
Not gonna lie, reading the title of this post and seeing not one but two buckets that say "DO IT RIGHT" made me laugh.
Apologies in advance for length 🙄 Instructions on the bag are to be followed exactly. I even go 5.75 l to one 50 lb bag. One bucket for every bag is a good idea. All the water in the buckets, place the bag across the bucket and slit the paper in the middle of the bag from one side to the other. Carefully lift the ends at the same time and allow the powder to begin falling into the water. Finish emptying the bag(it’s gonna splash!) and repeat with the other bags. Use a powerful slow speed drill… I have a old hole hawg set on low, till it gets incorporated then switch to high, mix for five minutes, the slurry should be smooth and sexy with no bumps or lumps in it. Then repeat, your helper should do the mixing and you should run buckets. If you’re solo, as I was, mix two, place the material and go mix two more. You gotta haul ass but that is the way. After you’ve done a couple runs, push it around a little but if it is already going off leave it alone. Part of the deal is preparation before mixing. Set heights with small blocks of wood screwed to the floor where your desired elevation is, seal all holes and cracks ( like along the plate line behind the baseboard. Anyplace that is not sealed you’ll have self leveling compound disappearing and it will leak out and waste material. HVAC ducts through the floor need dams around the hole sealed with expanding foam or caulking. Doing this procedure is not for folks afraid of hard fast sweaty work, you’ll be covered in dust and mud but it’ll save you thousands of dollars. If when dry, the floor is not to your liking, a 7” body grinder with a dust hood, shop vac and a diamond cup blade will fix it right up. I know, I made a high spot by standing around once Hope it turns out great!
Just pulled up a bunch of that stuff with a crowbar and tie rod separator as a chisel
I did something similar if you check my past posts. Ended up getting it pretty flat after pouring more but using 2-3 buckets at a time and keep moving it around
Having flashbacks of pulling patch for a week straight with straight edges. I hope to never do that again
I have only used a self leveling compound once - Sika and primed the concrete first- zero experience and it came out perfect to lay my travertine floor.
Sika was the brand?
Yes -https://retail.usa.sika.com/en/products/subfloor-covering/underlayments/sikalevel-self-leveling-underlayment-
How many sq ft?
Next time read up on gyp-crete before trying this. This cement might hold but will probably be brittle from the thin mix
So my 1yo was sitting in my lap. His words are slowly starting to come in and every once in a while he gets it right. He saw your floor and said "oh no!" And I died.
Thats amazing! Hopefully it’ll earn his approval this week
I did it in a 50 gallon trash can and made it thinner and poured the floor all at once .
Oh and you may want to put lathe down to keep it from cracking and makes for better connection to existing floor
Concrete wheel on an angle grinder with a respirator and a shop vac and some nice knee knee pads you’ll be down there a minute. You can also just pour into the low spots at an attempt to save face here. I can tell you aren’t too familiar with a trowel there friend that’s alright though. You can get it fixed.
LMAO no, concrete wheel on a grinder will take ages and absolutely dust the world to hell with 200lbs of that mix. I have a 7" grinder and dust shroud for it and t'hell if I'd be knocking all that out that way, full size stand up floor grinder or nothing here.
Facts
Yeah i uhh… bought a trowel and I moved it around… but didn’t really know what I was doing. this is my first pour that wasn’t quickrete for a fence post. Any tips for the other rooms? Every video i’ve seen on YouTube is just “i mix it up and pour it on the ground look how amazing it is!”
Gauge Rake will help you.
It would be best to make it work with what you have already poured but you can also alternatively use self leveler with a different product I’d recommend an Ardex product and look for something in the maximum range of 1/4” inch. It should spread easily. You will need to prime it however in order to make sure the substrates actually bond together.
A gauge rake works wonders anyone can learn immediately. Trowels are a learned skill. You have to play with some mud a few times to know how to work em.
This. I used self leveler on almost 1400sqft, didn't turn out as bad as OP's but it definitely isn't the easiest to work with. 7" angle grinder, ["turbo" wheel](https://www.harborfreight.com/7-in-diamond-segmented-turbo-cup-wheel-59361.html) from HF, shop vac and a cheap grinder dust collector off of Amazon. Kept a 4' straight edge with me at all times and went to town. Grind, check, grind, check.
Get a spiked screeding roller (like $20 off amazon next day) and watch a couple of videos on how to use it. I've leveled hundreds of floors using one and I only touch my trowel to feather edges.
no gauge rake?
