Self leveling compound help / questions.

[TheRic]

I poured some self leveling compound last night. Now I have a different problem. I have worked with self leveling compound before, several times, with no problem. For some reason the stuff last night turned out really thick ( I had even added 30% more water as I mixed it because it looked to thick). Don't know what went wrong, I read the instruction and followed the directions.

When I was pouring it in/on I thought it looked too thick, but thought it was just me, and it would level itself out. I smoothed it out the best I could, feathered it out like I have done in the past. There were little ridges and bumps left that I figured it would settle / level itself out, like they did all the other times, NOT!!!

I have two areas first area is in my basement bathroom, right in front of the the sink. It looks way to rough to put self stick vinyl squares down. The other area is in my basement office right where the office chair rolls around. Filled in a hole that kept getting bigger from the chair wheels.

Is there a way to smooth out the bumps and ridges???? Or would I need to try and chip the whole thing out, and redo!! The bathroom area is poured on concrete & previous self leveling compound (had to fix a bad spot that broke away). The area is about 2' X 1'. The office hole was about 6" across in concrete.

[backpacker85]

Ric-

You should be able to find a 4-1/2" concrete grinding cup that fits an angle grinder, at either Lowes or HD. If you don't have an angle grinder, some can be adapted to use on a drill (if you're careful).

[TheRic]

Ric-

You should be able to find a 4-1/2" concrete grinding cup that fits an angle grinder, at either Lowes or HD. If you don't have an angle grinder, some can be adapted to use on a drill (if you're careful).

Ken, thanks for that tip. Don't have an angle grinder. Now I have an excuse to buy a new tool!!! Would this method kick up a lot of concrete dust?

I have a diamond concrete saw blade for a circular saw, but can't really come up with a decent way to get that to work in this case.

If anyone else has any suggestions I'm willing to listen to them.

[NJFrank]

I used the hd stuff which sucked, just go over the high spots with a scraper/Chisel. you should be able to bring down the high spots doing that. Shouldn't need a grinder.

Best of luck

[backpacker85]

Sorry for the short absence. Yes, the angle grinder could get quite dusty.

After paying more attention to the sizes of your areas, a little hand grinding would be a lot cleaner. Cement finishers frequently "rock" a cured surface to knock down all of the finishing marks. A hard rock with a flat surface works great.

[crokett]

You could also try adding another layer as long as it doesn't raise your floor heigh too much. It might be easier. I'd go to Lowes and look at the Mapei products. I am really happy with their product I used. IIRC you can pour as thin as 1/8".