DIY Related: Sealing Self Levelling Compound

[Hexagon]

Howdy all.

Wonder if you can help with a question about sealing a DIY SLC job before tiling it.


A professional recommended using a self levelling compound on an old concrete kitchen floor but let us down due to being too busy to do the job.

A 2nd "professional" tried to put down a SLC but failed miserably (3x). Seeing him in action on the 3rd time, we realised he was out of his depth and thought we might get someone else to do it before getting him to tile later.

floor.JPGfloor2.JPG

Unfortunately his efforts had to be lifted up (cracked pic) as the next day there were cracks all over the floor and crunching sounds underfoor on a supposedly dry floor.

After watching a couple of youtube vids and buying a big bucket and spikey roller, we decided to do the SLC ourselves with Sika latex mix (couldn't have done any worse really).
Before we go ahead with tiling does the surface of the SLC need to be primed/sealed?

-Concrete kitchen floor. (3x3.5m)
-Sealed with Ronseal OneCoat concrete seal.
-2x 25kgs bags used with 4 litres more water than stated on back of packs (read elsewhere on here that mix was too thick otherwise).
-Slightly dusty floor.

Should it be ok/necessary to seal the SLC with the ronseal onecoat again, or pva mix before applying adhesive and tiles?



Thanks for reading so far.

[tilerjason]

i always use a primer on every floor , i use a standard acrylic about £8 for 5lt at trade shops but to be safe if you phone technical help, on the product u put down, they will tell you what the best product is to use

[Mike]

and be careful of adding too much water, you're nearly doubling the water as its 5 litres of water per bag, you're going to add 9

[diamondtiling]

Its the floor that needs priming first prior to laying the SLC. Mix as per the bag instructions, dont add excess water.
When finished do not use 'ronseal or pva' use an acrylic bond (sbr).

[jay]

when you say slightly dusty floor just how bad is it can you scratch the floor say with a nail and how easy is it
and how clean is the concrete to start with

[davebates]

clean floor as much as possible, hoover and wipe with a damp rag or sponge to remove dust then prime with sbr diluted with water think i use a 3:1(This needs to dry) Then slc, mix the two bags at the same time and pour them together you really need to use a level and and find your low spots i will sometimes put screws in to the concrete at the right levels and make sure slc covers them, people have different methods its just a case of trowling it into the corners and leaving it alone, once hard tile straight on to it, good luck and if im wrong about anything guys please correct as im always learning