Self levelling floor advice

[highseas]

So the story is my bird shed is built on the base of a old tin garage so the concrete is about as rough as most our backroads round hear and I want to put some second hand laminate flooring down to make it easier to sweep up spilled seed and feathers,
Trouble is the floors a bit dusty and in wet weather can be a bit damp, I want to pour a self levelling floor compound of some kind just to make the laminate lay better.
The floor will not be subject to any heavy objects other than me or heavy foot traffic other than me so I don’t think it’s will need to be a fantastic “bond”?

Should I seal the floor with something first?
Also I can only do half the shed at the time as I need to shuffle all the cages to one end then the other it’s about 21ft long and 9 ft wide
And I would say theirs about 10mm at the worst in concrete level/dips/tamp

Many thanks

 

[dobbslc]

I've used this on my screed floors at home,

Setcrete High Performance Floor Levelling Compound - 20kg | Wickes.co.uk

Setcrete High Performance Floor Levelling Compound - 20kg

www.wickes.co.uk

I put down a primer first,

Setcrete High Performance Floor Levelling Acrylic Primer - 2.5L | Wickes.co.uk

Setcrete High Performance Floor Levelling Acrylic Primer - 2.5L

www.wickes.co.uk

Make sure the floor is swept clean first. I'm not sure a laminate floor is a good idea in a shed to be honest, it'll just absorb moisture and swell up.
The leveling compound leaves a nice smooth finish through so ld just leave that as the floor.

 

[addjunkie]

I've used this on my screed floors at home,

Setcrete High Performance Floor Levelling Compound - 20kg | Wickes.co.uk

Setcrete High Performance Floor Levelling Compound - 20kg

www.wickes.co.uk

I put down a primer first,

Setcrete High Performance Floor Levelling Acrylic Primer - 2.5L | Wickes.co.uk

Setcrete High Performance Floor Levelling Acrylic Primer - 2.5L

www.wickes.co.uk

Make sure the floor is swept clean first. I'm not sure a laminate floor is a good idea in a shed to be honest, it'll just absorb moisture and swell up.
The leveling compound leaves a nice smooth finish through so ld just l

have to agree moisture and mdf backed laminate flooring isnt going to be good

 

[Scalarocco]

I used laminate in my kitchen from a manufacturer called Egger Aqua+. I got samples from them, wickes, Howden etc and left them in a bucket of water for two days. The Egger board was completely undamaged, so went with that product. Looks like MDF but I'm assuming it is impregnated with some waterproof chemical. Maybe that will be OK for the bird house?

 

[Neilj]

Treat the floor to a couple of coats of 3:1 diluted SBR, that will give it a good seal. Apply the second coat just prior to your SLC going down and it will also help it flow out better.
I agree on the moisture / laminate combination as well, not likely to end well.

 

[123hotchef]

just screed it and SBR it.
Forget the laminate it wont last long out side
Lino would be a better choice if you did want a covering

 

[500e]

Find a carpet layer and ask if he gets vinal flooring to remove, people seem to change kitchens on a whym.
He has to get rid of it.
Also cow shed floor or conveyer belt

 

[SierraV6]

just screed it and SBR it.
Forget the laminate it wont last long out side
Lino would be a better choice if you did want a covering

This or LVT if you’re feeling posh!

 

[123hotchef]

I have some LVT here left over from my house Ill dig it out probably not enough for that size though

 

[8ob]

Also cow shed floor or conveyer belt

I used this on the mancaves storeroom floor, normally FOC. As a floor mat it would last forever.

Bob

 

[Kram]

Sbr then leveller, then epoxy floor paint would likely be my choice.

 

[500e]

We don't do much under 200mm for leveling will a 3/10 mm leveling, stand up to no cover other than paint

 

[Blue Chips]

Also cow shed floor or conveyer belt

I used this on the mancaves storeroom floor, normally FOC. As a floor mat it would last forever.

I used lengths of 1/2"-thick conveyor belt to make weed-free paths between the raised beds of a garden that we had about 15 or 16 years ago. The garden has long since returned to nature, and the wooden raised beds have disintegrated, but the conveyor belts are still there, in good condition. The conveyor belting was very cheap. As I recall, it was a take-out from a defunct manufacturing facility, but still in good enough condition for my purposes.

I have a couple of nylon-reinforced horse/cow stall rubber mats in my shop that (so far) have withstood everything that I've dropped or spilled on them or dragged across them. They're about 25mm thick and very heavy, so they stay in place.

 

[DAPPH]

Having had my mancupboard get flooded yet again from seven hrs of hard SSW driven storm lashing rain
It lokk's like I'll need to bring the back of the garage floor up by about 2 & 1/2" inches and slope it forwards to the roller door where it will end up about 3/4 of and inch thick before dropping off at the level of the rubber seal on the roller door bottom
Area 9 x 22 feet .
So roughly 10 x 10 sq ft x 1.5 inches ( I already have a place ready for any excess left over ) so 100 sq. ft. x 1.5 " , so 25 sq ft at 6 inches deep so perhaps 13 cubic foot ( can someone check my math's please as I'm quite dyslexic due to meds at present )

I'm looking to cover it in some sort of easy to level mix like a runny floor screed that can be brushed and troweled between a pair of height adjusted steel pipe runners along the wall edges then drag a light home made vibrating screeding beam along the supported steel tubes from back to front . The metal tubes to be removed when it's cured to leave a shallow gulley along each long outside wall for drainage & floor washing at a later date .