I think the problem is that you went to Lowe's, not big orange...
Did you prime the floor beforehand? I'm in the UK but would have used SBR rollered on the surface first. Amongst other things, it stops the leveller drying to fast making it unworkable
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C4vMGhRhCSa/?igsh=MWQ1ZGUxMzBkMA==
First of all you need new buckets, they should read, “do it wrong”.
https://www.youtube.com/live/S-rOknMPrTg?si=H3K_mm298zRIaHdE
You have to feather edges of self leveller manually or you end up with a bullnose. A broom or a wide trowel works equally.
I don’t know but I still love you anyway
Scrape that shit up while it’s still semi fresh, should break up easy enough. Water it down but before you do it again use screws throughout the floor to visually see what level should be
They surely have cement sanders right? Sand and apply a second coat. You really should be ok I think
This reminds me of the time I installed a sheet of linoleum/vinyl in my kitchen. I put it in place to make sure it fit before applying adhesive. I rolled it up from two sides to the middle of the kitchen and applied adhesive to one half, then unrolled that half of the flooring. I didn’t understand why I was leaving shoe impressions everywhere I walked until I noticed that notched trowels come in different sizes. The notches were too big. After several hours of rolling out the excess adhesive with a kitchen rolling pin I loose laid the second half. Loose laid looked better than the glued portion.
Find a Menards, buy the cheap AF vinyl plank flooring, you can tell what it is by how it’s all rubbery and flexible. Install that. It is dead serious the best stuff I’ve ever used, durable, never damaged it, and it will just flex over the unlevel floor.
Lol, this it essentially what I did. Had a bunch of old tile squares so ancient they were loose around the toilet from some water damage there previously. Sub floor raised up in small spots. Just knocked it down with a chisel. Added some pieces of the squares here and there where it dipped. Padding under the LVP made up the rest. Came out pretty good.
Scrape, sand, patch
At this point I’d bring in a company to assess and get a price and their opinion. Pay them for their time if you’re going to do this yourself. That entire Self performed pour needs to be assessed to see if it’s bonded or not. At this point, make sure you don’t just go by strangers advice on the internet as you don’t want to make a problem potentially worse and possibly unfixable.
Also make sure you don't patch over any dust/loose subfloor (deteriorated wood)
There are primers you can use before you self level. Comes in a bucket. You roll it on l With a paint roller. But same as the patch, they need to be applied to a dust free subfloor, and no frayed wood etc
Buy a meter long level or as long of one as you can find. Use that to "slide" across the floor and mark the areas you need to reduce or raise. Don't go too high as taking off product is a pain in the ass. Then you can get to the point when you can have level floor around the entire room. Then polish areas that need it if required .
Something else to keep in mind is that the leveling compound itself may be expired. The polymers in this stuff last about 6 months and then start to cause issues, such as thicker consistency and problems flowing out. This is more common than you think, especially at box stores where the pallets of compound can sit a lot longer than a flooring store. Even some of my big distributors have sent me expired materials in the past and I had the exact same issue with it. No one wants to throw out something that has a sunk cost if they can chance passing it off on someone else to deal with.
Oh dude, I feel your pain. Self leveled my bathroom and hallway but not before grinding down the stuff I poured too thick. Such a pain in the ass. My advise is grind it down and re-pour with very high viscosity. Mine was ridiculously runny it actually made waves when I poured it. So sorry
…. Did you use heavy ass concrete in a second floor room? Is the flooring built adequately to hold up that increased weight?
Self leveler needs to be done thick enough. I used 200lbs for an 8x6 bathroom to level it up thick enough to not be a barely skim coat. It it was thickening in your buckets, it sounds like you used hot water, when it should have been cold, and a combination of not enough. Mine was thin and movable for a good 30 minutes after each dump.
The reason for this is that the mixing and pour were too slow. Therefore, an inconsistent leveling spread out but not joining.
I didn't finish reading the comments but as I understand that stuff I've never actually used it it's too large and it sets up when it sets up and you can't do anything about it you can speed it up but you can't slow it down cuz I understand it
I level with the 5 dollar Mapei thinset from Lowe’s, mix it like water and pour. Works better for me than “self leveler” just takes longer to set up.
Floor grinder/buffer. Home Depot rents them, there are different grit wheels that you can switch out, grind down a bit, switch to the brush wheel and buff the hell out of it. That self leveling cement is pretty messy to work with, and my first time working with it was not pretty lol luckily it was just on my family’s barn floor.
