When / Where / How to use Floor Leveler
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- Опубліковано 4 вер 2024
- Let's level the playing field on floor leveler.
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Thanks Jeff I always come back to older videos as well, always great information. I couldn't remember how long to let it dry before starting the floor; the man says 16 hours, I listen!
a master class in floor leveling. Thank you so much you answered all my questions.
Jeff, you and StudPack seem to always know what projects are in my near future and put out the research& DIY videos I need to watch. Thank you for a much needed live tutorial
Absolutely. 100%
Glad to help
I always thought that garage floors are slightly sloped from the back wall to the door to allow for water to run towards & out the door. Am I wrong ?
@@billm.8220 you’re right. Most of the time garage floors have a slight slope
Yes... coming from snow country and now living in "monsoon" country... you need to be able to drain snow-melt and salt as well as rain runoff from your vehicle out of your garage... all that water and chemicals would do too much harm to your structure. 😮.@billm.8220
Thanks for leveling with us on the use of these products in various situations 😆
Exactly. Just the flat truth.
Any time!
@@HomeRenoVisionDIY can you do this over broken clean tiles?
I have been using Custom self-leveler for my jobs for years, great product!
i did this for my upstairs floor - very unlevel areas of OSB on joists. Used QuickLevel RS - you gotta be organized but it's do able - set out levelling screws around the area.
then glued the flooring to the self leveler. it worked great. It seems wrong to start pouring a concrete based liquid over your upstairs wooden subfloor - but it totally works so long as you follow the instructions carefully.
it is much easier than the alternative - cutting up the floor to remove sections and then sistering joists to level ....
How is your flooring doing also what was the thickest amount of self leveler you poured?
im in the UK(LIVERPOOL),,,,,,,,,, i watch loads of your vids, and there boss,well detailed, and yer give the pitfalls too
You are the best. You have an answer for every scenario and always add more education to it. Thank you!
When I'm taking on some DIY, I come here first. Great content and quality info. Thanks Jeff!
Wow, Jeff perfect timing. I've just reached this point. I'm replacing my sub floor (rotten wood due to moister) on a slab foundation. Concert has a 3/4 max bowel shape. So I'll listen to you before I wing it.
Ken
Yes!! I found old glued down vinyl sheeting in my house that likely has asbestos. I will be self-leveling over this weekend!
How did you get on? I have the same asbestos tiles, they’re in pretty good nick apart from patches, and I’m wondering if I can fill the patches
Could not have come at a better time! Thank you!
Cheers and good luck with your project!
We are buying a house (Wiltshire, UK). The entire downstairs area has asbestos tiles, bonded with asbestos bitumen. I am so glad you said "use primer then leveller over it, to encapsulate the asbestos." PERFECT! Will take some work to do it, but that's great. Thank you. Now I just need to find UK equivelent products.
Hi, I’m in London and I have these tiles, but there are just some patches where they have holes and damage, overall they’re very level. I was wondering if I could just patch the holes. Is that a decision you had to make?
Thank you for this. It gave me the final nudge I needed to tackle the 70s tile and black mastic floor I found under the carpet in one of my bedrooms. Now that the scary and hideously wonky slab is covered up and level, I can stop stressing about it and move on with the rest of the room renovation as planned.
And you helped me avoid a mistake. I was about to go for the RS stuff from Home Depot. Getting the slow set from a flooring place instead was definitely the right way to go for me since I was working alone and had a large floor to cover. It ended up taking 15 bags. Now I get to take a break for a day to let it cure.
Oh noo!! I missed such an important topic today!! That's literally my upcoming project for the kitchen/living room!!
You got this!
Bear in mind. Self leveler is not self leveling.
For better flatness, one needs to use self leveling pins. Which are gold too @ $1-2 dollars per pin every 3 feet across the floor. You cut them to a benchmark using a laser level. We keep ours 1/16 high so we can see them on the pour and keep the floor just under the tips of the pins!
The other main focus with self leveling is sealing the floor well. Clean very good, even under wall edges. Fill all gaps, small ones with caulk, large ones with spray foam. You can make dams with spray foam or 2x4 that is sealed to the floor. Trim your foam with a long retractable razor (the kind with multiple break points, though they make ones without the break points) then do a good job on the primer, read directions, dilute as necessary depending on the surface. The primer is the sealer for your whole floor, stopping water loss and allowing the product to work.
