ORC Week 3: How To Level A Concrete Basement Floor

Blog Demo Design by Britt Douglas. Powered by Blogger. Instagram Pinterest Twitter YouTube Bloglovin Contact

Pages

• Home
• Our Houses
  • Toronto Colonial
  • Prince Edward County Cottage
  • Toronto Semi Detached
• DIY & Renovations
  • Ideas By Room
  • Before and After
  • DIY Projects
  • DIY Tips and Advice
  • One Room Challenge
  • Project Gallery
• Decorating
  • Home Decor Ideas
  • Seasonal Decor
  • Budget Decorating
  • Mood Board Inspiration
  • Organizing
  • Free Downloads
  • The Love List
• Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Party Ideas
  • Recipes
  • Entertaining Tips
  • Lifestyle
  • Fashion & Beauty
• Holidays
  • Christmas
  • Valentine's Day
  • Easter
  • Halloween
  • ALL HOLIDAYS
• Shop
  • Shop Our Home
  • Products I've Designed
  • Shopping Guides
  • e-Design Services

basementbuilding projectsDIY Tips and Advicelaundryone room challenge ORC Week 3: How To Level A Concrete Basement Floor by Jen @ RamblingRenovators - 5:30 AM

Week 3 of the 8 week One Room Challenge has come and gone and luckily we have some progress to show for it! If you're new to Rambling Renovators, welcome! My name is Jennifer. I help people create functional and beautiful homes, I help brands create digital content strategies, and I've been writing this blog since 2007. I live with my husband and daughter in Toronto, Canada in a centre-plan, colonial style house that we've infused with the fresh traditional style we love. We DIY all our renovations and have a fondness for architectural details, built-ins, and classic decor. See our home renovations here. It might seem a little late, but recently, I had an epiphany. I realized that our laundry room renovation was very much a construction project. 'Construction' as in we're literally building the room ourselves. The distinction is important because we've never built a room from scratch ourselves before. Yes, we tore our bathroom down to the studs and laid new drywall and tiles. We've also built single walls in our old bedroom and in the basement to improve the layout. We've built a shed, laid down flooring, and applied moulding to entire rooms. But build an entire room from the concrete room up? This is a first. Week 1 and Week 2 were all of the prep work: demolition and getting some necessary HVAC and electrical work done. For Week 3, we tackled a DIY project we've never done before: leveling the uneven concrete floor in the basement

How To Level A Concrete Basement Floor

Uneven floors in the basement is a problem many homeowners have to face. Before you lay down any kind of flooring material, from new vinyl floor tiles, to laminate flooring, or ceramic tile, you'll want to ensure that your floor is as level as possible. If you have uneven concrete slabs, that unevenness will impact every subsequent layer you place on top. Your vinyl tiles might not stick. Your laminate may feel bouncy. And your tiles may crack. You'll want to deal with needed concrete repair and create a consistent, level concrete slab before laying your floor coverings. The floor in our laundry room didn't seem too unlevel. There weren't any noticeable cracks and you couldn't feel major dips or a high spot when walking on the floor. However, the laundry room did have an existing floor drain with a slope towards the drain. This was our dilemma: we wanted to level the floors enough so that our floor covering would sit properly, but maintain a slight slope so that should a flood occur, the water would still divert to the lowest point in the room and flow into the floor drain. The first step in getting the concrete surface ready for floor coverings was to identify what unevenness existed. Did the entire floor need leveling or just a small area?

How To Measure An Unlevel Floor

To measure an unlevel surface, you need - surprise! - a level surface to measure it against. You'll want to use something that spans as much of your room as possible and is rigid. Here's a few things you can use as a long level:

• baseboard or door moulding
• a metal stud. Don't use a wood stud as it may be warped

We created our own level by using a piece of MDF baseboard that we already had. To identify the gaps, we:

• laid the baseboard on its narrow side on the floor
• placed an I-beam level on top of the MDF. Raised or lowered the MDF to get it sitting level
• measured the gap from the bottom of the MDF to the surface of the concrete. Wrote the gap measurement on the floor
• move the baseboard around the entire room, identifying any gaps/unevenness in the concrete slab floor

We didn't have any high spots but did have some low spots in the centre of the room. If we did have high spots, our next step would be to take a concrete grinder and grind down those spots and make them level. For the low spots, our gaps measured from 1/4" to 1" in height. Pro Tip: take a wooden dowel and cut pieces to the height of your gaps. Hot glue those pieces to your cement floor. This creates a visual reference to tell you where level is. Just add new cement until you reach the tops of your dowel pieces.

