Excellent method. I tried this method a few months ago on a 4'x10' floor going from 2" to nothing. Worked great. No problems or issues at all. I was very generous with the water though. I used a very fine mist on a water hose and soaked it all the way evenly till the sand mix was totally soaked and stopped adding water when the mix started to have a thin layer of water in some areas. This was in a closet. Will be doing the rest of the area 10'x16' then laying laminate flooring. 😃Great method for a 1 man show...
I knew i had seen a dry pour somewhere on youtube before this whole craze went up. Congrats man. My dad actually did a dry pur in our driveway when i was a kid in the 90's.
Shawn, after 8 months. how it is holding on so far? i am planing to do it tomorrow but i will do it for layer just to reduce the amount not mixed with wayer
When floating floors for tile, sand topping mix or "deck mud" is only dampened like snow. It will remain loose and fluffy until you compact it. You should be able to compact it into a ball without it getting your hand dirty, then crumble it again like a snowball. You can screed it, then give it a finish troweling that prevents the loose sand particles. My concern is that yours may have a dry layer on bottom, and may not be bonded to the slab. That's not always a bad thing, that dry layer can isolate movement from the slab. Sand topping is not usually a wear layer, it has good compressive strength, but will crumble if not protected with tile or decking.
You should have used concrete bonding adhesive first no matter if it's concrete or wood as a substrate. What you put down or move around and break apart after a period of time. And you will constantly have dust coming out from the edges. You can also put bonding adhesive in the water that you spray it makes it stick together better. I know that's too late now but you should always test a small area before doing the whole project.
Life is simple people complicate it. You my friend are one of those people who do not complicate it. Think complexly act simply. Work smarter not harder find the easiest solution from point a to point B. You got the formula my friend
I’m not trying to be rude. Everything about this is more difficult than mixing it and putting it down. This isn’t simplifying anything for anyone that actually knows what they are doing. It’s impressive, entertaining, and sketchy as fuck
Interesting- I’m going to try something similar, but will apply a bonding agent prior to application. Also will work it like a concrete slab and polish it up with straight Portland cement as it cures to make it shiny smooth!
I used Type N motar Mix, and It worked amazing. It formed a satin smooth finish. It is very easy to work with and cheap. I've had it in a room now for 8 years and never cracked. I walk on it every day
This is great. Self leveler failed in my bathroom (over OSB), and I was gonna getting it all away, but now I can use this to prep my floor for tiling above it. I'll try it with dry thinset and let you know. If it doesn't work I'll just getting it as originally planned.
this is my situation right now. I used 5000 concrete for a 1 inch bed but I think it was an overkill. I didn't want to go with the self lever. I tried the Sand Mix topping and bedding cement but I can't make it strong, when it dries it sounds hallow.
This method is not correct and will not last. Use bonding agent, sand topping on areas needing 1/2" or more Then a resurfacer for final thin somewhat self leveling layer over the whole floor. You could even use epoxy as final self level layer instead if yoir lppking for an epoxy finish. Follow all manufacturers direction and it will be cheap and correct. Your labor is 2/3 the cost.
I tied this. I followed this video exactly. It is horribly dusty and messy. I thought it was going well. I kept referring back to the video. I noticed some of the bags I bought had little rocks in them (way too many) I had to sift them causing more dust. In the end, there were just as many if not more differences in high to low spots than when I began. Not only that. It's horribly weak and often crumbles if you accidentally walk on it. I understand I may have done something wrong but I followed this and even used concrete adhesive. I just don't think it's the answer unless you extremely patient and enjoy trial and error.... and dust... there are large self leveling systems at floor and decor. Use that. Using that at the moment and it's perfect. For lft use the large leveling clips
You didn't do anything "wrong" besides following this video which is exactly what not to do. Sand topping mix (or deck mud which is almost the same called) is a weak and brittle underlayment for tile. it is meant to be laid between 1 and 2 inches thick. It is also meant to be mixed thoroughly and correctly, and compacted as you screed. It should also be laid over metal lath. It should not be laid dry and sprayed down with water like this. Even if water does make it all the way through, it will just be like brittle cookie dough (even more than its expected brittleness when done correctly). For reference, sand topping mix is just a small amount of cement mixed with a LOT of uniform sand. Concrete is sand, random rocks, and about 3x more more cement. Self levelling compounds are cements (usually more than one), sands, acrylic glues, and several other mystery ingredients that allow them to flow, bond to the old floor and not fall apart when spread only a few mm thick. The 3 things do completely different jobs and cant really be substituted for each other.
