Even for those of us who consider ourselves to be pretty handy within the home improvement world, the thought of pouring self leveling concrete IN OUR HOUSE is moderately terrifying. O.K., completely terrifying. Don't worry. You can do this.
The VCT floor I laid, on top of the cement I poured, over the self installed heated floors.
First things first. I ate a whole can of Pringles today. They were Salt & Vinegar and now my tongue feels like I ate a ball of sandpaper. That might not seem pertinent to the task at hand - and it isn't.
When I redid my kitchen a decade ago I really wanted to address my cold floors. So I ripped out all of my ceramic tile and laid down heated floor mats. That wasn't scary at all. Pouring buckets of self leveling concrete over them WAS.
The cement floor would encase the heating elements, allow them to radiate heat still, plus provide a level smooth surface for tiles. That was my reason for pouring cement all over my floors and working myself into a panic.
Whatever your reason, you don't need to be afraid. I say that because I was afraid. Really afraid. Letter from the tax department afraid. You don't need to be.
Table of Contents
Using Self leveling concrete
Self levelling concrete is cement based like traditional concrete, but it flows much easier and sets up more quickly due to polymers added to it. It's used to create a smooth, level surface for laying carpet, ceramic tiles or other floor coverings on.
For use almost exclusively on interior flooring.
Self leveling cement (concrete) can be poured up to a 1 inch thickness.
Materials
- Self leveling concrete*
- Leveling primer**
- a cement mixing paddle
- a strong drill (rent an industrial one)
- 5 gallon bucket
- trowel
- filler (like Durabond 90)
* It may also be called self leveling concrete, leveling compound, self leveling floor resurfacer or self leveling underlayment. Make sure you get REGULAR instead of QUICK DRYING. Regular will give you more time to work and spread out the material before it starts to set.
** Primer is needed when you're pouring concrete onto a porous surface like an existing concrete floor. It isn't needed when pouring onto old tile.
Method
PREP WORK
- Scrape up any loose debris or old tiles from the floor.
- Fill any cracks or holes with Durabond 90 and create a dam to prevent the runny concrete from seeping anywhere you don't want it to go.
- Vacuum so you have a clean surface.
- Gather your materials.
The brand of resurfacer doesn't matter so much as the type. There are 2 types. Quick drying and regular. You want regular.
POURING
- Add the required amount of water to the bucket FIRST. (the bag will tell you how much water to compound mix to use)
- Add ¼ - ⅓ of the powdered compound. Mix with water using the drill. Continue mixing in the remainder of the bag bit by bit until it's all incorporated. Mix for prescribed amount of time as detailed on the bag.
For one bucket of concrete a strong cordless drill will do the job, but if you have any more than 1 bucket to do you're in trouble. The battery will die after 1 or 2 buckets. Then you'll go for your corded drill, which will burn out and will get thrown in the garbage.
Save your anger, your sanity and your relationship and RENT AN INDUSTRIAL DRILL. After the first day I rented a strong drill for $20 for half a day.
- Pour your leveling compound where you want it.
- Trowel it. Using a trowel push and pull the mixture where it needs to go. Push it into corners and pull it towards you. Excuse my hair. It appears I was having a Paul Weller moment.
- Clean up your drips.
- Wait 24 hours to walk on it.
- Wait 3 days to place furniture back.
The mudroom went perfectly well. It couldn't have gone better so I continued onto the kitchen where things were a bit tricker.
Tips for Larger Rooms
A bigger room means you have to pour the buckets of concrete, run back to the mixer and mix up another batch (which needs to be mixed a longgg time), run through the house with a 50 pound bucket of cement and pour it where you left off. And repeat.
- Larger rooms are easier to do if there are 2 people working. One mixing the cement and one pouring it.
- Use a stiff squeegee on a long broom handle for pushing and pulling the compound into place.
NOTE: Wet concrete is caustic and can burn.
YOU HAVE TO WASH YOUR FEET IMMEDIATELY AFTER YOU WALK THROUGH IT. Do so after every time you walk through it. Also don't walk through wet cement if you have open cuts.
- If you find bits of unmixed lumps of cement. Just mush them with your fingertips.
- You may need to do a second coat if the first coat didn't cover. You could still see the heated floor mats I installed after the first coat, so I did a second.
It may look uneven, but it's just an optical illusion. The photo on the right is a levelled floor that is perfectly smooth.
- After leveling if you have any issue with dips and bumps you can correct them with a bit of Durabond 90. (fill, let dry, then sand)
Would you ever want to pour self leveling concrete?
To level an uneven concrete floor.
If you have a wonky basement floor that's uneven you can use self leveling concrete to smooth everything out and get it nice and flat. It's even handy if your concrete floors are just filthy. A thin layer of this will give you nice, clean concrete floors.