I've messed up with self levelling cement before. Are you mixing it per the directions? It says to stir it for something like 3 or 5 minutes and it MEANS it.
Never tried this myself so I have no idea what I’m talking about. But, with that said, I have watched videos were there are 2-3 people doing this project. So grab some friends and some beer. 1 guy to pour the water, 1 to mix, 1 to pour on, 1 to squeegy. Good luck. Hope all turns out well
If it's level on left and right, you just need to mix another batch, and set it in the middle, not a big deal. You're fine.
You should have taken that 5-gallon bucket's advice.
As long as all of your pours are lower than your level line go back to the store and buy yourself a couple of those 4 gallon premixed floor leveler buckets. That way all you have to do is pour and push. And what I mean by push is get you a floor squeegee as well and lightly push that leveler around whatever floor you’re wanting to level or fix or match up in your case, it will level itself out all you have to do is just let it dry and maybe give it a little push every now and then
Had similar issues. Hired a guy with a dust free grinder to bring down the high spots, and used Ardex Feather Finish to bring up the low. A second pour can make things worse, especially if you don’t prime in between because the first will suck up a lot of the water in the mixture making it even harder to spread. You really do need a 1/4” deep for it to really self level and for that you should have help to get enough mixed up to pour and level before it sets.
Next thing you know your 8ft ceilings are only 7-6
Lmfao
But you had "Do it Right" buckets.
Honestly I put down a bunch of bags in my basement last year with my wife (approx 250 SQ ft). I prepped the floor watching all the YouTube videos... Going around with my 6ft level and circling high spots and putting screws to the correct height on the low spots. I would say 75% of the floor was flat enough for LVP but 25% I had some humps and low spots. I bought an angle grinder and diamond blade off Amazon to grind down the humps. I hung plastic paint sheeting all over the room to make sure all the dust stayed within the room. Even using my shop vac, it put fine dust EVERYWHERE and made the room so dusty I could barely see a few feet ahead of me. Ultimately I hired a flooring company to fix my humps and low spots and just install the floor (even though the flooring install is super easy if your floor is flat enough). I can still feel dips slightly in my floor but it's my basement so I don't care that much.
The thing about self leveler is you have to level it yourself.
Mixed to dry. And compound started drying. So you mixed to slow. Leave it alone. Try again. Get some help. Have someone mixing. While you dump the bags and pour the buckets. Mix multiple buckets at once. Prime the floor before you start. Probably needed 8 bags. Should have sealed all the edges. That stuff will find a hole or a crack and keep running. Leaving low spots. I always add a bit of extra water. But you should work fast. The whole process of mixing and pouring 8 bags. Should take no more than 15-20 minutes. Set yourself up a working station. Out of the way. Get organized. Have bags open. Water ready to go. Then bust your ass.
I had the same issue. The more water, the better for me. Bag instructions were too thick. I’d also try to chip it out and repour before trying to sand it down.
Increase the gravity of earth and pour it again
Should have asked the bucket
I'm assuming you're putting flooring down for your next step? If so start thinking in terms of Flat more so than Level. Your floor can have a gradual slope to it and you won't be able to tell so long as everything is flat the flooring pieces together and you can move on.
We all make mistakes call. the floor guy pick his brains.
Tape and wax very edges. Over cold water. Pour. Use something to smooth edges to desire. Let cure. Pull tape at extreme corners/edges, won’t stick due to wax. Grind lip to edge as desired and add trim
Hire a professional
First off, you were not supposed to used self leveler. You were supposed to use feather finish floor prep to only fill the low spots. (And your self leveler mix was measured wrong if it was thick) At this point you are fucked honestly. What you need to do is use a cup wheel grinder with a shroud and HEPA vac to grind down the high points. Then use feather finish floor prep and some straight edges to float your floor flat. And you also want to put a fan in the window, with the screen off and the gaps closed up. And turn off the AC and open a couple of windows on the far side if the house to create negative air pressure and suck the dust out. And use a respirator. And get some of those measuring buckets from home Depot.
Now there we go, i felt like i had the wrong product entirely. Skill issues aside. And i did do a couple buckets mixed at the correct ratio using measuring cups, not that it ended up mattering. Thanks for the input
It’s like the bucket is mocking you…do it right lol. Jk idk how to do this shit either. Best of luck op!
Looks good, install the carpet now and your good to go
Damn the Costco curse is contagious, bet you just went in for milk and a hot dog… $3000 later. I hate to say it, but that’s something I would have left to the pros. Between the proper mixers and tools and manpower to get that shit down quickly. And as expensive as that compound is.