Self-Leveling Cement

The best solution for the unlevel floors in our laundry room was to use a leveling compound. Floor leveling compounds are mixed concrete products used to fill in low areas and imperfections on traditional concrete. These compounds may require the use of tools to finish or level, or they may be self-leveling and require minimal tools. Your local big box store will have all the materials you need to complete this project. We used Sika Level 125CA from The Home Depot. The bag might be labelled self-leveling cement, self-leveling concrete, or self-leveling underlayment. The amount of cement you need will depend on the square feet you need to cover and the thickness. The back of the bag will tell you how how much a 50 lb bag of self leveler cover at different thicknesses.

Prepping The Room for Concrete Leveling

At the very beginning of this post, I mentioned that means we are constructing the room - we're dividing this large laundry room into a laundry and separate utility room. That means we currently don't have the fourth wall defining this space. In order to prevent the self-leveling cement from spilling into the utility room, we had to create a temporary 'dam'. Using lumber we had on hand, we laid the wood on the floor where the laundry room will end. We applied caulking where the wood met the floor to prevent seepage. We also applied spray foam around the floor drain. The spray foam expands but once dry, you can cut it back to get close to the drain. Before you use self-leveling concrete, its recommended that you apply a concrete primer to your old cement floor. The primer is designed to absorb into the surface of the concrete, filling imperfections and creating a smooth surface for the self-leveler.

How To Use Self Leveling Concrete In A Basement

Materials:

• cement primer
• self-leveling concrete
• 5 gallon bucket
• cement mixing paddle
• a drill
• trowel

Steps:

1. Clean and vacuum your concrete floor
2. Apply the cement primer with a stiff bristle brush. Allow the primer to dry for 3 hours or overnight.
3. Add the required amount of water to the bucket
4. Be sure to wear your mask and goggles. Add 1/3 of the powdered concrete into the water. Mix thoroughly with the drill. Add the next 1/3 and mix. Continue adding the entire bag and mixing for the prescribed amount of time.
5. The mixture should be runny but not thin liquid consistency. Pour the mixture where you need it, starting in your lowest spots.
6. Use a trowel to push or drag the mixture
7. If you are using more than one batch of mixture to cover a large surface area, pour the mixture over the wet edge of the previous batch. Do not allow edges to set before you add the next batch
8. Allow the floor to set for 24 hours

We were slightly nervous trying self-leveling cement ourselves but it proved to be an easy project. It dried nice and hard and instantly we felt the room much improved. In the end, we decided to maintain a slight slope to the floor drain, which is why the tops of our cut dowels are still visible. If you are going to try self-leveling concrete yourself, here's a few things to keep in mind:

Tips for Using Self-Leveling Cement

• If you are using a drill with attachment to mix your concrete, use either a corded drill or have extra charged batteries on hand. It takes about 5 minutes to mix each 50 lb bag thoroughly and will drain your batteries very fast
• Don't use "fast setting" or quick setting self-leveling concrete if you're an amateur. The concrete will set too fast and you won't have time to trowel or spread it out before it starts to set. Opt for a compound with a longer drying time to be safe.
• It's a good idea to have two people to do this project. One person can be pouring and spreading the concrete while the other person can be mixing up the next batch.
• If you are unsure how many bags of self leveller you will need, buy more than enough and return the extra bags. Otherwise, you'll have to come back the next day and pour the second batch like we did!

With a smooth surface underfoot, we can now move onto more exciting tasks. Laying the subfloor and framing comes next! Check out the One Room Challenge blog and see what the other guest participants are working on.

Share Tweet Pin Share Tags : basement, building projects, DIY Tips and Advice, laundry, one room challenge Newer Post Older Post

You May Also Like

Newer Posts Older Posts

Hi, I'm Jen. I'm a DIYer, mid-life mom, and crafty Canadian with a love for classic style. I believe a beautiful life begins with a beautiful home. Learn more...

