How to Level Sloping Floors in an Old Home

Concrete or Cement

• 1

  Clean the surface of the concrete or cement floor with a wet mop. If the floor has any grease or dirt stuck to the surface, use anti-grease soap in the water to cut through the grime on the floor. Rinse the floor well and allow it to fully dry.

• 2

  Mix a batch of self-leveling compound in a bucket, using the amount of water and compound recommended on the packaging. Pour the self-leveling compound over the floor in the area with the most slope.

• 3

  Pull a push broom over the self-leveling compound to spread it as evenly as possible. Allow the compound to sit and dry on the floor’s surface. The compound automatically settles onto the floor surface to create a level surface.

Wood

• 4

  Remove any baseboards and doorframes in the room in which you need to level a wood floor with a screwdriver. Use a wet mop to pick up any dust on the floor’s surface, and allow the floor to dry.

• 5

  Pull up the floorboards in the room, starting at one wall of the room. Tilt the floorboards upward toward the center of the floor as much as possible to expose the nails between the boards that secure them together. Use a hammer to remove the nails, or pliers if a hammer won’t fit between the boards, and remove the boards from the floor one at a time.

• 6

  Lay a level across the first joist in the room at one end of the floor. Move the level over the joist surface until you find the spot where the joist begins to become uneven. Mark the spot on each joist in the room where it starts to slope.

• 7

  Place a piece of wood the same height as the joist at its most even point directly against the joist where it slopes; the new piece should sit higher than the sloping joist. Draw a line along the piece of wood where it meets the top of the joist, and cut this angled strip of wood out of the piece of wood. Attach the piece of cut wood to the top of the joist where it slopes, securing it place with nails long enough to get through the joist or wood glue and checking it with the level to ensure that it sits even.

• 8

  Put the wood floorboards back down over the newly leveled joists once they are all in place and the glue has dried. Return the baseboards and doorframes back to the room’s fixtures.