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Leveling a Basement
Dr. Frenchenstein
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So i'm going to lay some tile in my basement, and currently it's pretty lumpy. Concrete substrate (I think i'm using that right) with 4 pretty serious dips (1-3 inches) that i want to fill in before i pour self leveler. i bought a bunch of Quikrete but didn't get started on the project yet. A few questions before i open anything.
1) do i need to put down a primer? or is that just for the self leveler?
2)the drywall hits the low spots in a few places (the bottom of the drywall isn't level) right down to the concrete. do i need to cut that away? or does it matter?
3) should i have bought different cement mix? this doesn't need to cure quickly or anything, i can leave it for a day or two before i do the self leveler. i also planned on mixing it in a bucket, and not a wheelbarrow (as i don't have one). Quikrete seems like it might be a bit thicker than i was imagining. i bought a mixer attachment for my drill, but i don't want to burn it out!
1) do i need to put down a primer? or is that just for the self leveler?
2)the drywall hits the low spots in a few places (the bottom of the drywall isn't level) right down to the concrete. do i need to cut that away? or does it matter?
3) should i have bought different cement mix? this doesn't need to cure quickly or anything, i can leave it for a day or two before i do the self leveler. i also planned on mixing it in a bucket, and not a wheelbarrow (as i don't have one). Quikrete seems like it might be a bit thicker than i was imagining. i bought a mixer attachment for my drill, but i don't want to burn it out!
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This might be a good starting point: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Native_American_tribes_in_Maryland
BattleTech campaign at: http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/169696/battletechmegamek-fight-for-gan-singh#latest
I'm thinking that you're going to need to unfinish your basement to finish it properly. That means down to the foundation wall/external wall so that you can get a proper true/level floor in there.
2) Not an expert, but I would think you don't want things that aren't concrete in your concrete. So, I'm going with yes, trim the nonsense.
3) Use a stick?
Yeah plus a good condition for mold. Wet drywall in a basement where it's cool and moist.
2) Mister Doctor, your shit is crazy haunted. When you pour the cement, your entire county is going to flood in a freak spring time deluge.
Before you do this, have you made sure your foundation/basement slab is stable? It would suck to do work on it, only to tear it all out because you have a problem (Which considering its your house..)
are you finishing this basement or just trying to make the floor walkable? If the later, I'd just use the leveling compound in the dents and leave the rest alone unless it is cartoonishly off level.
SammyF, please get your contacts to drop one of those directly on my house (when i'm not home of course!). Let me document all of the expensive art and faberge eggs that i own first though.
Otherwise you're going to fuck it up. This is the kind of job where if you don't know what you're doing you should grab a contractor because cutting the bottom off the drywall and pouring concrete under it is going to make a huge mess, ruin the drywall, and make some dangerous mold and all that.
Zeph, i am in the heart of downtown baltimore. i have an electrician but i could definitely use a good GC, and a plumber contact! pm away!
The problem with drywall is it's attached to studs. Chances are that sill plate that those studs are attached to is true to the floor. You can't pour concrete under the sill plate without removing the drywall, membrane, insulation, studs, and sill plates. Also it might be a load bearing wall too.
You can't just level a floor without ripping practically everything out. This will bite you in the ass Dr.F. Especially since you're living on an Indian burial ground.
regardless, leveling the foundation properly simply isn't an option, financially or timewise. this is the best i can do for getting the basement habitable again.
I did this before the drywall went up. You can cut away the drywall at the bottom. Use fans to help the stuff cure, no matter what you use, because you don't want any mold to set in the studs. I skipped laying another layer of concrete and went right to the self-leveling stuff. My surface was smooth and mostly flat, but not flat enough to put down tile (in my case, stick-on tile). I used two packages of self-leveler stuff, which is basically just like a very wet concrete. I applied a very basic primer to the floor before applying it. After I poured it, I tried to squeegee it around. It worked OK, and the floor was more level.
