first time self leveling

[spudgun]

hi guys
used bal multibase today for the first time, just a few questions
1.what kind of consistency should i have been looking for
2.what area should i be working at one time
3.what is the best way to level it out ,i was using a battern
the reason i ask is found it hard to get a good finish ,and guess it is me not the product,this is the first time i have used any self level ,by the way

 

[DHTiling]

Your consistency is governed by the correct amount of water.....this is specified on the bags of leveller.......exceeding this can cause a weak mixture.......

I use a float to spread to required thickness and some fixers use a spiked roller as well.....

 

[grumpygrouter]

It is not necessarily you Spudgun. SLC is not the easiest stuff to use by any means. I tend to smooth with a plasterers feather if room allows. If not, I use a piece of "L" section steel I got from B&Q. I find if you mix in accordance with the bag instructions (bal multibase, i must clarify) then it is a wee bit too thick, so I tend to thin it slightly with a tad more water.

 

[Gazzer]

Believe me the brand of leveller makes a difference and IMO Mapei takes some beating. Their latex leveller is so nice to use. I use a spiked roller too and this can make a difference also.

 

[DHTiling]

This is one i am using a lot at the moment...

Water-bored ultra-fast hardening self levelling fibre reinforced smoothing compound.
Applications:
Fiberplan is used for smoothing and levelling from 3 to 10 mm over adequately anchored wood substrates and wooden boarding where good resistance to loads and traffic is required; Fiberplan is suitable for wheeled chair traffic and for heated floors.
Fiberplan can only be used internally.
Smoothing of old and new timber floors: wooden boarding, chip-board panels, plywood, parquet.
Smoothing cement, terrazzo, old ceramic tile, natural stone substrates. Coverage
1.6 kg/m2 per mm of thickness. Packaging
25 kg bags.

 

[spudgun]

yeah i found the first lot i mixed up quite thick ,so i did had alittle more water what area should i work at one time ,and do you slide the l metel back and forth or just smooth out as you go

 

[top tiler]

we get though pallets of self leveler a week bigest mistake is it does not self level it is self smoothing unless it is deep get yourself a pin rake and a spiked roller it makes a big diffrence for example we laid 200m2 on monday in 1h30min there was 3 of us

 

[spudgun]

not to sure what a spiked roller is and how it is used

 

[grumpygrouter]

With BAL, you only get about 25mins in the bucket so you can't mix up a full bag anyway (well, I don't) so really you are only doing couple of m2 at a time. I start out using a trowel to spread and smooth and then run over the top with a straight edge. I find that you get accululations on the straight edge which, if you go back over leaves deposits where you have already smoothed so you have to start smoothing again with a clean edge.

 

[top tiler]

pin rake is a tool you can set the hight that you want to put down a spiked roller is just that a roller with spikes it helps moves the latex around to flow better they are not cheap so clean it you can get spear spikes

 

[spudgun]

thanks for the the tips, how would you use the spiked roller and where would i get one want to make sure i am mixing it right what should it look and feel like when you use it

 

[top tiler]

get a spiked roller from a good flooing supplier bal multibase is 4.5 or 5 litres of water it should flo dont just keep adding water it will go to powder on top when dry where you based

 

[Spud]

self leveling spiked rollers etc are only going to get the air bubbles out of the levelling compound ,they help on thin coats of leveller but once it starts getting deeper they dont help imo.to get a level flat flat floor you need to have the area done in one hit and you need alot of material , 25 kg bag per sq m is what i normally estimate on floors ,if you put only 3-5mm of material down all you will achieve is that you will follow the existing contours of the floor and have to pack it out anyway, it takes alot of practice to get good at laytexing the best one i have used is the webber nivdur range( i am not a fan of any of the other webber products)the rest are pretty much the same ,water based levellers seem to be slightly better than the two part ones in my opinion