This video is gonna share tips on how to self
level bathroom floors. We’re going to show you how to properly
prep the bathroom floor, and also how to pour the self leveler to get great results. After removing a tile floor I was left with
thin-set mortar residue on the surface. And I often get asked how to remove this. I recommend using an angle grinder and diamond
cup wheel along with some gloves and a dust shroud to cut down on the dust when we remove
the thin-set. Also, sweep the floor so that you don’t
have any debris that’ll be kicked up by the grinder. Then dampen the wood subfloor with a sponge. Also, use the handle that comes along with
the grinder to control the grinder. As you can see here, it’s a really great
tool combination to remove thin-set off the wood subfloor.
I also used a joint compound knife to take
any of the excess residue off the wood. Then just simply used a sponge to clean off
the rest. If you want to take this process to the next
level and keep it safe, you can plug your grinder into a HEPA vac, turn the HEPA on,
it’ll also turn the grinder on at the same time. And the dust shroud combined with the HEPA
vac, really does a great job of cutting down on the dust in the room. You can also still dampen the wood subfloor
and I do recommend that because it does help keep the environment nice and safe. But this is a critical step in prepping your
floor for self leveler. I then used a shop vac to pull up any of the
dust on the wood subfloor and make sure it was ready for the next step, which was to
apply feather finish to it, I’ll explain why in a moment.
So you want to mix up one part water, use
a measuring bucket for this. Pour the water into another bucket, then add
two parts Feather Finish to the water. So two parts Feather Finish, one part water. Then use a standard drill and a mixing paddle
to mix the Feather Finish up to the right consistency. That’s really important. Then you can use a steel trowel to apply the
Feather Finish in between the seams of the plywood panels. We’re doing this because this is going to
ensure the self leveler doesn’t go into any adjacent rooms.
So just apply the Feather Finish in between
panels and over top any screws or nails that are penetrating through the wood subfloor. These are the directions that Ardex recommends
for using their self leveler. So we’re going to get into that a little
bit later on. But as you can see here, I filled in all the
seams, all the screws with the Feather Finish. And the nice thing is, this takes about a
half-hour to hour to cure. So it doesn’t take that long to use. I then Great Stuff in between the bottom plate
and wood subfloor to seal any gaps. This is really important because what it does
is seal the bathroom floor and ensure that the self leveler is going to be contained
in just this space and not any adjacent rooms. So simply just go along the perimeter between
the wood subfloor and bottom plate. And then you can also use around any drain
holes in the floor or toilet flanges.
And this is oddly satisfying. Once the Great Stuff Cures, you want to mix
up Ardex P51 primer and pour this over the subfloor and the Ardex Feather Finish. You can use a stiff bristle brush to work
this into the subfloor, this is a critical step because if you don’t use primer over
a wood subfloor or even a concrete floor, it’s possible that your self leveler won’t
bond properly to the substrate. So make sure you don’t skip this step and
use a stiff bristle brush. You can use a broom like this or even a cement
brush and allow the P51 primer to cure. These next several steps are really important. I used a Newborn Caulking gun to apply silicone
between the subfloor and Great Stuff.
This is an insurance policy that 1) the self
leveler will be contained to the bathroom floor, it also ensures that the sill seal
will bond to the silicone. Sill seal is the pink stuff I’m applying
to the bottom plate and the drywall. This is about an 1/8 inch thick, I’m just
stapling it every 16 inches. And what’s nice about this is it provides
you with the necessary expansion and contraction joint along the perimeter. Then what I did was place a level on the wood
subfloor and found all the uneven spots. You can then add some screws into the wood
subfloor as height indicators for the self leveler. This will help you determine if you added
enough self leveler to the floor. So you need to do this around the bathroom
floor. Then once again, shop vac the entire bathroom
floor.
We’re going to be using Ardex K22. I also used the Collomix AQIX, it’s a really
awesome device that automatically adds the necessary amount of water to the bucket, in
this case 4.5 quarts of water for one bag of K22F. So you want to add the water first. And then I used the dust extractor from Collomix
as well as their mixer. These are two awesome things that cut down
on the dust. I added the K22F to a bucket, so you want
to mix up your first bucket here. As you can see, that dust extractor is awesome. And then mix it up per the instructions. You’re shooting for a nice creamy consistency. And having a dedicated mortar mixer for this
really helps out. So you want to mix up your first bucket, let
it sit there for about two minutes. And then mix up your second bucket. You should be mixing up multiple buckets because
this is going to help you with all of your pours. So at least mix up two buckets at a time. And then I started in the shower area and
poured the self leveler around the shower drain.
And then worked my way out of the bathroom. As you can see here, the process goes pretty
quick. And then you want to agitate the self leveler
either with a spiked roller or squeegee. This is really important and sometimes people
skip it. They just think a self level is going to level
itself, and it will to a certain extent. But you still need to agitate it. So I used the spiked roller first and then
I also used the squeegee to help out with that process. So hopefully these tips help you self level
your bathroom floor. If you liked the tips in this video, give
it a thumbs up. Thanks for watching and make sure you subscribe
to see future tutorials. Take care and have a great day..