Part of my garage floor is a bit of a hodge-podge of different surfaces (but all concrete/cement), where an old outhouse has been extended I think. It would be nice to level it up while I've got a clear space in there, but it's not something I've done before.
I know self-levelling compound is a thing. Is it simply a case of getting a few bags, mixing them up, spreading them on and letting it do its thing?
The stuff I've seen talks about suitability for under floors, but this will just be left bare, and is fairly high traffic - I use the garage as a workshop and the worst bit is right by the back door. Will it be durable enough on its own?
The bit I need to fill is a bit of a depression, so I think will work ok, but I'm not going to do the whole floor, so if I leave a very thin edge, is that likely to crack?
Self leveling compound is usually not designed to be used as a finished floor but they do make specific compounds for this. I've had pretty good results with cement. Make up a slurry of cement and SBR, brush this onto the surface, then make up a cement screed (with a little SBR in it) and lay that onto the floor. Nice tough finish and the SBR lets you pretty much feather it out to nothing.
or you could protect the garage floor with some foam tiles - might also make it a nicer place to be.
I did it this summer using Setcrete
The advantage is that it can be used as a wearing surface. I'm very happy with the result.
Top tips:
- order more than you need and return what you don't use
- buy a paddle mixer (if you're near Amersham you can borrow mine)
- buy a spiked roller (ditto)
- start at the back of the garage and work forward!
- get someone to mix whist you pour (I didn't, it's possible but you have to rush)
Had never heard of SBR, but am now more informed, thanks. Using normal cement screed would be ideal since I have some leftover from another job and a full bag a builder gave me. What sort of ratio of SBR are we talking?
I've thought about putting foam tiles or some other sort of flooring down, but not sure I want to, particularly in that area.
I'll be using it tomorrow in my garage just to fill the depressions before laying foam tiles on top. I'm not trying to level the whole thing, the slight slope on it isn't an issue but there are a few bits that dip below the general level. I've already test laid some tiles and they actually cope fine with the low spots but I thought I might as well try to fill them. I'll just use a long straight edge and work down the garage. If I actually wanted to level it rather than smooth it out I'd use a screed as above
Oh and if anyone can tell me where I've put my mixer attachment for the drill that would be a real help😀
Setcrete looks interesting and thanks for the tips.
Meant to post these pictures of the worst bit:
Immediate door area is only about 1m², but would envisage doing the whole back section of about 8m². Doing the whole garage would be nice but would be a huge job and not really worth it.
What sort of ratio of SBR are we talking?
For the slurry, about 1:1 cement to SBR. This will dry quite quickly (and you want it wet when you lay the screed) so ideally mix the screed first then quickly mix the slurry and apply it roughly with a broom. For the screed you want around 5:1 cement to SBR then add sand and water as normal.
i use rubber flooring for the garage, extremely hard wearing, nice underfoot and if you use ridged stuff the dirt goes in the ridges so you dont walk it into the house.
you may need to prime the existing surface before applying levelling compound. I didn't do this and it 'blew' off after a year
I did my new workshop recently, 6m x 2.5m the Mapei stuff from Screwfix was just fine. Primered the floor with watered down PVA (also keeps the dust down) - get a big bucket to mix it in and something accurate to measure out the water. Paddle-mixer is essential, plus a bucket trowel to scrape around the inside of the bucket to pick-up all the un-mixed compound . Best place I found for grey workshop floor tiles was Halfords - free shipping over £20.
Finally got round to doing this on Friday. I gave up waiting for a time when I had time to do it and my partner had time to help me, so I just did it myself. It was mildly stressful getting everything prepped and done at the right time, but I got the screed down before the slurry dried, in fact maybe a bit soon as it mixed in places. Mixing the screed before the slurry was definitely good advice.
Guessing quantities was the most difficult bit. I just based it on the fact I had 5l of SBR and wasn't buying any more, so that would have to do. Made the slurry with 3l SBR and 3l cement, and the screed with the other 2l SBR, 10kg cement, and 25kg sand. Worked out pretty well for about 5m². Maybe had a bit too much slurry (chucked the last bit in the screed - what the hell else are you supposed to do with it? Didn't even want to put the water I cleaned it out with down that drain).
Probably could have mixed it better, and it's far from perfectly smooth, but it's a lot more level than it was so I'm happy.
Having shunned the idea, I bought some of the Halfords mats when they were in the black Friday sale - probably just as well to hide my shoddy work.
Thought it was rude not to add some (unoriginal) graffiti.
Before
https://ibb.co/MRQC5W9
During
https://ibb.co/QX46HMX
After
https://ibb.co/t2xLXYh
Thanks again for the tips.
