Level floors

Level floors

I'm always impressed with the smooth, level floors in a typical Home
Depot or Lowe's. They look like concrete with some kind of coating over
them. Questions:

1. Anyone know what the actual construction of these floors is,
especially how they get the top layer so perfectly smooth?
2. What kind of contractors do this work?
3. Even though they may be an expensive overkill, are they practical for
home use, as an underlayment for ceramic tiles or Pergo-type flooring, ?
Yes, I am aware of self-leveling products that are hard to mix without a
1/2" drill, and even after mixing are thick enough to require troweling.

My situation is a bedroom where the edges of floor along three of the
four walls are about 1/4" below the level of the floor two feet in from
the walls. There are also some minor low spots in the center.

Thanks,

Ray

Re: Level floors

Ray,

Polished concrete is usually called terrazo. Ask at the concrete place to
find out if any does terrazo in residential property where you live. Are you
sure that your house can support the weight? I'd get an engineer involved
since you may need somestructural reinforcemant.

Dave M.

Re: Level floors

On May 10, 10:08 am, "David L. Martel" <marte...@earthlink . net > wrote:
> Ray,
>
> Polished concrete is usually called terrazo. Ask at the concrete place to
> find out if any does terrazo in residential property where you live. Are you
> sure that your house can support the weight? I'd get an engineer involved
> since you may need somestructural reinforcemant.
>
> Dave M.

Not true. Here is an explanation (actually good info) from Wiki -

* en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrazzo

Note that they are now doing "thin-set" terrazzo, so weight shouldn't
be an issue.

JK

Re: Level floors

You would need to give a lot more information. You never bothered
to tell whether your floor is a concrete slab or suspended on
joists.

The store's floors are concrete. The newest trend is to grind the
finished concrete after it is set with diamond. The concrete just
begins to shine at about 600 grit. If you really want to know
more about it, go here:
* w w w .concretenetwork . com /concrete/polishing/

It is far too expensive to do under some other floor covering. If
you want to flatten a floor under flooring, the standard approach
would be to use a floor leveling compound. I prefer the cement
based/vinyl modified products. I prefer Mapei and Ardex products.

--
______________________________
Keep the whole world singing . . . .
DanG (remove the sevens)
dgriff237@7cox . net



"Ray K" <raykosXXX@optonline . net > wrote in message
news:4825a0aa$0$11609$607ed4bc@cv . net ...
> I'm always impressed with the smooth, level floors in a typical
> Home Depot or Lowe's. They look like concrete with some kind of
> coating over them. Questions:
>
> 1. Anyone know what the actual construction of these floors is,
> especially how they get the top layer so perfectly smooth?
> 2. What kind of contractors do this work?
> 3. Even though they may be an expensive overkill, are they
> practical for home use, as an underlayment for ceramic tiles or
> Pergo-type flooring, ? Yes, I am aware of self-leveling products
> that are hard to mix without a 1/2" drill, and even after mixing
> are thick enough to require troweling.
>
> My situation is a bedroom where the edges of floor along three
> of the four walls are about 1/4" below the level of the floor
> two feet in from the walls. There are also some minor low spots
> in the center.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Ray
>
>
>
>

Re: Level floors

On May 10, 11:48 am, "DanG" <dgrif...@7cox . net > wrote:
> You would need to give a lot more information.  You never bothered
> to tell whether your floor is a concrete slab or suspended on
> joists.
>
> The store's floors are concrete.  The newest trend is to grind the
> finished concrete after it is set with diamond.  The concrete just
> begins to shine at about 600 grit.  If you really want to know
> more about it, go here: * w w w .concretenetwork . com /concrete/polishing/
>
> It is far too expensive to do under some other floor covering.  If
> you want to flatten a floor under flooring, the standard approach
> would be to use a floor leveling compound.  I prefer the cement
> based/vinyl modified products.  I prefer Mapei and Ardex products.
>
> --
>
> Keep the whole world singing . . . .
> DanG  (remove the sevens)
> dgriff...@7cox . net
>
> "Ray K" <raykos...@optonline . net > wrote in message
>
> news:4825a0aa$0$11609$607ed4bc@cv . net ...
>
>
>
> > I'm always impressed with the smooth, level floors in a typical
> > Home Depot or Lowe's. They look like concrete with some kind of
> > coating over them. Questions:
>
> > 1. Anyone know what the actual construction of these floors is,
> > especially how they get the top layer so perfectly smooth?
> > 2. What kind of contractors do this work?
> > 3. Even though they may be an expensive overkill, are they
> > practical for home use, as an underlayment for ceramic tiles or
> > Pergo-type flooring, ? Yes, I am aware of self-leveling products
> > that are hard to mix without a 1/2" drill, and even after mixing
> > are thick enough to require troweling.
>
> > My situation is a bedroom where the edges of floor along three
> > of the four walls are about 1/4" below the level of the floor
> > two feet in from the walls. There are also some minor low spots
> > in the center.
>
> > Thanks,
>
> > Ray- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -


