levelling kitchen floor

[lawrenso]

Well, it is my first post - not in the trade - but need advice on levelling a kitchen floor. The house is only 3 years old, but has a hump at about 2/3rds of the length, going across the width. one side slopes off about 1cm with the other side, going towards the hallway, sloping off and down to the doorway about 3 cm's. The house is only 3 years old but don't mention NHBC as these are pathetic - used a spirit level about 30 cm long to check the floor level (as well as bowed walls etc...). I have got a guy to do the tiles, who will do some levelling and make a decent job with ceramic tiles, however, my wife has fell in love with some porcelain tile (45*45) with the machined edge. My tiler is not keen, or rather has highlighted the extra cost and time etc due to the floor needing to be exactly level

What would be the best way about getting this level. The kitchen is about 17 sq mtrs and the highest point is the highest point in the house. I believe that it is a screed floor and ideally we would like as little a step up from the hallway into the kitchen. we have laminate down through the rest of the house which comes a couple of mm's above the existing join to the tiles in the kitchen.

I have been told about a scrabbler - would this be up to the job and how long would it take to take the hump/ridge down by about 1.5cm to about a metre wide.

Also, anybody got any experience with getting UPVC door casings lifted as the space under the back door is only a few mm's - Cowboy builders eh

Thanks for any help/advice

[CON5933]

A 'SCABBLER' is usually only used on concrete thats already flakey or cracking... You'll probably need a Kango os some other heavy duty 'drill chisel' to break the hump up.. Then self leveller to sort the rest of the floor out.
What is the upvc door frame fitted to at the top....any room between the frame and the lintel?

[lawrenso]

Originally Posted by CON5933

What is the upvc door frame fitted to at the top....any room between the frame and the lintel?

Hi Con

I will have a look at this when I get home, however I do believe it is straight up to the metal lintel bar.

In regards to getting the concrete broken up etc - where would I be able to find a company that could do it for me (ie what to look under in yellow pages). My tiler is Cards In so is only available on the weekends and we will have a weekend for the levelling/breaking up - followed by the kitchen fitting in the week, and the tiling the following weekend.

Cheers

Lawrenso

[CON5933]

Any 'general builder' would be able to do it.... to be honest though, for a metre wide and 1.5cm deep i'd be more inclined to hire a slitter/grinder with the appropriate disc and a drill chisel..
criss cross the hump (like a big chess board) to the required depth and take it off with the chisel... (use water for cutting...coolant & dust..goggles and dust mask)

If your door frame goes right up to the lintel then as you said, dodgy builders or measurements to begin with..(or the wrong door frame in the 1st place) are you saying that there's no space for tiling up to the door because of no clearance? If so, I think you might just have to work around it. You could make it a semi circular feature with no tiles in the 'door sweep' just an inlaid mat?

[Dave]

Your PVC door should be able to be lifted by about 5mm to 8mm by means of adjustment on the hinges via an alankey. With this house only being about 3yrs old the your floor will be whats known as a warmer floor, hence the concrete is laid on top off a 70 to 100mm polysytrene base( kingspan). This then makes the floor classed as a floating floor so you need to use flexible adhesive and flexi grout. The hump can be reduced with a scrabbler but you will still have to level because the format of tile you have chosen needs a very flat substrate to acheive the best results....Good luck......

[lawrenso]

Thanks for all the replies guys.

The floor is off level as I, and others believe because the builder started screeding from the front of the house, with the kitchen at the back - with a cast concrete step down into the garage (built in) from the kitchen/utility. The trouble is they either cast the step too high or started the screeding too low - so they have had to mess about going across the kitchen between the hall door and the Garage door - what a cock up. I did have the NHBC out about it this and multiple other things (damn - never spotted them spurrs!!) and the inspector used a spirit level about 1 foot long and said the builder only had to level by the hallway door (and they only say this in a letter, after they have left, and won't change their minds about it - same for our en-suite tiled floor - said that I accepted it and did not want anything done )

the idea about a cut out for the mat is a great one - and I will also see if I can get a few more mm's on the door - now we can only have a very thin mat down because of the door.

does anybody know of links for the type of mats you get in commercial buildings with the metal edge around the hole for them??

Cheers

Lawrenso

[CON5933]

Hi Lawrenso,
i think we've all been on the recieving end of dodgy work before...

Vyna-Plush - Entrance Matting - COBAeurope.com

That's a link for 'mats' but there are plenty out there, you could even think about takin the screed down in the cut out deep enough (17 to 20mm ish) to take a good 'coir' doormat,

good luck mate.

[lawrenso]

Originally Posted by CON5933

Hi Lawrenso,
i think we've all been on the recieving end of dodgy work before...

Vyna-Plush - Entrance Matting - COBAeurope.com

That's a link for 'mats' but there are plenty out there, you could even think about takin the screed down in the cut out deep enough (17 to 20mm ish) to take a good 'coir' doormat,

good luck mate.

Thanks for that Con that is a very good idea - especially as we have two little kids and 2 dogs trapsing in and out in this weather.

As for being on the bad end - with this house we got a life's worth!!

Cheers

Lawrenso
----
Hi All,

just reviving this to ask the following - what tool would be faster to remove the hump/ridge (taking into account time and cost)

I have a choice of

Concrete Planer HSS Hire › Concrete Planer

Diamond Grinder (Petrol or 110) HSS Hire › Electric Floor Grinder or HSS Hire › High Speed Grinder

Scabbler - HSS Hire › Multi-Head Floor Scabbler

Again this is 1 - 1.5cm and about 4-5 feet across the room (from kickboards to wall), only looking at about 1 ft either side of the ridge - I dont really want to use a jack-hammer due to a Radon Membraime etc underneath and the potential damage I could cause

Cheers

Steve

[Dave]

i would say the electric flor grinder as that will leave the best finish..........