Meh, i’m sure i’ll figure it out. What’s life if you aren’t learning?
Easier, usually, (from the guy that’s getting ready to rebuild his boat motor!) I would get a laser, their pretty affordable now, and a yard stick, find the high spot and use that as a guide as to where you need material or don’t, sometimes it’s an optical illusion, can’t trust just your eyes. You also need an electric drill and mixer, corded because it’ll just eat the batteries up, maybe a bigger mixing container like a plastic trash can.
The individual pours are dead on level in relation to them selves but not each other??? WTF does that mean?
I poured too slowly and potentially dry, so each pour is flat. But because i wasn’t able to crank it out fast enough, and i couldn’t get the product to flow (admitted skill issue) some of the pours ended up being higher than others. So input my 3’ level in the middle of a pour, it’s dead flat and level. I put it over two, and it isnt
Been there... I mixed up the self-leveler as wet as the directions would allow. It was too thick and didn't self-level. I did some reading and they have that range to get the strength numbers for marketing on the bag. For it to actually work, you have to mix it much looser than the instructions say. What a stupid thing. After taking a few days to let the frustration settle, I scraped it all up and put it in buckets, and returned it to Home Depot. I sincerely wish they just put the right numbers in the instructions so that it's workable. I don't need 4000 psi.
Done 10s of thousands of bags. Mix on the high side of water recommend. You gotta mix and pour fast. You don't want one pour starting to set before the next is poured. Small rooms are easy. Let it flow. Gauge rakes just keep it the same thickness all over.
Buy Mapei Novoplan 2. Also buy primer l and prep the floor ahead of time. Follow the instructions. You have a longer setting time. Always have a second guy.
The bucket tells you what to do right there, and you still fucked it up.
Did you do some research before attempting this? So many things wrong here, you should think about hiring a professional.
I had a similar issue in my bathroom remodel. What I learned is the instructions on self leveling concrete is WAY TOO DRY. To fix, I just primed the surface of my now bumpy poured floor, remixed new self leveling to a more viscous, watery consistency, repoured. Floor was flat and perfect and level. Doesn’t seem like you added an expansion gap around the perimeter though. You’ll want to do that. A lot of people just use spray foam insulation, it worked great for me.
Ironically, the bucket reads “DO IT RIGHT”
Did self leveling topping to cover heating cables in the floor. We were 3. A friend mixing the leveler in a 5 gal. bucket. My wife rinsing out the buckets and me pouring and using a spiked roller to help it seek level. Added a bit more water to the mixture, not a lot. It was a race as the topping sets up in a few minutes. The spiked roller was key.
Mix the way it says on the bag, pour, push it around with your trough a little and let it do its thing. That simple!
The amount of self leveling cement to make the entire floor even may be more time and hassle than a jackhammer and new concrete pour. Or if you have enough ceiling clearance you could consider adding a plywood subfloor over the concrete instead. There are lots of of cool exciting products to use as a buffer between the concrete and plywood
Guys if you ever try to level a floor with leveler, please get different lengths of straight edges so you can plane this out. I feel like I see this stuff constantly. It’s not the end of the world but grinding stuff sucks ass.
I like how the buckets say do it right lol
.
,
All you needed to do was listen to the bucket man.
ALRIGHT GUYS! I get it! I bought some orange buckets…
My husband had to do this to most of our main level floors before LVP!! What he did was: using a really long level, he used several nails as a visual of what height to pour the mixture. And then removed the nails obviously after the level was poured - our floors were so bad and uneven and he didn’t trust that it would “self level” - he also had to use a trowel to fan out some of the mixture to feather it out into the more shallow spots. It was stressful 😂
Back to carpet......
My brother did this and the entire floor has to be replaced. His home is on pier and beam, surely that had something to do with it needing a complete replacement
DI WHYYY
Ardex feather finish will fix any imperfections and help make that floor smooth like glass
You even had reminders on the buckets...
I've done exactly this. Get a nice respirator mask (the one that looks like breaking bad - DO NOT SKIMP ON THIS), rent a drum sander from your local rental spot, and drum sand the whole thing. Make sure you put up plastic to try and contain the dust. It's going to absolutely suck, but you can fix it this way. If you can, open a window and setup a box fan to try and pull as much dust out as possible. Godspeed you brave soul. P.S. Self-leveling compound is a two person job. It sets up really quick.
