"Resurfacing" cement basement floor

Our basement concrete floor has acquired a number of cracks, chips, etc. over the past 100+ years. Also, some areas still have traces of old concrete furnace pads. Finally, the floor is far from level with the highest area 6-7 inches above the lowest part.

Our plan is to use the basement for a combination of nice workshop, game room, and of course storage.

At a minimum, I would like to make the floor "look" better, though levelling it would also be nice.

What are some of the alternatives for fixing up the floor?

- Should we have someone pour another layer of concrete or other self-levelling material to create a new, level surface?

- Are there some good paint-like alternatives that at least would fill cracks and make the floor look nicer?

How expensive are the various options and what might you folks recommend?

Jeff

Reply to
Jeffrey J. Kosowsky
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Start by using Google to search both web and groups.

LB

Reply to
LB

Look in your local yellow pages. Contact a commercial flooring store.

Ask for a contractor who specializes in self leveling floor underlayment. If the floor 6" out of level or are there 2 or more levels of floor? Perhaps you want to pour concrete in the deepest areas and finish with a self leveling top coat. Here is one to study:

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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Keep the whole world singing . . . . DanG (remove the sevens) snipped-for-privacy@7cox.net

"Jeffrey J. Kosowsky" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@consult.pretender...

Reply to
DanG

I found this here... I am doing the same project. Good Luck!!

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Leveling and Insulating a Basement Floor

Q - I'm going to be renovating my basement (being an older home it has an uneven floor and I'd like to install a subfloor that is level), but I'm not sure how to level it. I'd also like to insulate it at the same time. What do I use as insulation and is there such a thing as a vapour barrier for floors like there is for walls? Victor

A - If you have enough headroom, you could build up a wood floor using treated lumber and "blue board" - ridged foam board insulation. Make sure that you allow for drainage and venting under the floor structure.

If headroom is a problem, you could pour a new concrete floor on top of the existing floor, you might even be able to pour the concrete on top of insulation material. You might want to check out some specialty concrete products which are intended for relatively thin applications and specifically for the leveling of floors; for example, self leveling grout.

DON'T take short cuts. A new floor on top of a poorly prepared substrate, or poor drainage, may produce a disaster. Georg

Reply to
rw

Your floor is in pretty sorry condition and the answer to your problem is not on the internet. Consider this plan of action: 1) Call a concrete ready-mix company. 2) Ask them for names of good concrete finishers. 3) Get the price per yard of the product specifiying a decent strength grade. 4) Measure your basement and estimate yards of concrete at standard depth in your area (building inspection department may want input) of 3" or 4". 5) Contact the finishing people for rough estimates or contracting the job, whatever they and you are comfortable with. 6) Rent a concrete breaker and remove old floor. 7) Level dirt floor with pea gravel, put down wire mesh and plastic film. 8) Call finishing crew to do the job.

This is the best reason to do it over. Reducing headroom by simply topping up the problems will definitely reduce the planned utility of the area for you. YMMV

Joe

Reply to
Joe Bobst

But if you remove the old concrete floor will that affect the structure of the wall whether brick or cinder block?

Reply to
rw

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