Smoothing a concrete floor ?

[tigler]

A mate is considering renting a unit for his motorsport team.
Mostly all is good but the concrete floor is quite rough and this will be a problem.
Can anyone help with suggestions of methods to sort the floor out ?
We have considered screeding over the top and then floating it but that would obviously be very expensive in a 3000 Sq Ft unit !!

Would it be possible to grind off the surface to smooth it out ?

Any ideas anyone ?

 

[Pete.]

Yes you could grind it but it sounds like it would be more expensive than laying a screed. We have a subby grinding a floor for us right now, if you want a quote I can get you their number.

 

[tigler]

Probably wouldn't be practical if the guy is based in Kent, this unit is in the Warwick area.
Any idea what they are charging per Sq Ft ?

 

[Pete.]

Probably wouldn't be practical if the guy is based in Kent, this unit is in the Warwick area.
Any idea what they are charging per Sq Ft ?

Dunno mate but I can find out. Not a Kent-based firm, not sure where they are from but the guy on the grinder is definately a scouser. On our job in Chelsea they had the premiership cup on display in the canteen with a couple of guys guarding it today, people were having their photos taken with the cup. He went up there with is Liverpool FC top on for a photo and they told him to eff-off

 

[tigler]

Scousers will chance anything !! No offence to any scousers

 

[the snooper]

screeding would probably be the quickest and cheapest way forward i think you should talk to a supplier you will get a far more conclusive answer as to whether it would do the job
(no offence to anyone here)

 

[Omniata]

You can get surface "scrabblers" that have chains on a drum...

They take a good chunk off the surface and prepare it for a "self leveling" layer, I've seen it done and the finish is superb...
You do need to take a good lump off though as anything less than a 25mm float is not even worth thinking about as it just ends up cracking, even if "febbed" with glass fibre...

 

[scarecrow]

putting concrete on concrete doesn't work you will need to put a lair of sand between the too at 2 inches it would take about 14.5 meters

 

[Shox Dr]

I have a good friend that levels floors with plainers etc. If you want him to get in touch with you PM me

 

[rkde]

I have a guy in the unit opposite my unit who could do that job. I am in Solihull. If you want the details let me know and I will get a hold of him at the weekend

Any room in that unit for me...

 

[tigler]

I wish, I keep a bit off stuff in the unit he has now and he won't have me in the new place, he says my Lister stationary engines etc are too ugly to have around !! I need to find around 500 Sq Ft, cheap, asap !!

Will get back to you later when I've spoken to him today.
Cheers to everyone for their advice so far.

 

[Tin Can]

Hi Tigler

The company i work for got some levels wrong on a parking area we were constructing and so it was way out. As it was a big job, it would have cost a fortune to rip up and start again so we brought in a company called DP Cold Planing and they were able to put it to the correct levels with one of there cold planers.

Can speak to the groundworking lads and find out a bit more for you if this is any good - may have been used on tarmac could confirm and find out if the same principle applies to concrete

Mark

 

[tigler]

I have a guy in the unit opposite my unit who could do that job. I am in Solihull. If you want the details let me know and I will get a hold of him at the weekend

Any room in that unit for me...

Could you let me know that guys details please ? We can't find anyone more local.

 

[tomsutton529]

Is laying some sort of floor not an option?

And does the entire unit really need doing? are they no going to have a place for spares, scrap, brew area, office? all those bits dont need to have a decent floor...

 

[tigler]

Not viable to leave the floor as is. The main issue is things need to be moved across the floor and the floor is so rough that this would be at best inconvenient and at worst it would damage equipment and could be dangerous. Also, cleanliness is important and a rough floor would make sweeping up more of a pain than it normally is !!

 

[brightspark]

concrete floor grinders

just ring hss hire services up u can hire them for 80 quid a day do it yourself theres loads of places hire them out

 

[pidgeon chit welder]

Self hire of an engine driven or electric floor grinder that uses two rotors of four carborundum block on each rotor plus the fixing wedges may be the way to go if the building is completely empty. You should be able to get two sorts of blocks .. rough and medium , rough blocks should see you take off a strip 600 wide by 4 to 6 mm deep or deeper.

The biggest problem with these floor grinders is the ground off concrete needs sweeping and vacuuming up and the whole building will need a deep clean to get rid of the abrasive dust. Breathing masks are essential with plenty of spare filters.

Scabblers electric or engine driven on a rotating drum using tungsten tipped cutters can also be hired .. width from 300 mm up to 600 mm big ones. the drums are expensive and don't last too long on concrete hence the high cost of hire and replacement cutters. Again you will need to have a thorough sweep and vacuum up to get rid of all the parings and dust.

You will get a pitted floor that would also need dressing off with a floor grinder.

You should be able to get to within 70 mm of the walls and pillar bases with both floor grinders and scabblers.

Concrete floors can be acid cleaned , then neutralized , washed & dried , then given a fine resin based screed but it is very expensive and usually needs well trained people to do it for the acid used is exceedingly wicked to play with .. a full protection suit is required to play with it.

 

[Will1983]

if you mix a sand - cement (4:1) screed and put some bonding agent (PVA) in you could screed the whole floor with that. you would have to thoroughly clean (jet washer) and then paint the surface with more PVA before you start though to ensure a proper bond forms.

ive used a floor planer before when a subcontractor we used laid a floor without any proper level control (i.e screed rails) obviously the finish was terrible so he was instructed to bring a planer in to skim up to 25-30mm off in places. once down to a reasonable level he laid a screed as mentioned above. the finished screed thickness ended up being about 10-15mm thick.

 

[tomsutton529]

Not viable to leave the floor as is. The main issue is things need to be moved across the floor and the floor is so rough that this would be at best inconvenient and at worst it would damage equipment and could be dangerous. Also, cleanliness is important and a rough floor would make sweeping up more of a pain than it normally is !!

What about the bits that really need doing.. Some of the units ive been in have nice floor from the roller doors to work bays and everything else is normal crappy concrete, they have the option I suppose of sorting more floor as and when they need it...