To prep a floor for laying down tile or to encase radiant floor heating.
The reason I poured it in my kitchen, bathroom and mudroom was so I could put down radiant floor heating. There's no basement or crawlspace at the back of my house which makes the floors pretty darn cold in the middle of a Canadian winter.
How much does a 50 lb bag of self leveler cover?
How much the cement will cover depends on how thick you will need it to be. This mudroom is around 30 square feet and one 50 pound bag of cement just barely covered it at about ¼" thickness.
Quick drying self leveling cement
Starts to set up in 5 minutes. This is only used when you have a small area to do and are an experienced concrete finisher.
Regular drying self leveling cement
It starts to set up within 15 minutes. This gives the amateur user much more working time. Those extra 10 minutes make a huge difference when you aren't exactly sure of what the hell you're doing.
The Self Leveling Cement *Quick Guide*
A quick guide to pouring self leveling cement. Refer to post for in depth instructions.
Materials
- Regular Self leveling cement*
- Leveling Primer**
- a cement mixing paddle
- a 5 gallon bucket
- a trowel
- filler (Durabond 90).
Tools
- Strong drill (I rented an industrial one)
Instructions
Scrape up any loose debris or tiles from the floor.
Build dams to stop the cement from going anywhere you don't want it to go.*
Fill any holes and/or cracks in the floor that the liquid cement could run down. I use Durabond 90.
Vacuum to get the surface perfectly clean.
Add water to your bucket (amount will be stated on your bag of cement)
Add ⅓ of the bag of cement into the water.
Mix with the drill and cement paddle, continually adding the rest of the bag of cement until everything is incorporated and then mix for the length of time given on the bag.
Here we go. Pour the self leveling cement into the desired area. Push and pull it into place with a trowel. It does self level but needs some help getting around.
And now you wait for it to cure. You can walk on it within 24 hours and place heavy objects back in 3 days.
Notes
*It may also be called self leveling concrete, self leveling floor resurfacer or self leveling underlayment. Either way make sure you get REGULAR self levelling cement. Quick Dry lets you walk on it within 6 hours, but you have a much shorter working time, and for an amateur it's better to have as much working time with the product as possible.
**Primer is needed when you're pouring concrete onto a porous surface like another concrete floor. It isn't needed when pouring onto old tile.
**It's very liquidy so make sure you don't skip this step or you'll have cement running under your dishwasher or down your stairs or into other rooms! I used thin wood, heavy cardboard and duct tape to make dams.
Self levellers can be poured to an inch deep.
If for some reason your cement isn't level, didn't turn out right or wasn't poured quite deep enough, you can re-pour more cement as long as you do it before the initial cement cures. Don't exceed the total recommended depth of 1".
OTHER TUTORIALS REFERENCED IN THIS POST
p.s. I'm out of chips.
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Lol thank you for this you have given me enough confidence to tackle my living room. I'm positive my house was not a house lol the only bedroom and bathroom was built on. My floors are uneaven but it looks like they were built that way. And not from the joists or I would be more worried. I don't have much too lose so here it goes 🙂
That's great! Good luck and let me know how it goes. You'll be terrified while doing it. That's normal.😂~ karen!
You should nearly always use primer but it doesn’t have to be a specific self levelling primer.
Your best solution is SBR. This dries quickly and will stop dusty areas from preventing the leveller from sticking and also if the substrate is porous is can pull the water out of the self leveller before it cures leading to a weak area prone to crumbling and cracking.
How much did your kitchen end up needing? Looking to re-do our kitchen after a dishwasher incident that ruined our floor.
Hi Cortley! The amount you need really depends on how big your floor is and how uneven it is. So, the amount I used for my kitchen might be completely different than what you need. I always recommend doing the measurements and calculations based on your floor and then getting a few more bags. That way if you need them you have them but can return them if they go unused. ~ karen!
Hi Karen,
You are now my new idol. My daughters and I are redoing our old ugly basement that used to be wallpaper over particle board. We gutted, framed, boxed in joists, hung drywall, skim coated and painted. The old floor needs to be leveled for tile but when I think of doing it I get fetal in a corner and start rocking uncontrollably. (and we have done our own brick walkway which is not for the faint of heart) . I have the mix but can't start the project. I think Ill buy some Pringles and get started today
Thanks!
Do it! And I'm so glad I inspired you to get your ass in gear. I know it's terrifying, trust me, lol. I've done just about everything but filling a room with concrete is especially paralyzing. Good luck and let me know how it goes! ~ karen!
Great floor, Karen, congratulations!
Primer keeps water from fresh mix spreading into dry base instead of doing its job in the setting process. Since you have tiles below there is indeed no need for it.
