"Level Headed" - Concrete Floor Leveler
Of all the types of concrete resurfacing options available to us, the simplest to understand, albeit not necessarily apply, is a concrete floor leveler as was this case in Denton, TX.
We started by removing the existing carpet in the home, grinding the floor and then putting down a primer that helps the concrete floor leveler adhere properly to the existing floor.
Once the primer dried we applied the leveler using a steel trowel and wrapped it all up with an acid stain and a concrete sealer.
A concrete floor leveler is usually a one coat process: the material is mixed up, pigmented if desired, and applied in a relatively thick coat that’s about 1/4″ thick.
This thick coat helps level out floors when needed and it eliminates the gap we sometimes find between the bottom of the trim and the original concrete floor. (A lot of contractors install the trim on top of carpet or tile creating a gap between the trim and the floor).
As it’s a one coat process it’s faster to install than our other concrete resurfacing options, sometimes you can walk on it in as little as three hours after putting it down.
Naturally there is a price to pay for this speed, of all the resurfacing options available, this one has the highest material cost.
Even though we are applying a concrete floor leveler, that doesn’t mean the resulting floor will be perfectly level.
Although the material tends to flow out and “self-level”, we do have to help it a little pushing it around using a steel trowel and this always causes slight variations in the final level of the floor. It’s not perfect, but it’s close.
Self-levelers tend to have a very smooth, consistent finish with minimal variations in color or texture; consequently, when they are acid stained there isn’t as much mottling and variegation as with traditional concrete floors.
This is because acid staining is a translucent, reactive process, the more variation there is in the floor to start with, the more there is at the end.