So you watched a video on you tobe of some random guy and you just copied him without doing any research or anything? If the mix had rocks? In it it could have got damp already and clumped and that would mean your mix was too old or not stored properly. I hate working with cement mixes they are really hard to get right if you dont know what youre doing and to undo is a nightmare. I will only work with lime because lime is forgiving if you mess up you can easily remove it. Also i am just a housewife here..if i was levelling my floors i would have levelling string all over the place to keep me right levlling is not easy peasy drag a straight edge over it and youll be grand ..if youre working alone you need a grid of some sort to keep you right section by section. And attempting an entire floor this size at once alone would be in my opinion kinda crazy. Id have built a reasonable sized wooden grid and levelled that above my line first and then fill in section at a time to see how it went in a small area let that set. Also id use at least pva to prime the old cement and wet down the old cement first because how would it bond to the old cement without something to bond the layers together? Maybe its fine for this guy cos he has a floor on top ..hes not bothered if it dusts or not. I just think cement work is a skillfull type of work and if you dont know what youre doing following a random video online is insane. Nobody would recomend this as a levelling technique .thus is experimental. And if youre super confident of experimenting great but even then dont do the entire floor in one sweep and expect there to be no problems with the epxeriement. 😂
Looks good and I had the same issues with self leveler. I'm looking to do the same thing on my basement cement floor. How is it holding up? Can I put peel and stick tiles directly over the Sand Topping Mix?
I did this on my basement floor. Ended up using self leveling underlayment on top of it. Didn't need much after this method though. Holds up well and should work with tile on top.
Its kind of loose but looks good. I have a floor and it will cost me maybe $2k to level the floor but i think i will go that route and just use a few bags of lvl cement
Let us know how it went and any tips to help someone else. I put the drycore floor over the top of this so I didn't have to be pool table perfect. The two things that I found were when the sandmix was feathered out super thin, like a couple of grains deep, hitting it with the water would wash it away. So you have to just mist that. Then where it was deeper you have to get enough water moisture on there to cure it completely. I had two spots that were not cured the next day so I just rewet them. At that stage I could walk on the stuff to get over to the areas that I hadn't sprayed enough on due to the distance from the sprayer.
I wonder if I can do this to my basement slab!!!The slab cracked and I want to instal tile over.The slab is Not level anymore and like u.said that self leveling is so Expensive.
My garage floor is uneven and has cracks in it. would I need to fill in the cracks first before doing this or could I use the concrete in the cracks, wait a day and then level over it?
Either or your choice. If the cracks are deep and you are using a thinner top coat and it may flow down the cracks you may need to patch the cracks first.
ive seen tile guys pitch floors in commercial buildings and gyms/big showers and they use a sand mix that is damp...i think they call it a dry mix but basically what you did but the mix is damp when they spread it and pitch it to the drains
They refer to it as mud. And it's not sand topping mix. It has mortar in it. Take some time learn what they're really doing before posting your opinion. Thanks
We just tried this to level out a long divot in a concrete floor after removing tile and grinding off thinset. We are going to lay down vinyl plank over it. Will report back!
Great let us know. I found that in areas around the edges where it is really thin too heavy a spray of water, and it can wash the stuff out. I mean where it is like an 1/8 thick. The thickness of the grains of sand. Then you can see I was standing 10 feet away and spraying towards the sheetrock? I was being careful not to soak the sheet rock and I found some areas the next day that were not hardened. I just sprayed more water on those areas because now I could walk up close. They were nicely hardened up the next day. We are using the building now and it is great.
Good question. I think I would get the sand mix and mix some up like regular concrete and level most of what you can. You know, try to do the best you can with that and then level the rest with the dry mix. When you mix the stuff with water first it just doesn't want to 'feather out' nicely. It will keep pulling up off the floor. So that is the area that you can use the dry stuff on. I would say I had between zero and one inch that I was trying to level. If I did this again I am thinking I would also wet the floor first and then put the dry right over that. At least in the deeper spots. Just so the floor is moist in the deeper areas.
Can you just use sand mix to level down to 1 inch and just use the self leveling to get it down to 1/4-in? Maybe only 10bags of self leveling was all that needed?
I would think that you could but I am not an expert. I would want to know that the self leveling stuff could go over concrete that is fresh. Less then 30 days old? I you are planning something like that I would try a small area somewhere first and see what happens. We put drycore floor over it and then a finish floor so we didn't have to be perfect.
High quality thinset and good straight edges will get you much better results, the thinset has way longer working time and is way easier to smooth out, and you'll find it's super sticky and stays where it's put, I've used everything as a professional and have only used self leveler once and hated it, it's cost and extremely hard to work with makes it a never thing for homeowners.
What kind of thin set are you mentioning ? Does the bag say thin set? I need somthing That Sticks to offset a angel / pitch in the floor and isn't going to runn off .
@@vincebonilla4006 make sure it's a thinset that has adhesive already in it and you can control how much angle you want to pitch it by how much water you add the more water the less angle you can do but if you mix it on the thicker side you can build it up in layers like a quarter of a inch at a time.
MICHAEL... I'm want to put this over brick pavers outside in my backyard. Can thinset be used on an outdoor application? Also do you think I can get away with a thinset that doesn't have the polymer adhesive in it as it is adhering to a course substrate [brick] not something slick
@@mylra4689 that's actually a good question, for exterior it may be better to use a cement product designed to be thin, the problem I believe you'll have in the future is the pavers can raise and lower over time probably not the best base to build over, but you could always do a test in a small area over the bricks with a good thinset and see how it holds up before trying the whole thing also if the thinset is going to be covered with something don't see it being as much of an issue.
