Concrete Leveling of Floors

Leveling Floors

• The process of leveling floors entails applying a leveling material to the uneven underlayer of a floor. Builders make most floor underlayers out of concrete. Due to the hardness of concrete, you cannot level the material itself, but rather must apply an additional layer of material to create a flat surface. To do this, you must remove the surface material of your floors. Always level a floor before applying a new surface material to get the most out of it.

Self-Leveling Material

• Self-leveling materials present a simple solution to making an even floor. Brands, such as Quikrete and Super-Tek, manufacture these products for use in the home. Self-leveling materials usually require mixing with water. Once mixed, these materials form a clay-like substance you can easily apply to the underlayer of your floor in a smooth finish. As the material dries, it creates a flat, even surface over which to lay your floor surface material. Self-leveling materials contain cement, not concrete.

Leveling with Concrete

• Leveling with concrete requires a higher level of mechanical and scientific knowledge than using a cement-based self-leveling material. To level with concrete, you must apply an uneven layer of concrete to an uneven underlayer that, once dried and hardened, rectifies the unevenness of the under layer with its own unevenness. To do this, you must know where and how your floor underlayer slopes, dips or rises and how thick your new layer of concrete will become as it dries.

Concrete vs. Cement

• Though many assume concrete and cement synonymous terms and materials, the two differ in significant ways. Cement consists of limestone or a similar material and clay pulverized into dust a mixed with water. Concrete contains numerous ingredients, including sand, water, gravel and cement. When mixed, these materials bind into an extremely hard material used in myriad construction applications. Builders generally use cement as an adhesive or mortar to smooth surfaces or bind materials to one another. Concrete, on the other, constitutes a building material itself, from which you can make anything from buildings to bridges.