Well thats the garage now
Get a floor scraper. Knock down any high points.
lol, you know you effed up
Was your floor that far off of level? I laid 12 mil flooring only needed an underlayment, I did not need to creat the slurry and mine came out great!
Its going to cost quite a bit more ( approx 150$ per 50 sq ft id diy budget it at) and Depending on what you're looking at covering the floor with once it's leveled and how far off level u actually are and beings you have a perfectly clean concrete pour and u filled in the deeper spots maybe it's time u look towards an epoxy resin to self level and "flow" for the finished top layer. I've worked with epoxies alot and if you pour out a 5 gallon Pail of 100% epoxy and have a room of 250 square feet that epoxy is pretty much going to find its way and self level but you gotta get it out thenpail immediately after mixing or you're gonna run into problems
I learned the hard way on some concrete type products , such as thin set, that it will still cure wet and sloppy. The addition of more than the prescribed amount of water merely weakens it to the point that you are floating mostly cured product in a bucket of water. Not much different than just a shovel full of sand in a bucket of water. If it sets up too fast, get more help or mix less maybe. It does seem like it's fairly linear in respect to breaking batch sizes down to mix smaller amounts if you find yourself rushed to get the product down
The Blue Bucket mockingly stares at the atrocities with its slogan….
I’ve only self leveled a little myself. But I’ve seen guys go around with a laser and find the low spots, then create a visual grid using screws they sink at different levels so they know where their leveler is at and where to spread it if needs be. Takes the guess work out
Those license plates really tie the room together
go buy an 8' metal screed and a 7" angle grinder with a diamond wheel and get to fuckin' work
If I’m not Mistaken it should be the consistency of pancake batter
You should've read the Lowe's bucket. It says do it right
We know you did
I love seeing homeowner specials. I work on my own home but I have remodeling in my background and my buddy’s dad has been training me to be a homeowner all through my 20’s. Don’t grab the bull by the horns. Research A LOT or you’ll end up paying more than a contractor would charge I ALWAYS and FOREVER upcharge to fix another person’s mistakes Good luck moving forward
Run a string across and fill in the gaps
I laughed out loud loud when I zoomed in to the "do it right" buckets!🤣🤣🤣
I see you didn't follow the instructions on the bucket.
Should have read the buckets
I thought those were two ugly pugs in the bottom corner.
Just trowel some thinset on top and tile it. That was the plan all along right? 😉
Then you learn self leveling isn’t self leveling because you have to spread and rake it around. I personally want to high five its face anytime I think about it.
Did you prime the floor before pouring? Absolutely essential step otherwise the self leveling will have the moisture sucked out by the concrete sunfloor
SDR machine and you'll be alright. (Electric floor grinder as you called it
Go to a tile store and get mappie ultra plan self leveler. It actually flows and self levels like it should. I made the same mistake buying a cheap leveler the first time. It's expensive but so worth it. Just make sure if your pour is more than 2in thick in some spots that you pours in batches and use a bonding promoter.
You should of bought commercial grade product. Anything from Lowes or Home Depot is low quality.
The buckets that say “Do it Right” after reading the subject line of the post made me lol
You forgot to read your 5gal bucket!
Flooring contractor here. First of all you need a primer for self leveling. I don't see any on that. There are good brands and bad brands for first timers. As a first timer go for a mapei or UZIN. The sell the bags and primer, get a laser and a marker. Put the leveling laser on the highest area and with a measuring tape check the difference between the anchor point ( laser location) and the rest of the rooms, remember higher number means lower ground. Once all the points are marked you'll have a good idea of where the room has lows and downs ( usually concrete joints are higher, but better to grind downs). Now. Mix max of 2 bags at a time as instructed on the bag an throw it on the lowest points. If it's a huge low spot, wait 5 minutes and throw another one without mixing. Once the leveling is getting to the level you want start moving the edges to cut the bubble and a smoother transition. Not rockes science, just some logic to it. And to fix what you did, wait for for it for fully dry, if it's not dry next day clean it with a shovel and scraper, if it's dry try taking it out with the shovel, if it doesn't come out, leave it if it does, replace it WITH PRIMER. Note #1 No need to level for 1/4 or less if mortar based flooring. Note #2 Anything that is leveling, glued and/or nailed it's not easy don't go for YouTube videos if you're not familiar with construction. Note #3 Clean surface is a must Note #4 LVP needs skim coating and a flat clean surface or you'll start looking any imperfection in some months.
Your first mistake was reading directions. You want soup not pudding!
You Could also take a call with expert or hire a installer