# Unlevel Floor Fix



## rstarre (Dec 19, 2008)

I have been using Henry's floor leveler. It mixes to the consistency of a milk shake. You pour it on the floor and it immediately seeks it's own level. I have used it to level floors as much as in inch off in some of these old houses. I found doing a 1/4 inch at a time for best results. Home Depot and Menards have similar products and they work ok, but I found Henry's worked the best out of all of them. http://www.wwhenry.com/content.aspx?id=127&View=Product&cID=83&pID=127&ProductID=103


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## angus242 (Oct 20, 2007)

What's the question?


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## rstarre (Dec 19, 2008)

angus242 said:


> What's the question?


There is no question. Just putting out information if someone is not aware of it. I was talking to someone about this and they never heard of the product. So just in case some here hasn't I posted it.


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## angus242 (Oct 20, 2007)

rstarre said:


> There is no question. Just putting out information if someone is not aware of it. I was talking to someone about this and they never heard of the product. So just in case some here hasn't I posted it.



Gotcha. I use Mapei's SLCs. Typically Novoplan 2 with Primer L or WE depending on the substrate. Never had an issue with Novoplan!


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## boman47k (Oct 13, 2006)

> depending on substrate


 
Care to give more detail ? 
What is usually installed over the levelers today? rolled goods, linoleum and carpet?


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## angus242 (Oct 20, 2007)

I will only use SLC over clean concrete (scarified if necessary) or exterior grade ply. Anything else is just chancing it...to me.

I'm a tile installer so that's all I'd put over the SLC. However, I'm sure you could use a floating wood/laminate floor or carpet.


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## boman47k (Oct 13, 2006)

I see. So you use leveler under cement board and/or kurdi? I have used leveler a time or two for my own use for sheet good. I always wondered just how stroung it is. But I have read that some use sand in low spots for floating floors. Live and learn.


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## angus242 (Oct 20, 2007)

boman47k said:


> I see. So you use leveler under cement board and/or kurdi? I have used leveler a time or two for my own use for sheet good. I always wondered just how stroung it is. But I have read that some use sand in low spots for floating floors. Live and learn.


Novoplan 2 can be used to a 1" depth. I wouldn't go that far. If a floor is off by that much, it needs to be addressed with more than SLC. But a concrete slab, especially in certain areas can have a pretty good slope to it. 

Novoplan 2 has a 4200 PSI rating after fully cured. That's pretty strong to me! :thumbup:


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## boman47k (Oct 13, 2006)

> Novoplan 2 has a 4200 PSI rating after fully cured. That's pretty strong to me!


 :thumbsup: I had no idea, good to know.


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## PrecisionFloors (Jan 24, 2006)

Ardex K-15. Best SLC on the market and I've used nearly all of them. Henry's now has "Ardex Technology" whatever that is....all I know is it ain't K-15. Novoplan works pretty decent and is a little cheaper and easier to find. Ardex has outstanding technical support as well, I've found the estimator on their site to be pretty darned accurate. If you do a lot of it, the mixing kit is invaluable, as are an old pair of golf cleats.

Whatever brand you use ALWAYS use the primer. It is the most common installation error, especially over plywood subfloors.

edit: Another important tip. ALWAYS use cool, clean, water. I had a pour one time that was giving me fits with setting up too quickly. Come to find out, the helper was using the h.o. black garden hose...in July. The water coming out of that thing would have been perfect in a Jacuzzi. Warm water speeds up the curing process exponentially.


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## angus242 (Oct 20, 2007)

PrecisionFloors said:


> Ardex K-15. Best SLC on the market and I've used nearly all of them. Henry's now has "Ardex Technology" whatever that is....all I know is it ain't K-15. Novoplan works pretty decent and is a little cheaper and easier to find. Ardex has outstanding technical support as well, I've found the estimator on their site to be pretty darned accurate. If you do a lot of it, the mixing kit is invaluable, as are an old pair of golf cleats.
> 
> Whatever brand you use ALWAYS use the primer. It is the most common installation error, especially over plywood subfloors.
> 
> edit: Another important tip. ALWAYS use cool, clean, water. I had a pour one time that was giving me fits with setting up too quickly. Come to find out, the helper was using the h.o. black garden hose...in July. The water coming out of that thing would have been perfect in a Jacuzzi. Warm water speeds up the curing process exponentially.


Good to know :thumbsup: 

I've been hearing a lot of good things about Ardex lately. Specifically, Ardex X 32. Self-curing modified thinset......things that make you go hmmmmmmm.


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## PrecisionFloors (Jan 24, 2006)

Yeah I've heard quite a bit about that myself, been itching to try it as well. Messed up thing is none of my tile distributors carry Ardex mortars. I pick up the SLC at a supplies distributor that doesn't carry tile products of any kind...go figure.


