Advice on levelling a floor

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Chris Type R

Original Poster:

8,039 posts

250 months

Saturday 20th January 2018
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We have a bit of a challenge in our 70s ex-bungalow which I'd appreciate some advice on.... We've fitted oak engineered flooring throughout, and I was planning on doing the same in our kitchen. We've done a fair chunk of work in the house, so in terms of funds this seemed like a pragmatic choice. The plan was to go wall to wall & not have plinths.

The challenge is that the floor in this room is reasonably flat, but it has a significant slope from left to right. Across 3.15 metres there's probably 22mm to 25mm drop. It's most noticeably raised on the left of the picture - 900mm along the left wall (so looking at an area of 3.375sqm).

Raising the entire floor with levelling compound would make it higher than the other rooms.

I'm considering using an 125mm angle grinder, vacuum shroud, masks and Diamond Grinder Disc (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Diamond-Grinder-Disc-Wheel-Cuttig/dp/B01BYFTKCS/) to take out some of the height on the left of the picture and use levelling compound on the right of the picture. There's probably a few mm in the existing flooring on it's own. The room size is 3.15m (in pic) by 3.75m. I could also cut slots using a normal diamond blade.

Has anyone tried this ? Is it feasible to drop the height using an angle grinder in this way ?


Chris Type R

Original Poster:

8,039 posts

250 months

Saturday 20th January 2018
quotequote all
It's not too noticeable underfoot now, but it's not an even slope. It'd also be nice to be at the same level as the two ajacent rooms (joined by standard doors).

Chris Type R

Original Poster:

8,039 posts

250 months

Saturday 20th January 2018
quotequote all
227bhp said:
You haven't said what floor surface you are actually trying to cut out....
Concrete/screed I think. There's a 2-3mm lino, glue, something thin and white, and then poured floor.

Chris Type R

Original Poster:

8,039 posts

250 months

Saturday 20th January 2018
quotequote all
jas xjr said:
why not just lay an engineered wooden floor on top of the tiles?
There aren't any tiles.

Laying engineered flooring left to right without leveling will result in bounce.

Chris Type R

Original Poster:

8,039 posts

250 months

Saturday 20th January 2018
quotequote all
I think it's a bad idea, just trying to get a sanity check re. how bad smile

I can lose some height by taking up part of the lino and ommiting some of the underlay...

Chris Type R

Original Poster:

8,039 posts

250 months

Saturday 20th January 2018
quotequote all
Yes I have the flooring. If you look at the photo top right you can see the ajoining room which I did a few weeks ago. This was quite easy to level out as the dips were mainly in the corners.

Ultimately (few years time) these two rooms will become one.

My experience has been that the more even the sub floor, the less creaky the floating floor (even, not necc. level).

I can use the flooring elsewhere, so it won't go to waste.

Chris Type R

Original Poster:

8,039 posts

250 months

Monday 12th February 2018
quotequote all
So, in the end I just went for it, without any levelling. The end result is 'okay', as the carcasses hold the floor down - just some creaks I need to try and get some oil into. There is a discernible slope - which makes finding marbles easier.

It'll do until I can afford a proper kitchen, and a tiled floor with underfloor heating (the plan is to open out what's left of the dividing wall & move the 50cm 3 drawer plus another to the right hand side - extending the countertop).