Don't. Coming from someone who knows, don't. This will crack and peel... You want to skimp... Figure out where your lowest points are... Any area 2 inches lower then your heighest point... You can drypack those areas and screed (don't use 2x4... You need something straight)...add a little admix to you drypack mixture Or if you really want to save. Get cement board... Cut into tile foot by foot pieces.. Use thinset to stick it to the floor in lowest points like tile... skim with thinset any joints after applying cement board netting joint tape... After your done. Get self leveler and level your floor... This will save you shoot if bags. Don't do this...
@@bryentd2461 Google drypack or drypack mortar bed... You basically get cheap $7 a bag cement... Moisten it just enough to make it like sand kids use to build Sand castles and then level it and shape it how you need to... However, keep it at least 2 inches thick... Of it cracks.. Any cement that can go thinner then 2 inches has chemical additives that allow for that. That's why it will be $25-$45.
@@i60rl26 ah, I need about 100sq ft of about an inch. I was going to use portland cement and sand to fill the gap and then use self leveling compound to flatten the whole surface. If I used full self leveling, I would need about 25 bags with each bag costing $30.
Why will it crack? Isn't this pretty much the same method Egyptians used? On structures that lasted thousands of years and to move pyramids weighing more than most can math?
So cement needs to bee mixed right. Thats why they have cement mixers right? Maybe this guy is super confident about his cement work but i feel like most people this would not work out. It looks like its very thin in places as well. Im not even understanding the sdvantage of it being dry? He could have just done all that with mixed cement a chunk at a time with an old basin or something. Just put you levels down eith string first too cos you need to know as you go along where youre bringing it up to. Set strings or lazers if you have em.this is baffling me.
I have a 9 x 18 project and am considering doing something similar BUT laying down a primer first then laying down the sand mix (some spots are about an inch thick out of level) then once it's dry enough to step on but not cured pour a self leveler mixed with a deluded primer in the water to achieve a smooth flat surface that will only require a couple of bags of leveler.
@@sergepikhotskiy It worked just fine. Grinding the old cement floor first gave it a fresh surface to bond to. Wetting the cement with a deluded bonding agent helped from drawing out moisture from the sand mix too quickly and drawing it in to bond better. (Sand mix was only used in the low areas to bring it 'close' while maintaining enough thickness to maintain integrity.) Spraying all surfaces then with the deluded bonding agent and before the sand mix had cured allowed the floor leveler to bond better as well. (I also used deluded bonding agent when mixing the sand mix and leveler. The final pour was 1/4 to 3/8 inch thick. I used a spiked roller that also helped in leveling to a more uniformed thickness and blend the separate pours as I was working alone. The final finish was smooth and HARD. I let it stand for several days before walking on then got a 'free' tarp from the lumber yard that their lumber is wrapped up in during shipping. Let the cement covered for 30 days while it cured so I could walk on it and then used a penetrating sealer (3 coats) to give it a 'finish'. While I always would have standing/running water in my basement in the spring due to the high water table , I only had damp spots this year. Can't expect to completely block the water in an 1860's basement with stacked stone walls with no drainage, and an old cement floor that was poured with no vapor barrier under it. I'm happy with the results.
Well, we have lived in here since it was done and I don't see any problems yet. Remember the part that I used dry is no deeper then 1inch and we used drycore floor and then finished floor. If something goes bad I would come back and tell people but I don't thing that is going to happen. What could go wrong? It can't come up or float away.
Hmm, you are right about that. I did paint the whole floor area with a Quikrete bonding agent but now I am wondering if that stuff has to be put on right before the the application of the cement? I let a week elapse between when that was put on and the sand mix. I did not paint the all ready applied cement with the bonding agent because one; I didn't think of it and two; it was really a rough texture that probably didn't need the bonding agent? I put down the drycore and then a Costco plank floor and we have been using it for a month and it is fine. Feels great when we walk on it and is perfectly level. Really liked the Costco floor, a lot better then some stuff we bought from the big box store 5 years ago.
If the underlayment fails, the dricore fails. If the dricore fails, the finished floor fails. It's not rocket science. I'd also be highly concerned about not having a primer to chemically bond this to the slab. I'd also be highly concerned about not using enough water to properly set and bond the sand mix. Yikes. You saved 1000$ on not buying slef leveler, but you'll have to rip it all out with the dricore and your finished floor in a couple years.
@@RelaxedPoo But why will it fail? No one is answering that part. They just keep saying this is wrong even though the same method worked for thousands of years.
Wow, this has been on RU-vid for 2 years? I thought they would ban misinformation videos. This video has probably cost people so much time, material, and mess. This video is very harmful and incorrect. Please do not try this at home or in anyone you care abouts home. This is all wrong!
