Advice on Self-Level

DaiSlap

New Member
Hi all,

Should a self-level be exactly flat?

I've recently had a plasterer come in to self-level a room in my house. After 3 layers, it's still not exactly flat and there is some bumps and trowel strokes in the floor.

I was expecting the floor to be totally flat. Am I wrong? Can flooring be laid over very small bumps etc?

Thanks
 
Hi all,

Should a self-level be exactly flat?

I've recently had a plasterer come in to self-level a room in my house. After 3 layers, it's still not exactly flat and there is some bumps and trowel strokes in the floor.

I was expecting the floor to be totally flat. Am I wrong? Can flooring be laid over very small bumps etc?

Thanks
Yes.
 
depends on the room

somerooms dont allow the floor to be exactly flat due to threshold heights etc.

trowel strokes wont matter youll be covering that.

and when you say bumps.. how big?
 
depends on the room

somerooms dont allow the floor to be exactly flat due to threshold heights etc.

trowel strokes wont matter youll be covering that.

and when you say bumps.. how big?
I might b a bit naive here, but I thought it would be one flat surface. It's hard to say how big the bumps are, it's definitely noticeable when walking across it (now it's dried). It's more noticeable when running a hand over the surface.
 

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I might b a bit naive here, but I thought it would be one flat surface. It's hard to say how big the bumps are, it's definitely noticeable when walking across it (now it's dried). It's more noticeable when running a hand over the surface.
looks like your spreads first ever attempt at flooring after watching a 10 minute how to youtube video outside in van before he came in
 
Was this laid onto the floor only about 3-4mm thick, at a time?
It was laid on my kitchen floor. We'd taken down a wall to another room to make it a kitchen diner. The house is 1960's and the floor between both rooms wasn't the best, in terms of levels.

Our kitchen fitter hired a plasterer to do the floor and the first layer was like the alps. They said it was because of the uneven floor and then came back a second time. However, this wasn't a massive improvement.

The kitchen fitter saw it and was really apologetic. He got another plasterer to come in and this is the result of a 3rd self-level. I've mentioned I'm concerned as it isn't yet level and the kitchen fitter said he'd come back to sand it.

Could this be sorted out with some effective sanding? Or should I be looking to knock this on the head now, chip it all off and start again?
 
That looks amazing. This is what I thought it would look like. I was even happy for them to take a couple of stabs at it because of the uneven floor at the beginning.

Thanks all for your advice and input. Just wondering if I should go down the route of getting it sanded or put the brakes on before it gets any worse?
a decent floor layer can latex .

where bouts are you?
 
Was this laid onto the floor only about 3-4mm thick, at a time?
It was laid on my kitchen floor. We'd taken down a wall to another room to make it a kitchen diner. The house is 1960's and the floor between both rooms wasn't the best, in terms of levels.

Our kitchen fitter hired a plasterer to do the floor and the first layer was like the alps. They said it was because of the uneven floor and then came back a second time. However, this wasn't a massive improvement.

The kitchen fitter saw it and was really apologetic. He got another plasterer to come in and this is the result of a 3rd self-level. I've mentioned I'm concerned as it isn't yet level and the kitchen fitter said he'd come back to sand it.

Could this be sorted out with some effective sanding? Or should I be looking to knock this on the head now, chip it all off and start again?

Unless I'm misreading you, it seems you misunderstood my question.

You said self-leveler was laid on 3 separate occasions - I was asking if, on each of those occasions, was it laid about 3 or 4mm thick?

Self-leveler doesn't work well when it's applied too thinly - it can cause several different problems, but one of the most obvious is that it doesn't self-level very well.
 
Unless I'm misreading you, it seems you misunderstood my question.

You said self-leveler was laid on 3 separate occasions - I was asking if, on each of those occasions, was it laid about 3 or 4mm thick?

Self-leveler doesn't work well when it's applied too thinly - it can cause several different problems, but one of the most obvious is that it doesn't self-level very well.
Hard to say if it was 3/4mm thick each time really as it’s been so uneven. I’d have thought it was thicker than that. It could be the third layer was thin and hasn’t corrected the bumps and marks in the previous layers.

Having seen a few things online now, I think the issue could be the layers were too thick. A lot of what I’ve seen online with levelling seems to be more watery. The stuff that has gone down so far seems more like a wet cement rather than the stuff I’ve seen used for levelling.

Should I go down the route of getting it sanded or removed?

Thanks for your help.
 
Hard to say if it was 3/4mm thick each time really as it’s been so uneven. I’d have thought it was thicker than that. It could be the third layer was thin and hasn’t corrected the bumps and marks in the previous layers.

Having seen a few things online now, I think the issue could be the layers were too thick. A lot of what I’ve seen online with levelling seems to be more watery. The stuff that has gone down so far seems more like a wet cement rather than the stuff I’ve seen used for levelling.

Should I go down the route of getting it sanded or removed?

Thanks for your help.
it should be poured like water... not like a milkshake.lol

if the floor still isnt high enough you can go again.
if not it will be a floorsander
 
Bigger areas don’t just ‘level’ by themselves, so I use a spike roller which helps break the surface tension.

Agreed - my remarks were just pointing towards 1 pour of 12mm giving a far better chance of a level result than 3 pours of 4mm (for example). In my opinion, surface tension and the semi-viscous nature of the stuff makes very thin applications more difficult to level accurately.

Still needs skill to do the job properly, regardless of the thickness.


One thing I learned the first time I used it is that you must mix it very thoroughly, get it down fast (while all the particles in the mix are still properly in suspension, and not begining to separate from the water), and you must follow the water ratio accurately on the instructions - if you mix it thinner than recommended, in an effort to make what you've bought 'go a bit further', it will bite you on the arse, big time. Mixed too thinly, it pours nicely and looks like it's levelled really nicely, but when it dries, you'll find some areas were just muddy water and evaporate to nothing, leaving dips in the floor.

Spiked shoes are well worth a tenner, to let you walk around the floor, to make sure it's level, before it starts to cure.
 
Unless I'm misreading you, it seems you misunderstood my question.

You said self-leveler was laid on 3 separate occasions - I was asking if, on each of those occasions, was it laid about 3 or 4mm thick?

Self-leveler doesn't work well when it's applied too thinly - it can cause several different problems, but one of the most obvious is that it doesn't self-level very well.
Mixed it to thick if you ask me
 
Hi all,

Should a self-level be exactly flat?

I've recently had a plasterer come in to self-level a room in my house. After 3 layers, it's still not exactly flat and there is some bumps and trowel strokes in the floor.

I was expecting the floor to be totally flat. Am I wrong? Can flooring be laid over very small bumps etc?

Thanks
do you mean flat or level big difference m8
 
Thanks to all that replied to this. Thought I'd write to say how it all worked out in the end. We decided to get a second opinion on the floor. They raised some serious concerns (Mixed way to thick, not primed, trowel strokes protruding too far, laid on existing tiling/flooring).

One week later, the whole lot is hacked off with an electric chisel (by myself). It turns out it wasn't primed and was laid over some existing tiles which actually made it easier to remove. The floor actually looks tons better now and will be leveled again.

It was bloody hard work removing all the level as it was essentially two rooms. After this last week, I can't wait to get back to my spreadsheets and repetitive strain injuries from typing too much and drinking lots of tea.
 
One last question: do you think it is okay to paint a room before it is leveled (properly)? We're under a really tight time schedule with flooring and kitchen fit.

Thanks
 
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