Can't imagine why you would want a super smooth, polished concrete
finish for a sub floor that Pergo, ceramic tile, or anything else is
going over. Pergo, ceramic, etc floors are installed successfully
every day over ordinary construction slabs, plywood sub flooring
etc.

And as others have pointed out, for existing construciton,
particularly if it's wood frame, you have the issue of supporting the
additional weight. There are methods to deal with leveling your
floor prior to applying most flooring products without going extreme.

Re: Level floors

Ray K wrote:
> I'm always impressed with the smooth, level floors in a typical Home
> Depot or Lowe's. They look like concrete with some kind of coating
> over them. Questions:
>
> 1. Anyone know what the actual construction of these floors is,
> especially how they get the top layer so perfectly smooth?
> 2. What kind of contractors do this work?
> 3. Even though they may be an expensive overkill, are they practical
> for home use, as an underlayment for ceramic tiles or Pergo-type
> flooring, ? Yes, I am aware of self-leveling products that are hard to
> mix without a 1/2" drill, and even after mixing are thick enough to
> require troweling.
>
> My situation is a bedroom where the edges of floor along three of the
> four walls are about 1/4" below the level of the floor two feet in
> from the walls. There are also some minor low spots in the center.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Ray
Thanks everybody. The house is a ranch on a concrete slab. Now that I
have a better understanding of HD floors, I'll avoid that approach and
struggle with a self-leveling product and try to improve my poor
troweling abilities.

Ray

Re: Level floors

"cybercat" <cyberpurrs@yahoo . com > wrote in message news:48261f03$0$25752$ec3e2dad@news.usenetmonster . com ...
>
> "Ray K" <raykosXXX@optonline . net > wrote
> > Thanks everybody. The house is a ranch on a concrete slab. Now that I have
> > a better understanding of HD floors, I'll avoid that approach and struggle
> > with a self-leveling product and try to improve my poor troweling
> > abilities.
> >
> It was a good question, and I found the answers interesting.

Same here. In fact I'd like to see a discussion in this group on
the merits vs. drawbacks of slab foundations. Probably not a
lot of love for them among repair guys, installers etc, but my
last house was the first one that had a slab foundation and I
loved it. Perfectly level floors, absolutely no creaks, squeaks
etc. It just felt a lot more solid compared to a pier foundation.

Re: Level floors


"Ray K" <raykosXXX@optonline . net > wrote in message
news:4825a0aa$0$11609$607ed4bc@cv . net ...
> I'm always impressed with the smooth, level floors in a typical Home Depot
> or Lowe's. They look like concrete with some kind of coating over them.
> Questions:
>
> 1. Anyone know what the actual construction of these floors is, especially
> how they get the top layer so perfectly smooth?
> 2. What kind of contractors do this work?
> 3. Even though they may be an expensive overkill, are they practical for
> home use, as an underlayment for ceramic tiles or Pergo-type flooring, ?
> Yes, I am aware of self-leveling products that are hard to mix without a
> 1/2" drill, and even after mixing are thick enough to require troweling.
>
> My situation is a bedroom where the edges of floor along three of the four
> walls are about 1/4" below the level of the floor two feet in from the
> walls. There are also some minor low spots in the center.

so, what's the big deal?