Self Leveling Concrete….Some tips?
ThunderConstruction
| Posted in General Discussion on
Does anyone have experience and/or suggestions/recommendations on the best way to apply self-leveling poly concrete to 1500 feet of concrete? What are some of your experiences, and do you have any suggestions for us and our project? Did you find it to be easy, moderate, or difficult? How many people were needed or how many do you recommend for the application?
Thanks for reading.
Very Curious,
C. Little
Thunder Construction
Replies
I have not done anything to your scale, but the material that we use costs about 28 bucks for a 50 lb. bag which will cover 50 sq. ft. at 1/8 of an inch thick. It looks very wet when you mix it but it pours out well and true to its represatation on the label. seeks its own level in about 10 minutes. Pretty easy to handle and cleans up nicely too. If you have to carry the mixed material over finished surfaces, protect them as the stuff sloshes around pretty well in the bucket.
Best,
Jeff
I have to disagree with some of your comments. It does look very wet, and it does pour out easily, but self-leveling is a matter of opinion. If you just pour it out onto the floor, it will stand there with a very distinct edge about 1/8" thick ... kinda like pancake batter on a griddle. And if you wait 10 minutes to level it, you're gonna have a mess cuz it will be half way to set. And you're right about covering other things in the area, cuz it does slosh real easily as you tote the bucket.
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
In that large an area, have a lot of help.
The mix will be thinner than what you'd intuitively expect if you've done much work with concrete or mortar or thinset.
AND, it sets up very FAST!
In that large an area, I would have about 4 notched Squeegies on pole handles to help get the material spead out smoothly and quickly.
Why are you having to level such a large area?
Ditto those comments-it mixes up thin and sets ultra fast. The "slow kid" on our crew had a paddle bind in a bucket of it, that was how long it took for him to mix it up. Move quickly and efficiently.
Dustin
Thanks for your reply and suggestions....we will be applying this to a 3 bay utility garage. Does this seem like a good way to go? You seem to have some experience, any info you have will be appreciated.
Thanks again
This stuff sets up in 5 minutes from the second the powder hits the water. Period.If you think you and a buddy can do 1500 square feet, you will be very disappointed. When we do SLC we have 1-2 guys per bucket mixing all at once. You can not do shifts with this stuff--it all has to hit the floor at the same time. You can do 2 bags in a 5 gal bucket. So if you need 10 bags, then you need minimum 5 guys and 5 mixing drills, 5 buckets, plus a couple guys with a squeegies spreading the stuff around. Do the math and figure out how much you'll need and how many guys you will need.For larger jobs, and I think 1500 square feet is a large job, I would recommend a commercial flooring contractor that mixes it up in a large hopper and pumps the stuff in. An eighth is a tough pour. While SLC can be feathered out to a sixteenth, it is honestly easier to pour it thicker to get it to level properly.Regards, Scooter"I may be drunk, but you're crazy, and I'll be sober tomorrow." WC Fields, "Its a Gift" 1934
Floor levelers, for many of the reasons cited, are most effective for small areas.
If the entire 1500 sq. ft. surface you are working with needs leveling and smoothing, I would suggest you check around and see if there is any surface grinding equipment available in your area. Finishing Terrazzo is an example of what CAN be done, but I wouldn't think you'd be after that much precision, so, if the equipment and experience is available within a couple 100 miles of you, it might be the way to go, financially and for best results. If you find a terrazzo crew, they can probably knock it out pretyy quickly.
The grinders used are like a large floor buffer, but have cutting surfaces designed for rock and concrete with a water flow which keeps the tool cool and keeps dust to a minimum. They also use edge grinders similar to what is used to finish the perimeters of hardwood floors, but with the aforementioned masonry grinding surfaces.
To do a large area, part of the difficulty, in addition to placement of the leveler, is going to be achieving an overall flat surface, which means you're going to have to monitor the job constantly with an optical level or a rotary laser level and even then, you're probably going to end up with some highs and lows that will have to be ground down or filled after the first go around.
As some earlier poster mentioned, cementous floor leveler does not flow like water, so when you pour it, it will spread by itself to a degree, but it will still leave a fat edge unless you squeegee it out, which can be tricky....that's why I suggest having a level and a stick man involved.
If you do opt for the leveler, you're also going to want the existing concrete to be CLEAN, which means removing sealers, dust, dirt, calcification, etc. The grinding option will essential eliminate that step!
Good luck!
BTW, fill out at least part of your profile....it helps to know your location.
Edited 9/7/2005 2:22 pm ET by Notchman
For a three bay garage, I would pour in sections. Fasten down some type of curb about 1/4" or less high and pour the left bay, then do the samew for the right bay, then use those two and fill in the middle bay. 1/4" luan, which is really about 3/16", with clear packing tape wrapped around the edge would work.
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
I agree with that suggestion. But when he lays these screeds, he'll still want to shoot the floor to establish control points....some of the highs or lows at the screed line may have to be ground down or bridged as necessary.
I'd still like to know what the overall problem is.
Something else that you might want to consider doingis using apea gravel mix concrete about 1-1/2" thick.It will be a heck of a lot cheaper. I did a two car garagew/this method and approx. 2 yrs. later it still is holdingup... I did scarify the surface and used a surfacer bonder also.Car is parked on it everyday.We did this to create a pocket for the garage door to sit inbecause water was coming in and this cured the problem.
Edited 9/7/2005 9:28 pm ET by butch
I went through a short training session by a manufacturer's rep and used it once myself in a bathroom.
The rep stressed the importance of mixing it up precisely according to instructions, measuring the water carefully and using exactly the amount of water specified. As an engineer I understand the chemistry as to why he's right.
If you mix it with cold or very cold water you'll buy a couple of minutes more.
Over a large area you do need to encourage it to run, the notched squeegee is just the right tool for that. Once you have spread it enough to make contact with the entire floor surface, it will level quite fast. Don't fuss with it too long.
Being a liquid, it will leak into cracks and holes. If your concrete is cracked it will slowly ooze into the cracks and form a funnel shape in the cured surface. So you have to seal cracks over, I'd say, 1/32" or so. I'd say something as simple as drywall mud will fill the cracks just fine. Your edges need to be dammed, too.
I haven't done a large area, but if you can break it up, say, by room it might be easier to handle.
Being a liquid, it will leak into cracks and holes.
Been there, done that. Patching a very uneven utility room on the second floor of a class C office building. I thiunk someone had done some chipping in that room ... nothing else would account for the poor condition of the floor. Anyway, we failed to see that there was a small gap in one corner, so we proceeded to mix and pour. That's odd ... wonder why the goo won't stay level. Suddenly a girl came running upstairs ... "somethings leaking through the light fixture!" Fortunately it started to set up pretty quickly, and we were able to get it off the el-cheapo carpet downstairs. It did cost us one fluorescenmt light fixture and an extra bag of patching compound.
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt