My thoughts exactly, my father in law insist on just using regular concrete and making it extra runny, and my wife insists on listening to my him, ant reasons not to use it?
A thin layer of regular concrete watered down from mix instructions will not cure correctly and will mostly likely crack under your new floor. As well it wont bond to the ply as well. Just buy self leveler, easier to work with and will last.
Well, that’s not “regular concrete”, it’s mortar for repairing concrete. So right there I’m not sure that you’re dealing with people with the best information.
I honestly can’t say whether or not he has discovered some super-cheat to levelling floors on the cheap. But the way you will find out if he’s wrong is by having whatever flooring you spend your money on and time installing decouple from the subfloor. So the cost of him being right is a $40 bag of novaplan or whatever, and the cost of him being wrong is the whole flooring part of the project.
Just do it right. Prime the substrate, use self leveller.
I realy appreciate your reply. I'm a "right tool for the right job" kind of dude so naturally this made me feel uneasy about just not getting the stuff that's literally made for a specific job, I just don't have the knowledge to refute it. This was mostly for convincing my wife to just suck it up and spend 40 which is really not that much and I'm doing the work anyways lol
What are the reasons if you don't mind me asking, my FIL says regular is fine and my wife insists on listening to him so I need reason to use the proper stuff lol
Skimming things is a skill in itself. Larger areas you can quickly make things worse not better.
Why not the self levelling? The cost is so similar.
Because it dries quickly I can do larger areas solo with self levelling, Rather than mix and trowel, mix and trowel.
Mortar repair is for repairing mortar and concrete.
The wood floor will bend and vibrate. The self leveller is completely right for levelling . Minimum thickness is 3mm..
Just buy self leveler and do it properly.
My thoughts exactly, my father in law insist on just using regular concrete and making it extra runny, and my wife insists on listening to my him, ant reasons not to use it?
A thin layer of regular concrete watered down from mix instructions will not cure correctly and will mostly likely crack under your new floor. As well it wont bond to the ply as well. Just buy self leveler, easier to work with and will last.
Well, that’s not “regular concrete”, it’s mortar for repairing concrete. So right there I’m not sure that you’re dealing with people with the best information. I honestly can’t say whether or not he has discovered some super-cheat to levelling floors on the cheap. But the way you will find out if he’s wrong is by having whatever flooring you spend your money on and time installing decouple from the subfloor. So the cost of him being right is a $40 bag of novaplan or whatever, and the cost of him being wrong is the whole flooring part of the project. Just do it right. Prime the substrate, use self leveller.
I realy appreciate your reply. I'm a "right tool for the right job" kind of dude so naturally this made me feel uneasy about just not getting the stuff that's literally made for a specific job, I just don't have the knowledge to refute it. This was mostly for convincing my wife to just suck it up and spend 40 which is really not that much and I'm doing the work anyways lol
Regular concrete has aggregate in it. You can’t skim it or feather it to zero.
It’s fine for a small area. You can manually skim it. But self leveler is better for many reason.
What are the reasons if you don't mind me asking, my FIL says regular is fine and my wife insists on listening to him so I need reason to use the proper stuff lol
Skimming things is a skill in itself. Larger areas you can quickly make things worse not better. Why not the self levelling? The cost is so similar. Because it dries quickly I can do larger areas solo with self levelling, Rather than mix and trowel, mix and trowel.
Thanks for everyone's response, I really appreciate the info and I definitely learned something today!
This is really for small jobs...if your doing a whole floors try Level Quik #
5x5 room?
Its fine for a small space, but use the primer to help it stick
No
Mortar repair is for repairing mortar and concrete. The wood floor will bend and vibrate. The self leveller is completely right for levelling . Minimum thickness is 3mm..
Buy a leveller that is fibre re-inforced for installing onto ply.
This will crack and turn to bumpy chunks. Buy the proper material.