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Best flooring on an old rough floor please?

I need to put down a hygenic floor in my kitchen. The problem being the existing floor is a little uneven in places. It is ancient concrete! If I lay Laminate I can imagine it being a pig of a job! if I lay cushioned flooring, is there a good 'underlay' which would minimize the un even-ness of the floor beneath, and prevent it from showing through eventually? do not want to rip up the floor and float off a new one :0)

Public Comments

  1. Ceramic tiles. Long lasting, easy to clean and looks good.
  2. My partner is a floor layer, and he would screed the floor first (doesn't take too long to dry, and will give a nice even surface) then lay some vinyl down.
  3. You can come in with a cementious based patch - such as Ardex(they make a self leveling product, that will fill in thicker in low areas and thinner in higher areas) and "float" the floor. Once you have the floor nice and level, you can use whatever finish you would like on top.
  4. You can make the floor level with a concrete mix ---cement with an even mix of fine sand and go easy on the water---then you use a wooden spreader to screed or "float" the mix --- Since you say it's an "ancient" base it might be a good idea to place a piece of 1x4--8' (make sure it's straight) against the wall ---using a Carpenter's Level make sure the kitchen floor is level with the Horizon ! ( Otherwise you might be gravitating to the Fridge when you mean to go to the Sink!) This will serve as a guide for floating the new slab. When it is finished ---you can choose Ceramic Tile or Vinyl Tile for the finished floor ---the latter is easier if you are doing work yourself and you can find !2"x12" Tiles in colorful patterns to mix and match---I have had this in my kitchen for years and it is practical and beautiful---draws nice comments---even more than my cooking !
  5. I live in a 150 year old cottage and the floor in the kitchen is so bumpy, i have had carpet (which looked terrible and isnt hygenic) but the last 2 floor coverings ive had have been laminate (just make sure you have the edging done round the room to stop the floor springing up if you step on a dip in the floor, we used tacs and extra mega strong glue to secure them, nothing it shifting them now!) OR you can level the floor with a leveling compound which you basically put on the floor and it levels out itself
  6. Sorry, Cant help on that one. I am totally hopeless at anything DIY. Hope you get plenty of useful answers/ Tom 777.
  7. There is a good way to fix it. You can lay plywood as an underlayment for either wood floor or vinyl floors. The only thing you will need to do is install a threshold at the point to were it meets the adjacent floor . If you want to use tile you can buy duraroc which is a cementitous board, in which you can install tile or marble. Either will even out the problem floor and it will not be too hard or expensive. There is the other solution, were you hire a contractor to pour a 2" leveling pour over the existing floor and you get to start new, but that is expensive. on the other end you can patch as much as you can with high strength concrete (6000 p.s.i) and lay the floor over that, being the cheapest, but not the best. Good luck
  8. Self levelling screed will do the job. It will cost you about £35-£45 and will level the floor into a perfect flat surface. Use a trowl to spread the concrete mix. Its very easy to do. Read the instructions on the package, but the steps are: apply water and screed in a bucket. Tip the contents onto the floor a bit at a time and spread it with the trowl
  9. when you say hygenic I think of sheet vinyl flooring. What you need to do is use a "SELF LEVELING" underlayment. The trick to self leveling is you pour it out and it migrates across the floor to fill low spots. Another tip on this is follow the mixing instructions PRECISELY!! DO NOT guess on your water, measure it EXACTLY, then a quality self leveling compound will just pour out and do most of the work for you. make it about 1/4" above the current floor height (a good trick is to find the highest spot and put a screw in the floor at 1/4" higher then use string and a level adding more screws in key areas as a reference point) and it will dry to a glass like smooth finish that you can install ANY flooring product you wish over. Bottom line is a "Quality" self leveling material does most of the work for you!!! This IS easy! Our favorite is Hydroment or bostiks SL-150, But as someone else said ARDEX makes a good product as well. Pour them out let them dry then lay your floor!! good Luck!