How flat is a levelled floor?

[BZ]

I recently pulled up an old vinyl floor, and had the floor skim coated to level it before putting down something new, but the guy who did the skim coat didn't inspire confidence.

I expected it would take one pass with self-levelling cement to get a level floor, but he was here all day, and went over the floor three or four times with the trowel and more self-levelling cement to take care of low spots. Now when I lay a 1x6 pine board on the floor, I can see where the floor has shallow low spots. The floor was like that before I had it levelled (although there were also pitted areas which have now been filled in).

So my question is, how level is level? If I take a 5 foot board and see a 24 inch diameter low spot with a maximum depth of about 1/8 inch, is that normal, or is that a shoddy job that needs to be fixed?

Thanks in advance.

[Bill]

If it is a concrete floor, I would say it is only going to be as level as the exactness of tools they use to level the concrete when pouring. Or if you get a worker / crew which takes unusual care to see that it is exactly level.

I have seen many concrete floors which are far from level. And if they were all level, refrigerators and ranges would not have adjustable legs!

With smaller slabs (house) and hand held concrete tools, you're not going to get it exactly level. But for large slabs (industry / roads), they have big machines which do a pretty good job.

For something like this I would say if you want it done right, better do it yourself.

[Art]

Manufacturers of finished flooring have specs for floor level in their installation instructions.