Pouring Self Leveling Floor

We’re almost ready to start tiling- I swear!  No one is more excited than me to start making this little room sparkle.  But first we had a little issue of the floor to deal with.

 

When we took up the tile, we were left with a bunch of left over thin set on the concrete.  The good news is that we were at concrete, meaning no new subfloors to lay.  (I could go my whole life never having to do that again.)  The bad news is we still had to get those concrete floors completely clear and smooth so that we could apply tile to them.

It didn't take too long of us trying to scrape it before we gave in an decided to spend the $30 on a bag of self leveler.  I mean we can be cheapthrifty, but we're not idiots.  We started by cutting some 2x4s to block the self leveler from going out the bathroom door or into the floor vent.

Then I headed out to the garage to get a mixin'.

Here are my tools: A bucket full of pre-measured, cool water (just follow the instructions on the label), a mortar and grout mixing paddle to attach to my drill, the self leveler, and a little paddle  I rigged up to help me smooth it over the space. Those mixing paddles are fantastic.  We spent the money for one a couple projects back (they are only $10), and we've used it countless times since then.  It's all about having the right tools for the job.

Self leveler can't get any easier.  You literally pour the bucket in the center of the room, and it spreads out and finds it's own level.  That's it.  I just used my paddle to spread some to every surface in the room, even the higher points so that I would have one smooth surface.   Then I just let it work it out by itself.

And the next day- BAM!  We're ready to tile!

We're got a big weekend ahead of us with 5 different kinds of tile (seriously), but I can't wait to get started.  I'll share all the deets with you next week.  How about you guys?  Any big weekend plans?  Any home improvement on the horizon?  Those of us up here in Minnesota know we better get working on projects now, because in a little while the weather will finally turn nice and we won't want to go back in the house for 6 months.