Wavy Concrete...Need it fixed for Santa

[chappo]

Righto, just spent the last 3 months renovating the kitchen and living room. Basically converting the single garage over to more space for the living room, opening up the kitchen to a galley style looking over the living area and the back patio. Everything to date has been going ok until now.

I have somewhere between 5mm and 30mm variation in the concrete slab, lumps, bumps and holes. Now I do have myself to blame in one area where I filled the garage step down (100mm) back up to slab height and a little higher at the cold join, I did this so that I could bring it back down smooth and flush. However here is the rub, my wife (who is trying to kill me I am sure) has selected a 600mm x 600mm floor tile, great me thinks to myself should be able to whack this down quick and have time for a beer or three.

I was wrong. As I was setting out I noticed the floor problem mentioned above but I thought myself I could take some of the variations up with the tile glue. WRONG. The bigger problem is making the big tiles sit flat and as they are a semi gloss the variations are quite pronounced so much so I have ripped up what I started (thankfully the glue had not gone off).

Now I know I need to grind and use a leveling compound but does anyone have some pointers, techniques and or products they have used that could make life easier on me old tired back.

[re do 4 u]

i have just had my bathroom tiled and the tiler layed them on a render base, about 25mm thick. he used tile glue over the set render, so the render wasn't perfectly flat, but it was better than the concrete under it.

[dzcook]

dont know which home show it was on the box but am sure have seen them use some sort of 2 pack mix that was mixed and then poured on then self levels and then sets hard enough for tiles etc to be put on but sorry cant tell u name of product
might give u a nother idea anyway

[soundman]

As said above there are a number of choices.
The tile industry has the solutions for you.
1. a render type product that looks like a cross between mortar & grout when it goes down specifical designed for the purpose I think you provide the agrigate( sand) the rest is in the bag. Relies on your skill to get it flat & level.
2. self leveling compounds that you mix up, poor & spread & then let them doo their stuff. A formed edge is sometimes used to retain the product.


3. get a good tiler to solve your problem for you!

[chappo]

Thanks guys for your comments.

I ended up a grindin' and a boggin'. What a messy job that concrete grinding is... I think i still have dust in every crevace of my being. Anyhow it took an entire weekend to get the job done but the results are good.

I used good old Arditz with a liquid latex substrate base. This apparently is the better solution when laying tiles over old and or cracked concrete. Essentially one 20kg bag to one 5lt bottle of latex with no water. Worked an absoloute treat. Just had to use the straight edge to help it find level and done. About 8 hours to cure and can be worked on after 24 hrs. Mind you the fumes from the latex were a little unbearable.

Thanks again.

[Caliban]

Chappo
What is arditz?????
sounds like I may need to use it for a similar problem.
Cheers
Jim

[chappo]

Sorry mis spelled the product try this to get info
http://www.concrete-coatings.com/ardex2.html

Hope this helps. Drop me an email if need more help.

[burn]

Or a more local website

http://www.uespromura.com.au/vibrof.htm

My local hardware stores stock it (in the tiling section).

We used Ardit (not cheap !!!) to level our lounge room prior to laying a timber floor ...

Burn