Concrete Floor Leveling?

wolfsburged

New User
Bill
Finally got some of my basement water issues corrected! Between some gutter rework and a proper drain/sump setup I am dry despite the torrential rain these past few days. The sump pump was running a few times an hour the last few days. I normally would have been down there with the Shop Vac cleaning up the water on a week like this!

So - onto my next question/phase. Since I have already gone through the effort to relocate all of my equipment off of the floor, I am thinking about the floor itself. It is about 224 sq ft of concrete but it is very uneven. There are high and low spots all over. There isn't a specific directional slope, just a sloppy pour I think. Over an 8' span it drops about 1.5" in some areas. This makes moving stuff around difficult, not to mention you can forget trying to build something on the floor it's so out of wack.

I'm looking for ideas and suggestions on what to do to flatten it out. I have been looking at self-leveling compound, but am concerned about the size and amount of product I'd need to use, and whether I could work fast enough to do a decent job. Also not sure if I could leave the leveling compound as the final floor and it hold up to use without another flooring product on top. I wasn't specifically looking to add a flooring on top of the concrete.

Any ideas? I'm spending like a drunken sailor on some other big house maintenance projects so the budget is not too big to make the floor flat, but it'd be nice to do while it's empty/clear.

KIMG4775.JPG
 

tvrgeek

Scott
Corporate Member
A great opportunity for a raised floor and run your DC ductwork and power below if you have the ceiling height. Quite an odd "shelf" arrangement. Not a very new house I assume. I would wait for at least the hurricane season as the rain in the last few days was trivial.

Yes, leveling compound is the appropriate material. And again yes, it is not real tough. I don't know if something like RustBullet concrete paint ( I used it on my slab) is tough enough.
 

wolfsburged

New User
Bill
A great opportunity for a raised floor and run your DC ductwork and power below if you have the ceiling height. Quite an odd "shelf" arrangement. Not a very new house I assume. I would wait for at least the hurricane season as the rain in the last few days was trivial.

Yes, leveling compound is the appropriate material. And again yes, it is not real tough. I don't know if something like RustBullet concrete paint ( I used it on my slab) is tough enough.

I had considered an elevated floor, but of course being in the basement I don't really want to lose much of my limited height. If anything I might use 2x2 or something cut and shimmed to level and a 3/4" plywood base if I were to do something like that.

I wonder if I could epoxy over the leveling compound and be ok?

This was a crawlspace that was dug out and concreted. House built in 1984. So there are a lot of odd things about it. I'm just trying to make the most of it. It's not really even a basement - you can only access from the outside via one man door. The property is heavily sloped so the steps in the concrete are following the ground level to keep from undercutting the foundation/footer.

The stepped areas provide some storage space at least. I would prefer it all at a level/flat area but that is not realistic. I can walk up in the back hunched over.

The plus for me is that I can keep all the messy sawdust in this space and keep the garage clean and clear, and able to park in it. I can move the cars and do assembly if I need to up there for the bigger projects.
 

tvrgeek

Scott
Corporate Member
Kind of what I figured. I have a CS that teases me as almost large enough to excavate and bank, but my solution is to leave it empty. For one thing, our footings here are not as deep as I would design.

Epoxy, like the paint I suggested make a surface, but if the compound is not tough enough, it might crack and come apart it under it. My only experience is with thin coats where cement board and thin set went over top.

I get you on the garage. A rule was set down to me years ago that at least HER car had to be in the garage. Mine was up to me. So when we moved down here, I bought a house with a pole barn! 2 cars in the garage, two in a carport and one in the shop side. I really should sell the GTI and MGB, but darn I like them.
 

wolfsburged

New User
Bill
Kind of what I figured. I have a CS that teases me as almost large enough to excavate and bank, but my solution is to leave it empty. For one thing, our footings here are not as deep as I would design.

Epoxy, like the paint I suggested make a surface, but if the compound is not tough enough, it might crack and come apart it under it. My only experience is with thin coats where cement board and thin set went over top.

I get you on the garage. A rule was set down to me years ago that at least HER car had to be in the garage. Mine was up to me. So when we moved down here, I bought a house with a pole barn! 2 cars in the garage, two in a carport and one in the shop side. I really should sell the GTI and MGB, but darn I like them.

My primary hobby is old VWs so the garage space is set aside for storing and working on those. I have a two post portable lift in there and all my mechanic tools, stuff for welding/etc in the garage. Good to keep that oil and grease away from the sawdust. And to keep the sawdust away from the cars.
 

tvrgeek

Scott
Corporate Member
Old VW's eh. Had a 67, like everyone from my generation. I do old British. MG, TR, TVR, Morgan etc.
 

Oka

Casey
Corporate Member
Built more building construction projects than I like to admit to. My experience has shown me the only concrete leveling that is effective is expensive if you really want level. The epoxy leveling systems will help but are prone to chipping if there is large temperature swings. May not be an issue. The Sika products are the best imho. Not cheap. Start looking at Sika 122 system Call the Coating guys at Whitecap, I think they are in Charlotte and Raleigh. They sell all those types of products. They can help you find something that might work.. If you are ok with pouring it level, you could install all the conduit in the ground, get a level floor and have a cooler setup. Finally, when pouring those smaller pours like this, do not use regular 5 or 6 sack mix get a better mix design for it. Me? I would look at using something with pea gravel rather than 5/8" rock. Just a thought.
 

Charles Lent

Charley
Corporate Member
You could grind off the high spots and smooth the surface with a terrazzo surfacing machine, but it's a job that's better done by someone with experience as it takes a while to get the machine and operator to play nice together. You might still need a surfacing compound for the lowest spots, but it would be much less. There are also concrete patch materials that can be troweled on thin, but use a bonding adhesive with them to prevent the old and new from separating.

Charley
 

Fingerpicker

New User
Kim
Some of the other guys may have more experience with this situation, but in my basement I had a few areas where the floor was as much as 1 1/2" out of level (low). I used concrete leveling compound from Lowes and it worked very nicely, however, I did then put floor covering over it, rubber gym tiles in the exercise room and floating bamboo t&g flooring in the hall and media room. In my shop, the floor is pretty level, except for an area where it slopes to a floor drain. When I built the house, I used a very good concrete sealer and it has held up through daily use since the house was built in 2004.

In your case, I realize head room is very limited, but you may still want to consider using a concrete leveling material and then a wood floor over it. Some of the nicest shops I have seen have wood floors.
 

Rwe2156

DrBob
Senior User
I assume you're talking about the raised area? What about the sunken area?

I'd try the floor leveller that you pour out and let self-level. Don't know how that holds up with mobile machines, tho.

Another option is plywood floor decking over a moisture barrier TapCons into the concrete.
 

Premier Sponsor

Our Sponsors

LATEST FOR SALE LISTINGS

Top