I had a massive flood in my basement that became a blessing in disguise.  The flood happened during my basement renovation and showed me how out of level my concrete slab floor truly was.  Around the lally columns, the water pooled to a depth of 1.75″ AHHHH!  I contacted 3 contractor’s and none could fix the floor.  This became a great opportunity for me to learn something new: how to self level a painted concrete basement floor.

Preparation

After tons of research and video watching, I was ready to tackle this job. I went shopping for supplies, here is the total list:

Power mixer with paddle

5 – 5 gallon buckets

13 – 50 lbs bags of self leveling compound

3 containers of primer

Painters plastic

Roller and handle

Floor Preparation Investigation

The first step was to clean the paint off the floors, since you shouldn’t self level painted concrete. The goal is to remove the paint, then use self leveling compound. To remove the paint on my floor, I first tried the safe orange stripper since this was an enclosed indoor space, but it did not work. Then I tried a belt sander which worked, but at such a slow pace I would still be sanding the paint off the floors. Finally, I was left with 2 options, a floor buffer with sanding disk or a walk behind concrete grinder. My instincts told me the grinder would create too much dust so I went with the cheaper option of the floor buffer. What a mistake!

Floor Preparation

I rented a floor buffer for $40/day, but the sanding disks ran me $10/each. In total I spent $120 sanding the floor. The floor buffer was extremely difficult to control and created the most amount of dust I had ever seen. When I was done, I took off my mask and I looked like I stepped out of a coal mine. To top it off, the buffer only removed 60% of the paint. I did more research on the self leveling material and found you need to prime the floors anyway and people had good results with priming over paint that was roughed up by sanding, which I did with the floor buffer. I also knew I was laying vinyl flooring down, not tile, so if the self leveling floor did crack a bit it wouldn’t be a problem for me.

After mopping the floors a few times to remove all the dust, it was time to prime the floors. I mixed the primer in a bucket and spread it on the floor with a roller. You have to wait for the primer to dry to a clear finish, which took about 3-4 hours for me. As you can see in the photo, the final color is not exactly clear, but it was dry to the touch. Per the manufacturer’s recommendations, you need to install the self leveling compound within 24 hours of priming, so I recommend you prime in the morning so you have all afternoon to self level.

Setting Up the Operation

As seen above, I ran string lines across the room, from wall to wall. The floor was the highest along the walls, so I had a good reference point. Using a 6 foot level, I found that the floor along the perimeter of the room was level, just nothing in the middle.

I laid the painter’s plastic on an area I was not going to level, filled up 3 buckets with water, and opened 6 bags of leveling compound. The self leveling compoun requires 5-5.28 quarts of water per 50 lb bag. I chose to add 5.25 quarts of water to 2 buckets. I took an open bag of the compound and emptied it into a buckets slowly, and took the mixer and mixed thoroughly. This process created a lot of dust, so for bag two I poured about 25% of the compound in and mixed, followed by another 25%, and so on. I was able to eliminate most of the dust using this process.

At this point you have to work quick. I poured the first bucket in the middle of the dip, moving the bucket around the column as I poured, and watched it spread out. Then I poured bucket number 2 in the same spot, watching the liquid flow throughout the dip. I repeated these steps for 6 bags of self leveling compound.

The photo above shows what it looked like after pouring the 6 buckets of self leveling compound. I took a flat trowel to feather the edges. Self leveling compound will level itself pretty well, but it needs assistance on the edge. You can also see remnants of the string line, which I poured right up to.

The Next Day

The next day I went downstairs to check out my handy work. The floor looked great, the new concrete was perfectly level; however, it did not cover a big enough area. This meant I had to put the remaining 7 bags to work.

I used a 6 foot level and noticed around the edges of the first pour there was still a dip. I knew the self leveling compound would fix this, but would need assistance. Mapei recommends that you prime in between coats, so I did that in the morning then I wrapped the level in cellophane. In the afternoon, I prepared my buckets, and did a second pour. After the 6 bucket second pour, I used the 6 foot level to help spread out and level the compound with the rest of the floor. This worked out excellent, and when I was done and removed the cellophane, I still had a clean level. If you do not have a 6 foot level, a straight 2×4 would also work well.

Here is a gallery of all the steps.

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Important Notes and Tips

1. A clean floor is imperative before priming. Make sure all loose dust, paint, etc is removed. Any remaining paint needs to be scuffed up through a sanding process.
2. The primer is a thick, sticky pink liquid. I spilled some on my kitchen tiles and it was a bear to clean up. Be careful with it.
3. The leveling compound will begin to cure in about 10-15 minutes, so once you start mixing you have to work quickly.
4. If you have a second person handy, it would be easier.
5. I had a used milk carton marked out to the 5.25 quarts so I could easily measure the water.
6. Having extra buckets of water will come in handy, you won’t have time to fill them up in the middle of this process.
7. Self leveling compound will not spread 100% on its own, so be prepared to feather the edges and use a straight edge to ensure it spreads evenly.

This video below, made by MrYoucandoityourself will give you an idea of what the process looks like

Conclusion

Self level your painted concrete basement floor because it is a great money saving DIY project. I truly thought the hardest part was the paint removal, so if your floors are strictly concrete, you’re in great shape.

Stats:

Time: 3 days, 1 to remove paint and clean, 2 days to pour self leveling

Material Cost: ~$400 for self leveling compound and primer, ~$20 for buckets, ~$25 for painters plastic,

This was part of my full basement remodel, check it out here.