I realize I am commenting on quite an old post, but it does show up high in the google search. I found a legit reason for using primer - if you are applying the self level cement to a wood surface you may want to primer first. The wood can/will absorb the moisture from the concrete mix and swell. When it dries it will shrink again possibly causing issue with your new cement floor. Seems the primer on a wood floor can prevent this issue.
Just throwing this out for the diy-ers out there.
Great post by the way - thanks for the write up.
Thanks Darryl! ~ karen!
Karen, can I use premixed leveler? Also, what do you think about the self-sticking LVT's? (I'm wretched at housework, and I KNOW Iwill never wax.) THANK YOU! You ROCK!
Hi Cheri! I have never used premixed self levelling cement so I can't comment on it. To be honest I didn't even know it existed! I prefer VCT tiles laid with glue over self sticking tile personally. Really, you only need to wax them once a year or so and only if you want them to be shiny. If you don't care if they're shiny, there's no need to wax (beyond the initial treatment). ~ karen!
Thank you, Karen. So you like VCT better than the LVT? Just want to be sure. Thank you SO MUCH for your help.
I’m thinking of doing my kitchen which has vinyl laminate down now, I noticed you didn’t remove yours, is it because you were not using the concrete as your final flooring?
Also would you make your barriers around all the cabinets? Thanks
I hope I didn’t miss this ina previous comment or question but I’m doing this in my moms sunroom on old slab (saw the need to use primer in this case) and want to do the acid or stain look. Do know if you mix color into the self leveling or add on top while wet? Is there a preference? Thanks!
Hi Sandra, I'm afraid since I didn't add colour, I have no idea. :/ I'm not even entirely sure self levelling cement can be used that way. It is slightly different than regular cement. ~ karen!
So this message of mine should get to you pretty much 5yrs later. How is the self-levelling concrete holding? Still in place? Or did it crack?
Hi Giannni! It's hard to say if the concrete is cracked because it's under my current floor. That's why I needed to level my floor, so I could lay a new one down. But as far as I can tell it's held up perfectly. There aren't any issues. ~ karen!
Hi Karen,
I love this post. And your hair is fabulous. We bought a fixer upper house and I have dreamed of having poured concrete floors throughout, although they are a bit cost prohibitive. Do you think this self leveling technique could work as finished flooring without any type of tile on top?
oops, just seeing some earlier answers. thanks!
I think it's possible Holly, but I'd probably get a professional to do it. Depending on how perfect you want it to look of course. ~ karen!
I saw you were doing this over linoleum did that cause any problem and could I leave the concrete floors bear after pouring the leveler on them?
Hi patty. No the linoleum didn't cause any problems at all. You can leave the concrete exposed, but it will be patchy looking. If you want a beautiful concrete floor you're best to use a professional to do the job. ` karen!
Found this article via Pinterest and I had one question...are you able to install self leveling cement over a wood subfloor? I'm in the middle of a horrid bathroom remodel and would love to do stained concrete floors but I'm not on a slab. I'm worried about the weight of the self leveling concrete. any and all assistance is greatly appreciated.
Also, your sense of humor in the midst of chaos and concrete is fabulous.
Very nicely written/posted....funny, to the exact point, with great pictures of your progress.
Eased my mind regarding just starting the project. (by the way, I like your hairstyle!) You exude confidence without a worry over your feet being in contact with concrete. Thank you very much!
LOL, thank you James. ~ karen!
Just reading this now along with numerous older posts. ;-) With my wonky 1865 house, I've done a few levellings.
PRIMER is very important if your subfloor is porous. Raw untreated wood planks or plywood, new or 150years old, it doesn't matter. The unprimed floor will absorb some of the water in your self-leveling mix, causing a quicker drying time and may leave you with poor bonding to the wood.
For the $8, a bottle of primer cost and an extra hour of time, it's worth it.
In your case, you're going over linoleum, a sealed surface, so you're fine.
You poured over a vinyl floor? How do you know it is glued down 100%? If it isn't, then your self leveling product isn't. We only use this over concrete, not wood, or vinyl. But,....good luck.
Then you've been missing out. The floor is perfect and has been since I did it 5 years ago. Self Levelling cement is meant to be used over almost any surface wood and vinyl included. ~ karen!
Great post. Loved your sense of humor. I do have one issue to point out and that's your use of Durabond 90 as filler. As a drywaller, I know how incredibly porous and soluble joint compound is - using a wet sponge or cloth is a leveling technique. Over time, under the pressure of use, this medium will crumble creating a dip. This may not be noticeable with sheet flooring, but for laminates and tiles it will eventually cause cracking.
Funny and entertaining project story!
Wanted you to know that you have continued to impress and encourage. I poured my own self leveling concrete today after reading your article.
Malo aupito.
Elona
That's so great! Congratulations. :) ~ karen!
Okay....I give up. What is a store that contractors use? Aka not the big box stores. No clue.