Uneven Concrete Floor In Living Room And Dodgy Tiling In Bathroom

[torrenova]

The living room floor of this new (problematic) house the missus has got is way uneven near the entrance and not because of a day joint or anything like that, just crap workmanship !

The original idea was to tile it or perhaps to lay a floating wooden floor.

In the UK one firm I used put down a sort of acrylic self levelling compound which set after some period of time and that solved the problem. Now even if that exists here, I can envisage problems with Somchai trying to understand what it is, how to mix it for the temperature here, how to apply it and lots of other things. Perhaps I am being too pessimistic (no I am not !).

So what would you do ? I don't think laying a covering screed is the answer but ..........

With a floor you have more leeway for cushioning underneath. You could try and chip away at the high ground ?

Any ideas or suggestions appreciated.

No in the bathroom, the tiles have been laid so poorly that water does not flow away to the plughole. What do you think ? dig them up and relay (by someone who knows what they are doing ?) or just put some new tiles over the current ones ? Only a rough 2m * 2m small bathroom.

[Rimmer]

Knock off the high spots, then to make small holes in the exisitng floor to help with "keying" a new level screed over the whole mess. ( the contractor will probably use a Makita hammer drill for this) Use a bonding agent as well otherwise new cement over old cement will just pop off. You can level and lay tiles all at one go. The cement at one end may be 5cm and the other only 1cm but that's OK. To try and put a level wooden floor on an uneven base is not a very good idea. You got to start with level first.

Have not seen any self leveling pour down leveling compound here but that's not to say it does not exist, check your local friendly Homemart shops also check with TOA and SILKA websites and catalogs.

In your bathroom you can lay new tiles over old ones as long as the old tiles are properly fixed, for the small amount of work though it is always better to tear up the old tiles and put down new. Tap the existing tiles for hollow sounds and check the surface of the old tiles for hairline cracks. Use the best anti algae grout you can find to finish the job.

[dumball]

Buy your contractor a 'Spirit level' and make him use it after you show him which way up it goes .

[torrenova]

Knock off the high spots, then to make small holes in the exisitng floor to help with "keying" a new level screed over the whole mess. ( the contractor will probably use a Makita hammer drill for this) Use a bonding agent as well otherwise new cement over old cement will just pop off. You can level and lay tiles all at one go. The cement at one end may be 5cm and the other only 1cm but that's OK. To try and put a level wooden floor on an uneven base is not a very good idea. You got to start with level first.

Have not seen any self leveling pour down leveling compound here but that's not to say it does not exist, check your local friendly Homemart shops also check with TOA and SILKA websites and catalogs.

In your bathroom you can lay new tiles over old ones as long as the old tiles are properly fixed, for the small amount of work though it is always better to tear up the old tiles and put down new. Tap the existing tiles for hollow sounds and check the surface of the old tiles for hairline cracks. Use the best anti algae grout you can find to finish the job.

I tried to ge through to the missus that Somchai just pouring a shitty cement mix over the existing screed was bound to end in failure but I'm not sure it sank in (perhaps I should bury her in the new 24" screed ?). What sort of mix are we looking at here and is the bonding agent something to mix in with the cement ?

As for doing the tiling at the same time. I'm not sure Somchai will be up or that. The missus has bought some tiles and thinks the guy (who I don't know) is going to put them down for Bt1000 ! Would it not be better to get the screed out of the way first then move on ?

Also, what would you advise to adhere the tiles to the screed ?

As for best anti algae grout, do you know any makes or have recommendations ?

Cheers for everyone's help.

[Rimmer]

Methinks you should engage a proper contractor, or at least one that knows which way up to lay the

cement.

Bonding agent, buy it from your local building supply store, comes in cans and has instructions for mixing in with the cement on the outside of the can, about 600 baht a can.