In my case, I didn't need it to be perfect; I just wanted it to be better. So, I did a quick solution that worked for me. The primer stuff is pretty dense, so it will easily push away plastic and other lightweight barriers if you try to corral it, so it's probably just not worth it unless you need to ensure you don't accidentally pour concrete into your sump pump. Also, in my experience, the self-leveling stuff isn't magic -- it still requires a fair amount of work to get it spread, and you need to use enough to actually cover the floor. It's just wet enough that you don't need to do the level-with-2x4 method.
If you're not sure, or you want to experiment, section off a portion of the floor with some 2x4s or similar and work with the smaller area. If the space itself is large and you're looking to level the whole thing, I advise this method anyway so you can easily work with moving the material and can do it in multiple phases.
i don't see how doing this will make it any worse than it is, aside from the mold potential, which i will have to research more. my GF's brother is a contractor, and he hasn't mentioned anything about this being a terrible idea. While i'd love to get someone in there to do this absolutely correctly, it's just not feasible. However, I will totally send you 1 Shamed Fist Bump if it blows up in my face.
Drying means "We can attach the plates, walls, and flooring now!"
Read the instructions on your leveling cement, as well, because I believe it needs to be at least an inch thick at the thinnest area to be strong enough to not crumble under use, but I'm not entirely sure on that and your instructions should tell you.
Honestly, If you dont want to go the proper route of ripping out the drywall and studs, then I would avoid concrete all together and level the floor with wood framing, putting solid foam insulation between the boards and laying plywood over. Just remember to protect the wood from the concrete with gasketing.
They are, but it's technical. For most things you work with in everyday life, you add water, and then the water dries. For concrete, adding water initiates a chemical process, and you want to maximize that chemical process's timeframe in order to ensure there's no cracks or weaknesses. If you just mix and forget about it, all the water will evaporate (the concrete will dry), leaving you with concrete that hasn't been fully mixed and set.
However, a lot of this depends on the leveler and the mix that you have. Read the instructions to see what you should do. Part of the reason it's tricky to pour straight concrete in an already finished space is that you're supposed to keep the humidity high for a period of time to ensure the chemical process completes and sets (curing) so that it doesn't dry out. My experience with floor leveling compound is that it cures quickly, so you really shouldn't have much trouble with it (other than acting fast). The self-leveler does need to be one solid piece, but that doesn't mean you can't set up dams to do it in multiple pieces. The effectiveness of the damn will be dependent on how level the floor is, if you can find a space that's flat enough.
Another way to think of curing vs drying is that you can pour and set concrete underwater. It will happily harden despite never actually "drying." True, it's usually initially poured with a coffer dam, but the concrete used for bridges over water ends up typically being the strongest concrete, thanks to ample water to complete the hydration process.
it would basically channel any water that enters your house around the outside along your exterior walls and away from the drains, rotting your framing and drywall and leading to mold.
It's probably pressure treated wood that resists wicking moisture up into the studs. It's perfectly fine to put wood on concrete in that situation. Just a no no to put it into dirt. I think pressure treated wood is still okay to do that, but there's no real good reason to.
doesn't it have to be level for this to work?
i just farted around on Youtube for an hour, and there are plenty of videos of people pouring self leveler with drywall still up. However it does look like there is something at the edges where the wall meets the floor, but i never see a comment about what that is. I have to go to the hardware store tonight, so i'll ask around.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_plate
It's pretty cheap in terms of rebuilding this stuff that if you do it right, it pays for itself back in spades of not dealing with shit like water fucking up your structure because you half-butted the leveling of your floor and left a channel for it. Rip it out, redo it.
Hang a drop ceiling after you frame and drywall the new walls and boom, finished basement.
And get it inspected. Do it right. Truuuuust me on this, I've helped my dad repair enough houses to facepalm at some of the shit people do to save a $200 here or there and we ended up having to do $2000 in work just to unfuck it.
Probably foam expansion tape, I think you see that a lot with Self Leveling Concrete.
http://euro-pack.ru/wp-content/uploads/ac_prod_illbruck_willseal.jpg
Looks something like that?
— Robert Heinlein