Keep a keen eye on your water amounts when mixing, try to hit the high end of recommended water to allow better flow. I can't stress enough how much water accuracy matters with this stuff, it's worth putting a person you trust to do it right on water.
You silver tongued UA-cam devil! I just tried my first run on installing vinyl plank flooring with little to no success. I have clean underlayment down, but there seems to be some waviness or dips in the surface, that misaline the locking edges of the heavy grade planks. So, after a terrble struggle, that was to be "easy peasy", I came to that conclusion all by myself. So, I intend to use floor leveler on top of OSB type underlay. I do not recall you talking about leveler in the video on installing vinyl plank, even after watching 2 or 3 times.
Another option if you don’t have expansion foam to contain the self leveler against walls or gaps, you can use some tuck tape in a pinch and it will work great.
They use tape for epoxy counters too. When wrapping around a corner just pinch the top edge of the corner together so it does not fold over.
Your videos are EXCELLENT. I want God to Bless you.
No worries there. Cheers!
Hi...thank you for the informational video. I have a concrete patio at the back of my house. It is about a 22' x 22'. One wall is part of the house's structure which has a block foundation (I can apply the products on that side since there is plenty of foundation). The other wall is the garage area with vinyl siding & a piece of vinyl molding that goes all the way to the patio. If I apply a bonding agent, then self-leveler and lastly a concrete resurfacing product, would you recommend not putting anything as a barrier to that siding and molding? I am planning to stamp the concrete surface.
Thank you Jeff et al. You are good people
Cheers!
Be very careful as a DIYer about doing large spaces. These levelers setup VERY fast and stop self leveling once they start setting up. It’s hard to cover large areas and keep your edges wet. You’ll need multiple people and ideally practice with your leveler in a smaller area first. Watch lots of videos about self levelers on larger areas.
Ain't that the truth!
Ugh, I know. I have to do a 209sqft patio. 😕
@@justlooking4771 I really like the trick of gluing tile spacers of varying heights and using a laser level to mark whether I need a 1/8 spacer or much higher (you can use screws if leveling wood, but I was doing concrete in basement). With spacers set out every 18-24", I know if I poured deep enough. I had a 600 ft space, with some areas as much as 1" different in level across the space. I used a grinder on a few small spaces (maybe 10%) that where a bit higher than about 40% of floor. I then used leveler on remaining 50% with wildly disparate heights, some 1/8" low and others nearly 3/4". I set a spacer about every 24" and then poured ensuring I covered just over the top of spacers in all areas. When you set your height spacers (screws or gluing plastic spacers), I would re-check your work at least twice before pouring. It's so easy to level if you set your heights correctly, have multiple people and know how high to pour. I'm sure it wasn't as good as a pro, but unless you are a tile pro, the floor was level enough to put tile down. I have very small lippage in a couple spots, but nothing visible to the eye and 10x better than if I had tried to do this without using leveler. Overall, pleased and saved thousands over what local contractors wanted to level it.
Stick with shoenox. Make sure to screw your plywood down to the joists so there is no flex...before you pour, and fill all holes and cracks with cauking. If your floor flexes, it will crack all your tiles like egg shells.
Watched the whole video. Lots of great info and you answered my question near the end of the video. Always turn to your channel when I need the good info. Thanks!
Thank Yo SO MUCH! You are answering all my questions.
Extremely informative. 👍
Really great demonstration
Dang. Came across this after redoing the floor in our laundry room. Ripped out old carpet and there was linoleum underneath, delaminating in some places and tightly glued other places. As he described it was on some sort of wood underlay that was stapled to the subfloor. I didn’t want to rip that up because honestly, didn’t want to know if the subfloor was going bad. Thought about using floor leveling over the linoleum but wasn’t sure about it and it was a small space and they only seem to sell large bags of the stuff, I just needed a small amount to make the surface flat. Using a long level, it seemed the floor was within the specs for the floating interlocking vinyl plank I was using, so just locally sanded as needed and put that down. I’ll see if it holds over time!
Timestamp 36:10 he Gives the double Birdie to everyone. L o l, So funny.
Nice catch 😂
these things happen!