ABOUT // CONTACT // PRESS // PRIVACY POLICY

Blog Archive

Blog Archive December 2025 (2) November 2025 (1) September 2025 (2) August 2025 (1) June 2025 (1) May 2025 (1) April 2025 (3) March 2025 (1) February 2025 (1) December 2024 (1) November 2024 (1) October 2024 (1) August 2024 (1) June 2024 (1) March 2024 (1) January 2024 (2) December 2023 (5) November 2023 (8) October 2023 (5) September 2023 (8) August 2023 (3) July 2023 (4) June 2023 (6) May 2023 (6) April 2023 (6) March 2023 (6) February 2023 (5) January 2023 (7) December 2022 (8) November 2022 (9) October 2022 (7) September 2022 (8) August 2022 (4) July 2022 (5) June 2022 (8) May 2022 (7) April 2022 (10) March 2022 (9) February 2022 (7) January 2022 (9) December 2021 (2) November 2021 (9) October 2021 (6) September 2021 (7) August 2021 (4) July 2021 (6) June 2021 (11) May 2021 (9) April 2021 (8) March 2021 (11) February 2021 (9) January 2021 (7) December 2020 (7) November 2020 (12) October 2020 (9) September 2020 (6) August 2020 (4) July 2020 (7) June 2020 (6) May 2020 (8) April 2020 (9) March 2020 (7) February 2020 (7) January 2020 (8) December 2019 (10) November 2019 (11) October 2019 (12) September 2019 (10) August 2019 (7) July 2019 (8) June 2019 (8) May 2019 (11) April 2019 (12) March 2019 (12) February 2019 (10) January 2019 (10) December 2018 (8) November 2018 (13) October 2018 (8) September 2018 (8) August 2018 (8) July 2018 (6) June 2018 (10) May 2018 (8) April 2018 (11) March 2018 (9) February 2018 (12) January 2018 (5) December 2017 (9) November 2017 (8) October 2017 (9) September 2017 (10) August 2017 (9) July 2017 (7) June 2017 (9) May 2017 (11) April 2017 (11) March 2017 (10) February 2017 (9) January 2017 (8) December 2016 (6) November 2016 (9) October 2016 (9) September 2016 (8) August 2016 (8) July 2016 (8) June 2016 (10) May 2016 (12) April 2016 (15) March 2016 (11) February 2016 (11) January 2016 (12) December 2015 (12) November 2015 (14) October 2015 (13) September 2015 (10) August 2015 (11) July 2015 (12) June 2015 (13) May 2015 (13) April 2015 (13) March 2015 (10) February 2015 (10) January 2015 (11) December 2014 (11) November 2014 (13) October 2014 (13) September 2014 (9) August 2014 (10) July 2014 (14) June 2014 (13) May 2014 (16) April 2014 (16) March 2014 (16) February 2014 (16) January 2014 (20) December 2013 (16) November 2013 (14) October 2013 (14) September 2013 (14) August 2013 (13) July 2013 (13) June 2013 (13) May 2013 (17) April 2013 (17) March 2013 (16) February 2013 (14) January 2013 (13) December 2012 (16) November 2012 (16) October 2012 (17) September 2012 (13) August 2012 (16) July 2012 (16) June 2012 (17) May 2012 (16) April 2012 (15) March 2012 (16) February 2012 (17) January 2012 (17) December 2011 (17) November 2011 (19) October 2011 (20) September 2011 (16) August 2011 (19) July 2011 (14) June 2011 (17) May 2011 (12) April 2011 (12) March 2011 (20) February 2011 (18) January 2011 (20) December 2010 (18) November 2010 (16) October 2010 (12) September 2010 (11) August 2010 (11) July 2010 (12) June 2010 (12) May 2010 (14) April 2010 (10) March 2010 (8) February 2010 (9) January 2010 (8) December 2009 (13) November 2009 (7) October 2009 (9) September 2009 (7) August 2009 (4) July 2009 (9) June 2009 (9) May 2009 (6) April 2009 (8) March 2009 (7) February 2009 (5) January 2009 (8) December 2008 (9) November 2008 (10) October 2008 (11) September 2008 (7) August 2008 (13) July 2008 (5) June 2008 (11) May 2008 (9) April 2008 (11) March 2008 (13) February 2008 (15) January 2008 (6) December 2007 (3) November 2007 (3) July 2007 (2) June 2007 (4) May 2007 (4) April 2007 (3)

JOIN OURNEWSLETTER

Sign up to receive design ideas, subscriber only exclusives and more

Send it my way! Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest Bloglovin FOLLOW ME @RAMBLINGRENO