High Or Low Spot? Accurately Assess Sub Floors For Proper Concrete Grinding And Concrete Leveling.
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- Опубликовано: 11 сен 2013
- 428-428-3880 - www.dustram.com/ & www.azhomefloors.com/ & www.dustfreetileremoval.com/ I often get calls from homeowners requesting we grind concrete inside their lived in or occupied home. The homeowners or perhaps their installer has discovered what they believe to be a "hump" in the floor. After professional assessment, many times the exact opposite is true. The problem might actually be caused from a low spot and not a high spot. This video will shed light on this truth.
Furthermore, I've seen many installers and homeowners attempt to use grinding as a way to avoid using leveler, even if leveler was the best solution. Please understand there is no amount of grinding, which can repair a low spot in the floor. It wouldn't be feasible or cost effective to even try. At best, with grinding you could fade the low spot over a larger area, but in the end all you've really accomplished is to move the "straight-edge rocking" fulcrum point farther away to a new position. The end result? You're now left with an even larger low spot, plus you've lost the opportunity to create a really flat floor for your next installation.
Sometimes there are truly humps in floor, but I've seen strange solutions by some installers and homeowners. Some try to "fade" a high spot by using leveler to "float" the hump over a larger area. The end result? You're left with a wider hump, but make no mistake, there is still a hump. At this point, I'm usually called to grind away the leveler and then continue grinding away the remaining hump in the concrete. The repair has now become even more expensive for the homeowner. Why? Factor in the cost of leveler, primer and the labor to apply it. Factor in the cost for grinding off the leveler and factor in the cost for grinding the original hump. The repair can often cost twice as much as it would have cost by doing it right the first time. The goal was supposed to be a flatter floor, but the opportunity was missed by using incorrect techniques. Don't let this happen to you! Assessment of your concrete by a professional having the proper equipment is crucial to achieving the flattest possible floor.
It is also impossible to accurately assess large areas of concrete using only 4', 5', or 8' straight-edges. For those who doubt this statement, the video will clearly demonstrate how using these shorter lengths of straight-edges produce extremely inaccurate results. It should be noted, assessing concrete requires at least 10' or even longer straight-edges, to determine what is really happening at the surface areas of the concrete.
• High Or Low Spot? Accu...
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OMG wish I saw this video 3 weeks ago. Saved me so much time and headache.
+Richard Barrios Hi Richard, I am sorry you were not able to see this a few weeks ago. May I impose on you to tell me a little about your situation and what you had to do to resolve it? I am genuinely curious.
Thx Jack for your advice. Done with my basement vinyl plank floor. Your tips helped lots.
That's great news! How did it turn out and are you happy with the results? If you took some videos you should post some on RUclips and send me the link. Congratulations on finishing.
Wow, great information. Thank you. If you only knew my story. I wish you were in Richardson, Texas. We could use your company here.
I struggle trying to get people usually a job superintendent to see situation like this constantly. especially when a straight edge will rock in one direction like over a crack like your vid. and be fine going along it. I end up using a topographic map analogy. and long pcs of ceiling tile grid to hammer it in their head that it needs to be filled in not just grind or "drag it out further" making a bigger ramp. pouring is cheaper easier faster than grinding and hand patching with ardex feather finish..ok rant over.
Professional 10' or 12' straight edge.
Built out of aluminum and it's hollow inside all the way through.
Good job guys!
Ferrari Driven Where are they sold and how could they be transported from a store to one's home?
humanyoda Hi, they can not be purchased in this condition from a retailer they must be built from raw aluminum stock. If you have access to a metal industrial supply in your area (google: "metal industrial supply in my area") see if there are any local metal suppliers close by. If so, purchase 2" x 4" x 1/8" aluminum stock 20' long. Cut the stock into the desired lengths and label them with paint using stencils. You can use duct tape to hold the overhanging ends (short levels work great for this). Hope this helps!
http:www.dustram.com
http:www.azhomefloors.com
http.www.dustfreetileremoval.com
azhomefloors.com/floor-leveling.htm
azhomefloors.com/concrete-floor-leveling.htm
Jack King Thanks, Jack.
I bought a 10ft 1x2 and it's still not clear. I think it's all relative and to check for flatness you need something that goes all the way across the room. then you can decide to grind/fill high/low spots. For instance, if your tool shows that the entire middle of the room is lower than the sides, do you have a low spot or high spot? you have both! I'm just gonna lay a piece of string all the way across the house to see the spots.