Tiles are usually laid against three nylon lines two will be parallel, and the third line will be at right angles to the other two. The nylon lines also give the height to which the tiles are laid to. The correct level can be found with a decent size spirit level placed over each of the nylon lines. Tiles are laid one at a time on a little square of morter. when the tile is tapped down it will squeeze out excess which should be trimmed off, It should be square and level with the two parallel lines and in line with the 90 degree nylon line and hence the other tiles with NO air gaps under the tile and all laid at the same height.

[torrenova]

Methinks you should engage a proper contractor, or at least one that knows which way up to lay the

cement.

Ain't that the truth !

The reality is that this is her pet project but it has gone from a thought process where I was going through the costs of actually making the place habitable with an extension for some shop thing she has ideas about and low and behold she's bought it. Very low staged payments for 5 years and then a balloon payment to get chanote.

That is all very well but like young guys with their first car (me included) she wants to run before she can walk and is not able to prioritise from a limited budget. In many wyas I hope that she gets her fingers burned with something like a shitty floor and then I can just sort it out without her interfering. Of course, better all round if she just slows down a bit and we get no cock ups.

Not really her fault (well it is but I am making allowances) but she went to look at tiles for the living room when we were still discussing the wood / tile option and bought some tiles. Somehow she bought 15 boxes but when asked how she knew it would be enough and not like 20 times the right amount she said that the guy in the tile shop said that is about what it would be :D :D

I went back and got another 10 boxes. Will probably need 20 boxes but as they change the patterns so frequently, nothing wrong with a few spares.

I feel myself getting older by the minute but you guys are keeping me sane, just Thanks

[kamalabob2]

Terrenova: Tile Grout comes from several companies and several GRADES in Thailand. We have had great luck with two brands that are readily available Up Country (but the better grades are NOT on sale at ALL shops) CROCODILE (in Thai lettering with a large logo of a Crocodile) with on the left side of the bag in ENGLISH and Thai MICROBAN logo and wording and on the right side of the bag face WATER REPELLENT "Hydrophobic" lettering and logo. Only a few baht more per bag, but worth it to not have mould.

Another quality brand is WEBER and they also offer the anti mould and water repelent "line" of tile grout.

Both companies have good product brochures and experts in Bangkok who speak English if you have a question.

Pay attention to the various colors of these bags. I have some Lemon color when I wanted other wise.

Question: Did your wife buy one of the "Government Houses" that seem to pop up in many communities with a low down payment, low monthly payments, but sort of close to each other, OR was it a private developer building a "subdivision"? In our town of Satuk about 400 "Government houses" just stopped being constructed, even though my understanding was that they had all been sold. Thai citizens had gone to a large "town hall" to sign up for these homes, but there has not been activity in over three months.

[torrenova]

Yeah, she had some mad idea that she'd get one of these government houses some 100m from our house and run some shop from the side of it. No thought into the logistics and now arguments ensue along the lines of : you don't buy a 500k car and then pay another 500k to make it work do you ? especially when the end result is a car which is worth only 700k !!!!!

As for the shop, don't even get me started on that. No idea, no thought and just a stupid girl running before she can walk. I'll do the basics and then I'm backing off. It can fall down for all I care.

[stevehaigh]

try this

http://www.sika.com/dist-news-patch-250

[tutsiwarrior]

what about...

say that one has a patio that is presently level and needs to have contour added to allow rainwater to flow off to a corner drain opening much like a bathroom floor. The patio is presently tiled. I'm presuming that the tiles will have to be removed and the base concrete contoured/sculpted to give the desired 'angle' then re-tiled.

what can forum members recommend regarding correct procedure, materials, etc?

thanx in advance...

[thaibeachlovers]

An old house my ex was using as an office had a very uneven floor, so I just put a layer of concrete over the top, using wood strips to the correct level and a long piece of wood to smooth it. Worked just fine, and I was a concrete "novice" back then. Would require that you could raise the floor level though, as if the layer was too thin, it would probably break up, unless you tiled it with large tiles.

As for the bathroom, I'd say you'd really need to retile, rather than lay over the top of the old ones.