You said it the other way around. The sand has air between in molecules and the water fills it
Schoenox is the best leveller, but add an extra quart of water than directed for every 40-50lbs bag. Always use a sealer so your leveller won't have the water sucked out of it and cause it to dry before levelling. Screw rapid sets--you are asking for disaster. Don't use any product with sand in it. Don't use Henry because it turns to pudding and won't level in just 3 minutes. You will have to grind it down and cover the whole mess with Schoenox to correct it--three extra days later, the disaster is fixed.
Hi Jeff, Always enjoying your tutorial, save me time reading and the good thing is that, you are teeling us how to avoid making mistakes. Just a question what can you say about Dry Pour concreting using it in the garden area?
I'm going to be replacing tile in my kitchen really soon, and from what I can tell there is already a wire mesh under the old tile adhesive. There is, what also appears to be a dip on the floor. Do I need to pull that old mesh up and go all the way down to the subfloor? Or can I bust out the old tile, clean up the adhesive, primer and pour the leveler? This is an awesome video and I am no longer intimidated by this stuff anymore! Thanks
Can I put floor paint or self levelling epoxy over this product? It's for a daylight basement, an unplanned project and I don't have the budget to lay down marmoleum or another flooring, so I would like to paint or epoxy over it to have a smooth , waterproof durable surface indefinitely.
Following this comment!
I have a small Southeast Michigan, brick-walled home with a walkout basement built in 1956. I have an engineering mindset and believe the home to be unusually well-built for the time (two walls of brick, steel pole floor support with steel I-beams). They originally used tile, and overtime added linoleum and finally carpet on the main floor. I have removed the carpet, linoleum, and tile. I am replacing it with 12 mil luxury vinal planks. They did use nails to attach the 3/4" composite board to the subfloor. The composite floor is losing some of the top composite in some areas. Can I use floor leveler to "even out" the floor? Your vlog seems to address applying it to the entire floor.
Hi Jeff,
Thank you for the informational video. I have a concrete patio inside my house with a 4' x 24' corridor in front of my back door. Due to construction work, the corridor is lower and has bowing in the center about 1.5 to 2 inches deep over an 8" area. Whenever it rains, all the water stays in this area, making it unusable as an exit. Can I use self-leveling concrete, also adding mesh metal beneath the self-leveling compound to fix it? Considering that I will not add tiles on top, please advise on the best solution.
Jef you got it backwards with Ditra mat. You are supposed to use leveller under the mat and not on top.
Is that for Ditra heat? Or all Ditra?
@@mmathi4 all Ditra
In my area the electrical authority wants leveler on top to cover the cables. schluter does not agree. I tend to go with the guy that provides the inspection certificate on this. Cheers, for best results pour 1/4" over the top to provide better protection against breakage
This is an amazing set up, Haven't watched the whole thing yet, but What about pouring self leveler onto concrete?
Great video. Thanks for the help. Really appreciate you.
Hi Jeff! Love your channel.
I have a 1972 ranch home in Phoenix, AZ. I have taken out carpet and asbestos tile. I have some cracks, but not bad.
My goal is to stain my floors. Problem, the cement is brown. I've been told to grind the concrete. We did this in the master bed and bath.
We would like to use leveler to create a fresh starting point to stain.
What are your thoughts, ideas?
Thank you!
If your house has plywood floors less than 1" thick, you may not be able to stop the flex...even if you put concrete board over it. Consider linoleum instead, or at least, use a small, 1 or 2 inch tile to mitigate tile cracking.
Thanks!
Fantastic info! You mention the Mapei Self Leveler Plus will do 1.5 inches but on the Lowes site it says only an inch max. I need 1.5 should I do 1 inch then another .5 after it dries?
Can i use the primer on my tile floor before pouring leveler? How do i prepare the tile? Ok Got it!!! Thanks answer is around 12:00
The floor of my garage slopes down slightly, and it would be nice to level it. Definitely over 200 sq ft. Would you recommend leaving it to the professionals?
Hey Jeff, Love the videos! question on self-leveler! What if the first layer wasn't enough? can you add a second layer after the first one cures/dries? thanks!!
The powder fits between the water molecules? Dude no, the powder is full of air because it lacks density and the water fills that void. By absorbing the powder, there is no room for air, hence the puffs as you're stirring it. It's less about chemistry and more about physics. Other than that weird detour, excellent video! I'm about to lay luxury vinyl plank over tile, on slab on grade. I will be following your advice. Cheers!