Hi, it is actually possible to have the outer areas of a room be at grade and have the entire middle part of the floor be low. There can be several reasons for this scenario. First, the concrete finisher may have pulled too much concrete from the middle towards the edges with a bull float. The eye cannot discern this low spot until either a laser is used or as you indicated, using a string line to check for flatness. Usually, this situation occurs in older homes, when they did not have the technology for applying the concrete in the ways that they can now. In other situations, clever concrete contractors created the low spots on purpose to save concrete and add to their bottom line. Either way it is problem when you want to install wood, laminate or large modular tiles. Remember when using a string it needs to be used in both directions: east/west and north/south to pick up the variances in the concrete. Move the string in about 1 foot increments to get the big picture. Concrete can change elevations very quickly, in fact, in some instances the concrete can change elevation by 3/4" in 3 linear feet and your eye will not be able to discern the change, especially if the concrete has a very smooth finish.
www.azhomefloors.com/floor-leveling/
Great video. So simple and makes so much sense. Still working on my basement and vinyl plank install. Using an 8' and 10' -2" x 4" 's as my levels. Does make a difference as you get a true profile. Hardest part is the ignorant old carpet glue removal. Cant remove it all by hand otherwise be there forever. Using Weldbond as my primer and combination of Ardex feather finish and Nefix self-leveling to try and get the rooms level.
I think you have a great plan and you're slowly getting things accomplished the way you'd like. I'd be willing to bet you're starting to enjoy the process of figuring out the leveling process. To me, it was always like a puzzle or like Tetris, if you look carefully there is always a logical way to approach the flattening process.
www.clean-tile-removal.com/
www.bbb.org/phoenix/business-reviews/floor-removal/arizona-home-floors-in-tempe-az-1000006092/
Thanks. Funny I mentioned your system to a couple of local companies who have done floor install for years and they give me that blank stare in regards to a 100% profile like you have developed compared to those guys using their 4' or 6' levels. I just finished up my second bedroom and haven't quite figured out if it were humps in the floor or low levels so I error-ed on the side of caution and filled in the gaps. it worked!!! Typical DIY I also dont have access to a good concrete grinder other than an attachment to my hand grinder so I am cautious on tackling large humps. Yes indeed a puzzle but so much too learn. if nothing else I will use the longest "2 x 4" level I have to gain a fuller profile. As far as the old glue that is my greatest challenge w/o using a machine but not too worried about getting it all off where I dont need to level since it is a good quality vinyl plank product. Be a nightmare otherwise.
With all the passion you have for making your basement perfect, if you ever decide to get into dust free tile removal, I think you would be a great candidate to have the DustRam® System equipment. I like your attention to detail!
ha ha thanks...still a rookie at this. I am really surprised you guys dont have your system up here in Manitoba, Canada? One final question Jack: When you are accessing profile is it best to go from end to end on the narrow part of the room or the longer part of the room with your screed levels. For example if I have a 14 x 10 room do I go end to end on the 8' part or the 14' part as it sometimes seems to differ??
Further to this your side levels you guys use to support your middle level is likely key to your system as no one else on You Tube uses this methodology as they only use a 4', 6' or 8' level at best and they seem to go around in circles trying to capture the room "profile".
Jack, question have you had any issues with the floor manufacturer finding the low spot? I have come across inspectors finding any spot a level will rock and failing my floir
Oh yes! Inspectors love to find any reason to blame any failure of the floor on the installer. The beauty of finding the low and high spots first, then fixing them eliminates any possibility they can blame a failure on an un-flat floor. Since using this system (well over 10 years now) and having the right grinding and leveling equipment, my flooring installation turn out perfect every time, with ZERO hollow spots too.
www.azhomefloors.com/floor-leveling/
ruclips.net/video/9P1iemfhNYQ/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/wwmBhLTAOSY/видео.html
Wow. This is changing my understanding of low Vs. high spots. Is there anything I could use outside of a 12' straight edge?
Yes, you could use multiple long straight edges so they overlap towards the middle. For example, you could use (2) 12' straight edges and overlap them to make a single 16' or 18' straight edge. If the floor is perfectly flat, then the 2 straight edges would align themselves perfectly where they overlap. If they are tweaked upward this would reveal a high spot in the floor. If they are tweaked downward, this would reveal a low spot.
I struggle trying to get people usually a job superintendent to see situation like this constantly. especially when a straight edge will rock in one direction like over a crack like your vid. and be fine going along it. I end up using a topographic map analogy. and long pcs of ceiling tile grid to hammer it in their head that it needs to be filled in not just grind or "drag it out further" making a bigger ramp. pouring is cheaper easier faster than grinding and hand patching with ardex feather finish..ok rant over.
+michael ray
I know exactly what you are talking about. I myself struggle to get contractors and other so called "flooring experts" to understand what exactly is going on with a concrete floor. Some get it and others just can't get their heads wrapped around it.
www.azhomefloors.com/floor-leveling
www.dustram.com
www.dustfreetileremoval.com
www.jackking.com