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## Vince10 (Feb 5, 2010)

er.


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## Mrmac204 (Dec 27, 2006)

well I'm not a flooring guy, but I do a lot of baseboard (and crown etc) did a house in early December, the floor in the front room? mostly ok, but on a return wall about 7' long, the floor dipped 15/16" ... no way I can bend the baseboard that much! scribe a sacrifical piece, cut the original back, nail/glue - and it fits
My client told me that the person who installed the hardwood poured some sort of levelling compound first. It found a hole, drained through to the basement suspended ceiling, went through that and onto an old leather couch and stereo system. 

Sorry for the thread drift! I guess my point is that sometimes floor level compound will leak.

Laurie


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## PrecisionFloors (Jan 24, 2006)

Mrmac204 said:


> well I'm not a flooring guy, but I do a lot of baseboard (and crown etc) did a house in early December, the floor in the front room? mostly ok, but on a return wall about 7' long, the floor dipped 15/16" ... no way I can bend the baseboard that much! scribe a sacrifical piece, cut the original back, nail/glue - and it fits
> My client told me that the person who installed the hardwood poured some sort of levelling compound first. It found a hole, drained through to the basement suspended ceiling, went through that and onto an old leather couch and stereo system.
> 
> Sorry for the thread drift! I guess my point is that sometimes floor level compound will leak.
> ...


Yeah, good point. I always use a combination of spray foam, backer rod, caulking, and 1x2 dams to contain a pour. It's pretty frustrating when $110 worth of slc goes out under a slab, or worse yet, the scenario you show above.


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## msv (Aug 5, 2009)

i did a job this week. 320 sqft engineered glued on a slab.
now this is the first time i've used SLC. i used Mapei Ultraplan plus cause they had it in where i usually buy the glue (Mapei ultrabond 980)...
My question/issue is that i read a bunch of articles on forums about this and found ppl saying they only mixed it, poured it and that's it. I followed the directions on the bag to the letter : 50 lb bag+5-6 quarts on cold fresh water+my DeWalt mixer with mixing paddle for about 2 mins. after pouring it, i felt it wasn't "seeking it's own level" that much so i kinda had to do a lot of trowel work to achieve that. i was scared by the "10 mins work time". on the second bag i mixed i added an extra quart of water, thinking that it would help if it was a little "thinner". it did a little, but again, had to trowel it around to get it to where it needed to be. now i read all the literature about pouring in the lowest spot and all that, but as said, didn't find it to be that "self-leveling"...
was I doing anything wrong about it?
i'm asking cause i have a couple of more bids out and they will probably turn into jobs within the next month, so i'm probably gonna have to do it again. 
in the pics: right before installing wood(day after pouring SLC), and the finished product.


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## jarvis design (May 6, 2008)

I have had some really good results using Flex Tiles "Flex Flow" and "Flex Flow Plus". I did a basement job last year and used the plus as you could go from 1/4" to 2" in a single pour. 
This week we installed a heated floor system and used the regular Flex Flow which is good up to about an inch. Available through Olympia Tile
Added bonus - its probably one of the least expensive bags on the market


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## caseyleen (Feb 5, 2010)

Ardex is not that easy to find in my area. Some wholesale tile places have it, but it is really expensive for a small bag. If I remember correctly it was 17 dollars for a 15 pound bag? Henry's cost us 27 dollars for a 50 pound bag. I have used them both and see little difference. Someone wrote that Henry's using the same technology are Ardex. I guess if you have a small area to level, paying extra for Ardex is ok. A few years ago we built a new home in a suburb where the building commissioner strongly suggested to us to use a certain concrete guy. So we did to keep things going smoothly. It was the worst floor I ever seen. The floor looked like it was pregnant. It was a tri level with the family room floor below grade. Thus a concrete floor. We ended up having to use about 18-50 lb bags to get the floor level. We carpeted over the floor leveler in the family room and office, but we put ceramic tile in the laundry room and washroom over the Henry's and it is holding up fine. We gave it multiple coats of primer before installing the tile. I found for the best results you have to be pretty exact on the water you add according to directions.


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## Buzz Baker (Mar 3, 2010)

*Buzz Baker ( General Contractor)*

Question... I have a 100 year old remodel and have an un-even floor. just want to make flat for hard wood. Is there a material one can foat with and then install hard wood over? Floors are very irregular, but beefed up.


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## KG007 (Oct 23, 2009)

*What kind of subfloor?*



Buzz Baker said:


> Question... I have a 100 year old remodel and have an un-even floor. just want to make flat for hard wood. Is there a material one can foat with and then install hard wood over? Floors are very irregular, but beefed up.


What kind of subfloor? Are you talking concrete slab, wood subfloor, what?


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