Have experience with self-leveling compound? Seems it's more of an art than a science. My floors came out anything but flat, maybe worse than before. Debating whether to chisel it up and deal with the original dips or to pour more and hope the second coat fixes it.
Rip it out and do what time sayshttps://youtube.com/watch?v=diDVtXpAcLg
>>2981711might work for smaller spaces but for a large room that's a lot of setup for the mold.
>>2981695In a perfect world, you float the entire room. Leveler can need some help from a little squeegee or the carpet tractor type concrete tool. I'm generally working against cheapskates by filling the voids with leftover deck mud or scrap 3/4 ply. Their budget isn't there to drop that many $35 bags under their flooring.
>>2981747it certainly is expensive for such a small area. Do you ever add more water than the bag calls for? When I added the right amount it flowed like a glacier even with help from a trowel
>>2981748I get the impression that most people mix on the wet side. It's not going to pour out like a full on resurfacer. That stuff flows like Taco Bell the day after. Leveler needs to lay down on its own after it's been encouraged. I could just get thinset if I was going to screed then entire space.
>>2981764Are people really getting diarrhea from Taco Bell? Ive legit never once and I nor know anyone who has. I’m beginning to think all you people are payed McDonald’s shills.
>>2981748In my experience, if you make it too wet, you get a sandy water layer on top of the actual concrete layer and it becomes impossible to get flat because you can’t see the actual concrete layer well. That happened the first few times I did it anyway. My preferred way is first do the bottom layer thick and with the recommended amount of water, then the second layer as thin as possible with +10-20% water to fill whatever unevenness is left in the bottom. >>2981695Don’t you need some liner on the walls so it doesn’t break there
>>2981795>My preferred way is first do the bottom layer thick and with the recommended amount of water, then the second layer as thin as possible with +10-20% water to fill whatever unevenness is left in the bottom.This is what I was thinking of trying to fix the uneven first layer, I just hope I don't fuck it up even worse. I'll prime the first layer ofc. Thanks for the tip.
>>2981695>pouring semi-liquid on the floor is now scienceman, we really live in the dumbest timeline
>>2981833if only it were as simple as it looks, anon.
>>2981695This shit is a scam and it doesn't work. It doesn't stick to the old concrete unless you thoroughly vacuum up the dust and put down some kind of special glue shit on the surface first. And even then it doesn't really work.I used to work at a company that applied this shit (it wasn't our main business) and almost every time we got a call back from the customer saying it started cracking and delaminating.The only shit that actually sticks to concrete is epoxy+sand mixture (and when you do that, you need to paint plain epoxy over the bare concrete so that there's a wet liquid in between the concrete and the epoxy+sand). That's expensive.In 90% of cases concrete just isn't worth fixing properly. Just put a bit of plywood over the crack or the hole and live with it.
>>2981713Aw man, doing it right is hard? Jeeze, I was hoping I could half ass it and get a great result. Can I ask AI to do it for me?
>>2981845i know, rightonly prople with phd. degree pour it
>>2981955>special glue shityeah, that space liquid called primer, that you should actually use when painting a wallit's a very complex technology indeed
>>2981955Soak the concrete to control suction then paint it with cement/water mortar mix. Add sbr if you want to manage huge fucking mess at the same time.
Yeah, it's absolutely harder than it looks. I once worked for a builder and we used it for 3 different bathrooms. The way we did it is the day before we set concrete screws all around the room and then adjusted the screws so they were all exactly the same height. The screws were placed in a grid probably about 2ft OC. Then when we poured the SLC there was about 3 of us working together and we worked quick so there was no big delays between each bucket load going down. You have to work really quick because it sets up fast, we started doing it in the morning and by midday you could basically walk on it. Ultimately if you want a really perfectly flat floor for tile you should probably just screed it with dry pack mortar. SLC is okay for small areas but it's super expensive and not idiot proof.
>>2982068I forgot to explain that when we were pouring the SLC we used the screws to check that it was all at the correct height while we were pouring. It's a weird product. It doesn't actually 'self level'. And it's really weak, it chips up easily.
>>2982070>It doesn't actually 'self level'It's kind of an alarming realization in the moment
if you go over on the hydration ratio you run the risk of pools forming that will crust up like a dry river bed and youll have low spots. its a weird compound and yeah it sets up super fast. there's nothing "self- leveling" about it especially when working large areas. as others have said small areas it might work out but dont bother on large open areas of concrete
>>2981695Isn't it much easier if you use a small concrete vibrator or something similar like they do with "real" concrete?
I leveled nearly 100 m2 in my hungarian appartment and it is a pain to work with. Tips: Dont be cheap, if you use to little the surface tension will just make it follow the non flat substrate. You need at least 5mm to 1 cm. I used building PUR foam and a self leveling laser to set some crude height markers during pouring, because you need to move it around to control the thickness using a plastic roller. I used the fiber reinforced version from Mapei and it is very strong does not chip at all. This captcha is insane how can you use this site wtf
>>2981695use picrel on a long stick right after pouring the semi liquid (if it makes holes instead of dispersing the liquid, it needs more water
>>2981964>Aw man, doing it right is hard? Jeeze, I was hoping I could half ass it and get a great result. Can I ask AI to do it for me?kek. He really does deserve that.