What do you do if you are dealing with a concrete slab and you want to introduce some sort of insulating factor either between the slab and the leveler or the leveler And the LVP without it being electric.
Laundry room renovation please!!!
What about a cracked patio?
Did you apply the primer to the plywood.
Hey Jeff
What is the most correct method ,installing self levelling concrete first and after schliter ditra ,or ditra first and self leveller after wards.I will appreciate the answer ,I have a project for a difficult costumer
Thanks a lot
Mapei Self Leveler Plus cured in 20 minutes for me. 😢 I thought i had longer time to manipulate leveling since im a beginner DIYer.
Question...I'll look thru comments to see ... I had to kilz my floor after removing carpet... Can I put floor leveler over kilz or do I need another primer?
Answered so many questions!
Do you need primer on concrete?
Is henrys feather finish used for similar purposes?
Jeff, should you prime with sand mix under a shower pan ? previous vid you just put on subfloor. My subflooring is Advantec. Always refer to your videos . Thank you for your time !! Glynn
This old house on steroids, fantastic thank you
Can I lay floor leveler over painted concrete flooring
I have a 72 doublewide with MDS floors. I have water damage on the edges and have ben removing the original vinyl flooring because of parts being partly removed or chipped. Have sanded as smooth as possible. I have been replacing the damaged areas with 3/4 plywood . some areas along the marriage wall are higher and there are bolts there too. What would be the best way to level the floor before putting down LVP that already has the pad attached. Extra padding cancels the warrantee. Will have to do the floors through out the whole double wide and have a VERY tight budget. Thank you in advance.
Hi - Great video, I appreciate all the information you provided. One question though, I want to prime and pour over asbestos in a basement. You mentioned at 13:55 that can be done, and specifically pointed out the MAPEI product from Lowes as being the one to use. However I looked on the datasheet for Primer T, and it specifically says not to use on asbestos (??) I am imagining they say that because they don't want you to grind or otherwise disturb the asbestos in preparing the floor (my guess but I could be wrong). My question is, can I use it if my asbestos floor is sound, and only needs washed to prepare it. Or is there something chemically in the primer that will be a problem when used on top of asbestos.
Did you say that you can pull out the pieces of wood that you used instead of sill sealer? Won't the leveler bond to the wood trim?
I have a home that is on a concrete slab. Build in 1950”s could I use the self leveling would it be too heavy?
Great start, but you don't explain why you use a spiked wheel to level and spike shoes also/ you see pros use / would love more on the application procedure./ I have to do this on the basement floor in the spring
if you use a product that is prone to bubbles then simply tool the surface after 10 minutes to help eliminate them. that is what the spikes are doing. Cheers!
Do I need the expanded steel mesh on dricore OSB flooring?
I have 1933 era home. Redoing kitchen floor. The pier and beam joist have a plank subfloor with a 1/4” Masonite layer and a glued down square flexible type tile that is separating from . Do I take up the tile and Masonite or can I use the planks, Masonite and 1/4 or 1/2 inch to create a more stable laminate subfloor?
I used SLC in my bathroom over the underfloor heating I installed. I am going to use direct stick luxury vinyl plank 2mm over the top. As its technically a wet area an epoxy adhesive is recommended for the plank. However thats for where you might have running water spills etc. I was going to use UZIN KE2000S. My question is do you need to seal the SLC once it is laid before putting on additional coverings like vinyl plank?
Hey Jeff, I plan on removing tile on basement that was installed directly on concrete. My plan is to use floor leveler then (1) thinset + (2) Ditra XL + (3) thinset + (4) 5/16 thick tile.
Trying to wrap my head over what thinset to use for step (1) and step (3) without breaking the bank other than Schluter. What would be your recommendation with Mapei ? Thanks!
My toilet is not level. Can I pour self leveler over tile to level the floor inside of where the toilet sits?
Good show Jeff.
Cheers Rob!
Primer more important the thinner the layer of leveler. At half inch or more on concrete i eouldnt be too concerned... But any edgeds that are festhered could delaminate crack and pulverize
Yoooo, video was fire 🔥 next step is to actually watch it
People don't understand the amount of patch I'm about to dump on your floor before I install vinyl plank down. The prep is insane. I honestly think I'm about to elastomer athletic flooring in house. I create indoor running Tracks and they are way better than epoxy.