Can some of you more experienced guys suggest a type of mix and sealing compound to use ( thinking of clean washed 6 mm pea grit , washed sharp sand and building sand with a sulphur resistant cement & some sort of waterproof sealer in the mix water ) It will have a smooth walk way down the middle and has to be able to support a mobile 250 kg welding bench on wheels as well as a 250 kg lathe on nylon wheels etc.

 

[Neilj]

You're at a really awkward depth there for a screed. 3/4" at the front will be far too thin for a stone / sand / cement screed, it wouldn't be very strong and would probably break up easily. Conversely, the 2 & 1/2" at the back would cost a small fortune if you tried to do it in one of the thick coat levelling compounds available. Maybe use a levelling compound and bulk it out with your 6mm pea gravel to cut down on cost? You'd need a levelling compound that is suitable for bulking out, the ones that are tend to mention it on the bags or instructions.

 

[123hotchef]

Ball stop gap do some good screeds

 

[knighty]

Having had my mancupboard get flooded yet again from seven hrs of hard SSW driven storm lashing rain
It lokk's like I'll need to bring the back of the garage floor up by about 2 & 1/2" inches and slope it forwards to the roller door where it will end up about 3/4 of and inch thick before dropping off at the level of the rubber seal on the roller door bottom
Area 9 x 22 feet .
So roughly 10 x 10 sq ft x 1.5 inches ( I already have a place ready for any excess left over ) so 100 sq. ft. x 1.5 " , so 25 sq ft at 6 inches deep so perhaps 13 cubic foot ( can someone check my math's please as I'm quite dyslexic due to meds at present )

I'm looking to cover it in some sort of easy to level mix like a runny floor screed that can be brushed and troweled between a pair of height adjusted steel pipe runners along the wall edges then drag a light home made vibrating screeding beam along the supported steel tubes from back to front . The metal tubes to be removed when it's cured to leave a shallow gulley along each long outside wall for drainage & floor washing at a later date .

Can some of you more experienced guys suggest a type of mix and sealing compound to use ( thinking of clean washed 6 mm pea grit , washed sharp sand and building sand with a sulphur resistant cement & some sort of waterproof sealer in the mix water ) It will have a smooth walk way down the middle and has to be able to support a mobile 250 kg welding bench on wheels as well as a 250 kg lathe on nylon wheels etc.

room is 10ft by 10ft?

and you're only putting the slope in for the once in a blue moon torrential rain?

at work I run a 2inch slope over about 14ft length - that's for us tipping over 45gallon drums of water and steam cleaning down all day...

over 10ft I'd drop the slope down to an inch

can you dig down at the front/low end so you can have it thicker there? that front edge is the real weak spot, especially in front of the door... if you can dig out 6inch wide and 6inch deep that'll make a massive difference

then go with 3inch at the back and 2 at the front?

you could get away with less tbh

the gully around the edges sounds like a good idea, but then you'll have a weak area where it's thin again

could you dig down around the outside edge, then put something against the wall to lift tout later so your new floor slab is stood away from the walls by an inch?
(ok this is classic way to get water between new slab and old, but I don't think that matters here)

 

[DAPPH]

The room ( single car garage ) ... is 9 x 21 foot not 10 x 10 foot
The back end is 2.5 inches lower than the front end by the roller door .


The six inch thick floor slab appears to have been cast directly on uncompacted freshly dumped top soil on a hill , over the years the slab has sunk to the back end by some 2.5 inches & broken it's back with the adjoining next doors garage ( more cut and fill with my side being the filled side ) so the outer side wall is almost 2 inched below the central dividing wall . The side external wall & lintel over the roller door has dropped by almost 2 inches over the seven foot opening .

There is a four inch thick apron at the garage door which still floods even though I've put in 2 x 100mm land drains and gullies & shaped the apron to give it a rain stop ridge of sorts , due to the fact that I get considerable run off from further up the hill properties & next doors tarmacked yard under the dividing property wall and under the garage floor slab .
I have a four inch gully drain right across the door entry access , set in about seven inches before the door and two inches below the slab ( it was over seven inches of 30 yr old concrete when I cut and jack hammered it out 17 yrs ago ) this runs out down the garden .... down hill via a 100 mm land drain ( one of four x 30 mtr such drains I put in ) .
Rain often comes in when it's being blown had from the SSW , but not as much as has recently arrived. I drilled three 19 mm drain hole at floor slab level in the rear wall they worked great , till one day when it was belting it down I discovered water flowing back in via these rear drain holes .
At age 71 there's not much chance of me busting out the floor and recasting it agaion , nor digging in deeper more effective drainage . That's why I'm considering simply raising the floor so it slopes down to the front of the building .