Uneven solid floor ..is this doable?

[alo]

Hello.. I have a solid (concrete?) pre-war kitchen floor. Approx 3 mtrs x 2.5 mtrs. It is no longer a kitchen area, it has been carpeted and used as an alternative lounge area. The carpet has now been taken up and dumped and I want to lay a wooden floor down.

And the problem is... one part of the floor is some 35mm higher than the other side. To bring the lower part of the floor up by using 'Floor Leveller compound' to match the high part seems a tall order for this stuff.

I do not want to disturb the original floor, I can live with it as it is, otherwise the entire floor would need to come up and a new one put down.

What I had in mind was laying down battens, carefully shaved to match the curve of the floor, and then put floorboards down on top. Its the kind of thing I have done in the past with a plinth for a Welsh Dresser, the plinth varies with the floor, the item on top is horizontal and true.

Can I do this in my old kitchen area, I know it will be time consuming, but that is not a problem.

Are there any reasons why this will not work and I should not do it?

TIA

[Stuart Noble]

The battens would probably work if the floor is 100% dry, but a pva mortar would be quicker, cheaper, and a lot easier. You only need to level it with a length of wood. Decide whether you want to level (as in spirit level) the floor, or just flatten it. Often doorways etc dictate what is feasible. The main benefit of self levelling screed is the smoothness of the surface, which is only important for lino or vinyl.

[RzB]

"alo" wrote

For what it's worth...

We recently had latex self levelling compound laid. I didn't do it myself as there were some big differences in levels (30mm +) and I have never used the stuff before.

It took a couple of visits but it all worked out fine. The guy did an excellent job.

There are still some differences in levels but it's much better and very smooth.

Roy

[The Medway Handyman]

Years ago I had a kitchen flor of similar size levelled by an old school plasterer. He placed blobs of fairly dry mixed mortar in each corner with a

2" x2" square of ply embedded in each blob & levelled all four. He left this for the time it took to brew & drink a cuppa.

Then he filled in the floor using a batten as a straight edge, taking levels across the four blobs.

He made it look easy, but I suspect 40 years practice had something to do with it. But that appears to be the way to do it. I guess self levelling compound would take out any inaccuracies.

[alo]

Well the floor is dry, but uneven. I appreciate that using a concrete screed would be quick and easy and using my method will be slow and complicated,but it has the advantage of being easily lifted up if there are any serious problems with the original solid floor.

Putting another 35mm of concrete on top sounds practical but my experience in laying concrete is close to nil, with the wooden battens and floorboards I feel more confident, and I think using bog standard floorboards will be a lot cheaper than buying the packaged solid floors (lovely though it is) from a shed or flooring company.

[Stuart Noble]

Can you afford to raise the whole floor level by an inch? If so, batten the whole lot with 1" x 1" and pack the gaps under the battens with mortar (or whatever). Then you have a flat surface to fix your boards to, and a flow of air under them, but doorways, steps etc can make this a non-strter. Your original idea might sound ok in theory but, in practice, it will be difficult to get a proper level. Honestly, it isn't difficult slapping down a bit of mortar when you have existing levels on either side. If you only have one level, create the other with *one* batten, and just run a length of wood across them. You'll have plenty of time to play with it before it sets. Main thing is to mix it as thick as you can

[alo]

I had not thought of doing that way... it would certainly be a lot quicker, and I have just bought a bag of mortar to finish some brick work around a stove... I shall go with this paln.

Thanks