Re-do basement floor?

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Author Message   Eire Citizen Username: Eire Post Number: 161 Registered: 7-2005 Posted on Wednesday, May 10, 2006 - 11:23 am:        Hi all, due to a little water in the basement, sump pump and french drain are going into one wall of the basement this weekend. Our basement is finished; however, one thing I notice big-time is that our basement floor is really uneven, with high and low spots, etc. - 100 year old house, etc... Would really like to have the floor leveled and concrete(or whatever) poured so we can put a new rug down. Is this a HUGE job, i.e. do we need a mason? Or is this potentially a handyperson type of job? Just want to know how to prioritize... thanks!   peteglider Citizen Username: Peteglider Post Number: 1944 Registered: 8-2002 Posted on Wednesday, May 10, 2006 - 2:26 pm:        If its not a huge space, you can buy and probably put down yourself, self leveling cement. That assumes the floor is solid enough. Heres a link to some options. http://www.mapei.com/MapeiAmericas/en/products_line3.htm Good luck -- Pete   Travis Citizen Username: Travis Post Number: 420 Registered: 6-2004 Posted on Thursday, May 11, 2006 - 6:31 am:        Custom's SLC is much cheaper than Mapei's and is used a lot by DIY tilers. You can find it at HD in the tiling section. But it is also much more expensive than run-of-the-mill concrete.   Eire Citizen Username: Eire Post Number: 166 Registered: 7-2005 Posted on Tuesday, May 16, 2006 - 10:34 pm:        New question: sump pump put in this weekend by Gary Gregori - what a nice guy!! Anyway, our cement floors (which were under carpet) we can finally see are what he described as "thin," and I concur - it's incredibly uneven, there are big chunks out of some spots, some spots look like maybe they were fixed or something, but I can even see spots where there's visible dirt from the ground below! So, will it be possible to just pour more cement over the mess that's already there, and just level it from there, or will we have to rip up the cement floor and start from scratch? I hope we can pour over what's there, for what it's worth, but any feedback would be appreciated. I just want to have some idea of what to expect... Thanks!   Bob K Supporter Username: Bobk Post Number: 11533 Registered: 5-2001 Posted on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 7:44 am:        I hope the places where you can see the ground are where chunks are missing! If not the following doesn't apply. I would fill in any holes or places with missing "chunks" with regular concrete and then use the self leveling products to even out the floor. As Pete and Travis point out this stuff ain't cheap, so as much as you can do with regular concrete the more economical. A friend put down hardwood floors in his house on Long Island that is built on a slab. He claims he spent more on leveling compound than he did for the wood flooring, although I think he is exagerating.   Former Cowgirl Citizen Username: Formercowgirl Post Number: 91 Registered: 3-2006 Posted on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 11:15 am:        Eire: Can you give me an idea of what putting a sump pump in costs and entails? It's on our to-do list. Thanks!   Eire Citizen Username: Eire Post Number: 168 Registered: 7-2005 Posted on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 1:04 pm:        We did a sump pump and french drain on just one of the walls of our basement, since we're on a slope, and the little water that came in came in from that side - it's the one anyone would be concerned about. Now - had lots of the major companies out, and they'd talk about their systems, and had literature trashing everybody else, and wanted to charge somewhere around $5k to cut through the walls (finished basement)and do french drain all over, and then we'd have to pay someone to fix the walls, etc - another few thousand. Gary Gregori - Gregory waterproofing in Clark - charged us $1500, put in the sump pump and french drain on that side, found a way to dig under the wall so NO work has to be done on the wall, and there's a 25 year guarantee. Nicest guy, too. Found out about him right here on mol... I highly recommend him. Just get ready b/c if you use one of the really big companies, it's such a hard-sell approach, we kept signing up for it, then changing our minds, b/c they make you feel like they'll give you a great deal as long as you do it NOW, etc.... luckily, legally we have 3 days to change our minds... we did that twice ... then when we changed our minds, they kept calling back over and over, and dropping the price even more if we did it now..... OY. feel free to pl me if you want any additional info!