Self-leveling a concrete floor...do I need to use a primer or is that just for wood?
Do they know you’re working in the US right now for you tube ?lol
I’ve always wondered about the floor levels, great subject for this particular episode
Hi Jeff how about using leveler in a manufactured home?
Hi Jeff, your videos have been my guiding light through our DIY basement reno. We put dricore panels down but we didn't level before. Is it okay for us to level on top of the dricore directly, or are we better off adding a layer of 3/8 ply and then leveling?
Hi. This is new construction. I have a concrete floor 20x20 with a change in elevation of 4.5 inches from one corner to the opposite corner. The concrete is stamped. How do I level without having to add 4.5" of leveler. It could be sloped but needs to be flat. What do you suggest?
Jeff, we put this in our kitchen about a month ago and went on to other projects. I checked it for flatness today, and it's not flat. Can we pour more on top of what we already did?
Hi! New subscriber here. Will you be doing a video on epoxy flooring the interior of a home?
I have linoleum on plywood in my second floor kitchen. Can I use levelling product on the linoleum to prep for vinyl plank that will be replacing the old floor?
I realize I am late to the party, but can I use a leveler to level an OSB subfloor (primed) under a Flexstone acrylic shower pan, that is a foam bottom that gets adhered to the flooring?
What about direct to concrete without primer?
Chemically it’s a lot more air between the power than between the water molecules.
Agreed. There's a bunch of air in that bag of self-leveler that gets displaced by the water when mixing the two.
just explaining what I see so folks feel comfortable pouring the whole bag at once.
how do I patch the small area on the OSB subfloor which is 1/8" dip down.
What about vapour barrier under metal lath?
If you vivrate the floor while pouring, better?
can help with the fast set. if you want perfection just use the 24 hr dry. it tools very smooth.
Should I put down tar paper for a vapor barrier?
Can you used level on on concrete to raise half inch,
Can I use this on my cracked patio?
Hi Jeff, a couple questions I was hoping you were going to answer but didn’t. If you are patching a concrete floor with regular concrete before applying self leveler does the concrete need to cure a certain amount of time before applying self leveler or will it delaminate the self leveler while its curing? Is there a product you can recommend if you are trying to do this with one person so I have more working time? The Mapei product you mentioned with the 24 hr cure time, cannot go to a feather finish, it has to be at least 1/8” thick.
Do you need some kind of sealer for the compound before you lay peel and stick vinyl?
What do you think about using this over a aircrete slab
it can be poured over anything that is deemed structural. Cheers!
Can you use the self leveler as a finished floor without anything on top of it? and If so do you need some sort of sealer to be applied after its cured?
Is there a different type of leveler to use if you have in floor heat
Schluter says leveler under ditra/ditra heat is no problem, but they advise against putting leveler on top of ditra
That all depends who you are talking to at schluter. looks like they have changed their official position again on the use of one of their products. Companies do this often once they have tested something properly. Cheers my advice was outdated it seems.
So pouring leveler over concrete main floor slab does NOT require primer?
The first step is the most important step. Primer goes on wood or concrete. It will not bond if you don't prime it. The primer is a little bit pricey but it must be applied. The problem about if you don't use primer you can have it break loose due to a cold slab in winter when it was poured in the summer prior. 36 years of flooring installation experience. The mixing speed and time mixing is just as important as the priming. last thing to mention is if you are going over a wood floor, chalk all wood seams before you do anything also against the walls or you will find it all sinking to the floor below the pour.
Can I use a floor leveler to create a slight ramp? I hade a interior floor drain put in the basement to fix a water issue and they made way too high of a ramp at the perimeter of about 1/5th of the basement. I grinded it down as much as I could but still have a 1/2 inch ramp over a 1-2 feet span at the edge of the wall. Can I use less water in the mix and use a 10 ft straight edge to slow ramp it out so it is not noticeable? I understand it is a leveler and maybe its a stupid question, wasn't sure if it would hold a little as it dries. Didn't think I can do a cement pour that thin.
I need to come up 1.5 in on a 10 ft run and 3/4 in most spots, can I use cement board as a filler material? Just prime it, right?