I would appreciate some advice on floor leveling please. The builders have completed a new garage and prior to painting the garage floor, I would like to level it using leveling compound. The floor is very dusty no matter how many times I sweep it. Is it OK to put the leveling compound straight onto the - dusty - floor or should I put a coat of PVA down first to seal it and if so in what strength? Thanks
No to the PVA, but wet the floor first before using the self leveling compound, be warned it's not self leveling you have to trowel it level.
any you would recommend Phil? also ive heard people say they have used it as a thin layer to provide a key, followed by sand and cement and then another layer of self level to finish. does this sound ok?
Its quite hard to level. I have seen contractors use a spiked roller, this helps remove any bubbles as well as help level it further
Also depends on how much out of level it is there is thin (upto 5mm) and deep leveling floor compound.
Thank you all for your replies. I have not used leveling compound before so I wanted to get expert advice. The reason for my question is the instructions on the bag in the store say 'to remove all dust'. This is impossible as the surface of the floor is very dusty and no amount of sweeping removes it, possibly due to the very wet concrete from the ready mix lorry? The mention of PVA, again, came from reading instructions on a bag in the store but I gather this is not recommended by the experts?
The trouble with pva is it forms a layer in its own right, you would then be laying your SLC on to the pva and not the concrete floor, there is a big chance of you getting hollow spots which would cause the SLC to crack very easily because in it's own right it's not very strong, it's strength comes from the surface it's stuck to, wetting the surface first eliminates the dust problem, any branded SLC will do providing it is designed for the thickness required, as said above there are fine types for depths up to 5/6mm then heavier grades for thicker applications.
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