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Best way to level concrete floor

8 years ago

Hello!

We are in the process of converting our one car garage into a living space. We would like to install engineered hardwood in the room.

The floor is almost entirely flat, except for the area surrounding the bottom step up into the kitchen. This bottom step is concrete (the rest are wood) and would be removed. The floor around it is sloped up to the step over the space of around three feet. I haven't brought out the level just yet to get exact with it, but it appears the slop is approximately half to three quarters of an inch rise over the course of two and a half to three feet.

Now, we are trying to figure out the best possible way to level this out.

Should we remove the step and then grind the area down with a rented grinder?

Or should we try to level the floor by using leveling compound? (seems like way too large of an area to try this method)

Or should we pour an additional slab over the existing slab?

The space is roughly 225 square feet, a rectangle with an additional closet sized laundry area. The existing slab is in really good condition with one thin crack that extends about three feet, without any heaving.

The exterior door has almost three inches between the bottom of the threshold and the current slab. The house is raised up about three feet from the garage, so no issues with clearance there, no matter how we do it.

Any advice? My thought is that grinding it down seems like the easiest- since the floor is mostly level except for that section. But, that's also a decent amount of height to grind down.

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Comments (2)

gregmills_gw
8 years ago
Tough call, if its me, I try grinding that area to lower that rise down to 1/4 in over the 2-3 feet.

Since the area is small, I would use an angle grinder with a concrete plate, its very dusty, so be prepared, and use a vac if possible.

In my experience with self leveler, it works wonders, but still requires a tad bit of grinding once set up to smooth it out.

also seal that crack, and check the moisture reading on the concrete. nows the time to find out if theres moisture issues, before you lay down an expensive floor.
PRO
By Any Design Ltd.
8 years ago

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This concrete floor did not need grinding but it did need to be levelled. The area by the window sloped and out a good 3/4". Not wanting to risk self levelling escaping the building and falling nine stories I used a combo of thin-set and repair mortar to fix the dip.
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Flattening concrete (repair and floating new concrete over top) is EXPENSIVE. It is super expensive. In fact it will cost more than the flooring - guaranteed. A slab like yours sounds like: A. It does NOT have a vapour barrier underneath it. If it is 50 years old, it won't have the plastic underneath it = BIG problem with new concrete sticking to old. Getting anything to stick to this is going to be a BIG job...just to stop the water from moving up from the ground to the adhesive. B. It needs big repairs...if cracks are showing gaps then you need to repair/fill and then add more concrete. That just added a few more days and a few more dollars to this. Not to mention the technical knowledge you will HAVE to pick up...as in you will have to learn the ENTIRE concrete slab business just to do DIY. C. Your slope is going to be TOO MUCH for anything other sheet products (carpet or vinyl). So long as the concrete is smooth and the cracks are filled you can use SHEET vinyl...Yep. Sheet vinyl. It is fast, and it is tough. And it is water resistant (to people dripping wet....not a flood...nothing survives a flood). The BIGGEST issue I see is the vapour barrier is missing. This changes EVERYTHING. A glue down tile = lifting in a year. New concrete must be bound to the old. That requires SOOOO MUCH more work than you know. If you had a pro do it, it would cost you $5/sf just to get the slab ready for new concrete. The concrete = $2/sf....but it you do not PREPARE it with water barrier products (grinding and cleaning and filling and water barrier and primer) you are just asking for a whole bunch of crumbling stuff. I know you want to DIY....but save yourself the effort. Use the sheet product and be done with it. The cost you would spend on the flattening (even the way you are thinking of) will go towards the install costs. At the end of the day it could be in within a few days (cracks still must be filled).
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