Disaster Mansion

These are our tips on applying self-leveling compound and I’d read it only if you are planning to do something similar [editor: It’s boring]. We applied ours over ≈ 800 sq ft of floor so some of the following may not be applicable if your area is a lot less or more.

First off it’s good to understand what self-leveling compound is and what it can and cannot do. For starters it’s basically very fine Portland cement, fine enough that the particles can be suspended in a pancake type mix. So imagine you poured a bucket of pancake mix on a floor, yes it would spread out and self level to a certain degree but don’t expect it to suddenly spread out and cover all of your floor. So if one half of your room is 1″ lower than the other and you poured your bucket of pancake mix on the higher side, don’t expect it to suddenly rush down to the lower side. Sure it will start to move in that direction but that’s all you can expect. Workable time for this product is about 20 minutes max, so no dawdling.

Hopefully these tips will help if you have a similar project, so in no particular order here we go:

• Get an idea of the levels, i.e. where are the high and low spots. We did this with a laser and created a contour map. If I were to do this again I probably would have just used the Ardex self-leveling pegs. After discovering the product I placed them in a 3×3 foot grid pattern, set the laser at the desired height and cut them down to height.
• Use the above mentioned self-leveling pegs. Without these it’s difficult to know when you’ve reached the correct depth.
• Get a laser that creates a beam close to the ground. I eventually bought this one as it could place the beam about 6mm off the floor. The one I was initially using could only go down to about 10mm.
• If you have deep areas consider doing multiple pours. In fact without a pump and a cement truck we couldn’t have done the main room in one pour (≈ 650 sq ft). If you do multiple pours remember to re-prime each time.
• Make sure the surface is clean prior to applying the primer and follow instructions exactly.
• Start early in the morning before it gets too warm. We also added ice to cool down the water as that gave a slightly longer working time.
• Assemble a team of competent people. I thought a team of 5 was ideal for our job and this is how this is how we split the team up:
  • One person measuring out water.
  • One person mixing.
  • Two person opening compound and adding it with water to mixing bucket.
  • Same two people carrying mixed compound and pouring it on floor.
  • One person spreading and rolling the compound and deciding where the next bucket should be poured.
• You need your team to work like clockwork so explain to each person what their tasks are and walk them through the process. Once you start mixing you shouldn’t have anyone asking you what to do next.
• Assemble the correct tools:
  • A paddle mixer with the correct paddle for self leveling compound. We used a Collomix.
  • Serrated rubber squeegee for spreading compound.
  • Spiked roller for removing bubbles and blending in of different batches.
  • Scrappers to remove any unmixed product from building up on the mixing bucket
  • A good serrated knife for cutting open the bags of compound. You’d be surprised what a big difference such a simple tool makes especially when you have to hold the 40lb bag up when cutting it open, multiplied by 50 bags.
  • Spiked shoes which allow you to walk over the poured compound without messing it up. Super slippery though so you have to tread lightly.
  • A couple of 17 gal mixing buckets. Having two meant that we could mix and pour faster.
  • Safety equipment, latex gloves and dust masks.

And that’s about it folks. Ultimately you’d want to get your initial concrete pour as flat as possible. As it was we used about 125 bags of the self leveling compound and at $41 a bag, you’re talking over $5k.

Ultimately I’m glad we got it done, sure there were sleepless nights, but now we have a fantastic flat floor and if anyone reading this wants some tips on this process we will gladly share our knowledge.

Finally finished the self leveling of the main room and we are pretty pleased with it. In total it has taken 115 bags and at $41 a bag that adds up. We just have the bedroom to finish off but this is relatively small so Aimee and I can finish that off. It’s a real shame that Al Riozzi (AJR Masonry) hadn’t ordered a bit more concrete as compared to the self leveling compound, concrete is dirt cheap. The lesson I learnt from this is to get all your expectations written down and signed off.

It might not look like it but the floor is super smooth and we’re very pleased with it. Thanks to every one who has helped with these pours, Joe, Deborah, Aimee, Rob, Jessica and Brian. We all worked really well together and I think we could even hire our services out!!!

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Next steps is to apply a protective coat and we have decided to epoxy coat the floor. First coat will be a solid color, after which we’ve decided to apply a stencil pattern followed by a final coat of clear epoxy. It was Aimee’s idea to do the stencil and Aimee got that idea off our friend Deborah who recommended this amazing stencil site, Royal Design Studio. I know is might seem a bit naff but check out the site, the results look fantastic, plus we will probably color them differently depending on room.

Please help us decide our floor pattern by voting for your favourite pattern. Colors are yet to be decided, though we think we will have three colour schemes, bathroom, entry hall and rest of the floor.

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Poll is now closed and here are the top three picks:

1. Starry moroccan night with 8 votes: Holly, Emily Taylor, Eric, Deborah M.P., Kate McGregor, Brian and 2 anonymous
2. Aragon damask: 1 (Maria R), 1 (Molly), 1 (Chris), 1 (Eric), 1 (Deborah M.P.), 1 (Kate McGregor), 1
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3. Duomo: 1, 1, 1 (Chris), 1 (Deborah M.P.), 1, 1 (Brian Mac)
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This Sunday we got the crew together to do another self leveling pour. The original plan was to do an initial pour to fill in all the deep areas and then a second finishing pour. Well I underestimated the number of bags for the first pour (17 bags ≈ $700) so we didn’t manage to fill in all the deep areas, worse than that after checking the levels with a laser, the deep areas still needed at least 1/2″ of product. This was poor planning on my part and I decided that I needed was some sort of depth gauge to give you some visual indication of how much leveler a particular spot on the floor required.

I looked about a bit and eventually found these handy self leveling pins. They have adhesive on the bottom, so I placed them every 3′ to 4′, set up the laser level and then cut them down to the height of the laser line. They did the a great job though they were pretty expensive at $120 for a box of 250, however, we only used about 40 so I’ll sell the rest.

For this weekend we had 51 bags (≈ $2,100) and I decided to do the whole main room – for self leveling that’s quite a large area. I damned off the bedroom as we needed somewhere to mix.

The results weren’t perfect:

• It was a hot day and the product set fast. Next time I’ll ice the water.
• I tried to move the product after it had started to set and caused some unsightly blemishes.
• We had some leaks where the product was draining into our sub-slab gravel.
• We ran out of product and didn’t cover the entire area.

That said we will do another final skim coat which will hide all these minor blemishes.

By the way I’m wearing spiked shoes so I can walk over the product without messing it up, pretty damn slippery though.

In the photos you will see a lot of lines on the floor, these are the boundaries of each batch we poured, however, these are smooth so no ridge, just change in color. The final pour should be pretty straight forward and all the different batches will be blended in with the spiked roller, after which we will probably apply a protective epoxy coating.

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The photos don’t do it justice and I’m pretty pleased with how this pour went, apart from the odd blemishes (which will be covered in the final pour) it’s finally getting nice and flat. Again a big thanks to Joe, Deborah, Brian, Rob and Aimee.