I have had a extension built at the back of my house. It is almost complete now. I had a 6 ft. 6 in. patio door at the back of the house, and the builders left it till last to remove. This will leave my kitchen to be open plan into the extension. When they removed the door, they found that the floor was a different level. As a fix, the builders, working by hand, have put more concrete down in strips. I wanted to put a quality laminated floor down, but the strips have made the floor uneven. Would a floor leveler product be appropriate in this application?
Concrete – How to smooth an uneven concrete floor
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Related Solutions
Type of flooring dictates how "perfect" it needs to be, carpet being the least work. Vinyl is flexible so just no real drastic changes.
Below are the basic steps to fixing uneven concrete floors.
Use a straight edge and mark high and low spots. (Really exaggerated case in this image)
Or if you like gadgets, Bosch has a new laser out that lets you easily mark the uneven parts.
You use a grinder (with dust mask and safety goggles) for high spots. You can rent a large floor grinder or get on your hands and knees.
and SLC (self-leveling compound) in low spots. For SLC just follow the manufacturer's instructions. If the floor is really bad you may want to pour the stuff over the whole thing.
If you only have chips and small holes to fix, the floor patch and leveler will be a sufficient and cheaper.
If the holes are minor ( < 1/2" deep and < 1" in diameter), skim coating the area with your thinset and then pulling the notched trowel will safely allow you to bridge with 12x12 tiles.
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Best Answer
Self leveling cement is exactly the right solution. It's basically a very wet cement that will flow everywhere. Many professional floor installers use just this to prepare a floor.