How level is level?

Flooring Forum - DIY & Professional

Help Support Flooring Forum - DIY & Professional:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

shangam2008

Member
Joined
Jul 3, 2020
Messages
10
Location
WI
I just bought Mannington Adura Rigid planks for my basement living room area, but am getting nervous about a slight slope in the concrete leading into the kitchen. I know vinyl calls for a level surface... is this an acceptable variance or am I going to have to have someone come out and level the concrete? I really can't afford to do that... thanks for the advice, I'm a newbie and just want to be sure this will work. It's a high traffic area so will be walked on a lot everyday. If the slope is too severe, what are my options outside of self leveling?
 
20200705_092415.jpg
 

Attachments

  • 20200705_090927.jpg
    20200705_090927.jpg
    93.8 KB · Views: 222
You're not really interested as much in level for this or any other flooring, such as vinyl planks like Adura. You want flat. If it becomes level in the process, that's always better.
That floor is a long, long ways from being flat or level.
Most floors, especially planks and tiled require an extremely flat floor. In your instance, and being unfamiliar with flooring, at the very least, I'd suggest a professional be hired to level and flatten the floor. Not many homeowners have a clue what they are doing in a situation like this one. To me it's obvious the floor is to unlevel for even carpeting to be installed correctly.
 
With the carpet and pad removed, lay something absolutely straight such as a 6 foot level on the floor. you are mainly using a level as a straight edge, not as a level.
Move and reposition the level 10 to 50 times over the areas where you plan to install the flooring. Lay the level east/ west and north/ south...... basically all over.
Hopefully under the center of that 6 foot level (straight edge) at any point, you can't slide a quarter under the level.
Ok, is your floor close to being that flat?
...or can you slide your cell phone under the level (straightedge) at any point?
Without the carpet removed you won't have a clue, but from the photos, you have a lot of work to do if this flooring can be made to work. Hope this helps.
The manufacturer has specifications on how flat your floor needs to be.
 
Last edited:
Ahh, you just broke my heart, @highup. That's what my fear was... so much so that I had an installer out before I ordered the product, and he said it would lay fine, BUT I wasn't filled with confidence at his knowledge level. I was encouraged enough to order the product though, which I now regret. I guess I need to get on the phone and find a self-leveler. DarisMulkin, it is tile in the next room. Thanks for the responses. I'm off to sulk for awhile. 😞
 
Could that small sloped area potentially be sanded down?
Reading the installation specs, they require three sixteenths of an inch in flatness in 10 ft so that is about equal to 3 pennies stacked on top of each other.
To grind that area down would take an awful lot of grinding and leave a pretty high step up to the tile from what I see in your picture. Is that picture with the tile and the carpet just one room or is it connected to other rooms that will also be done?
 
I might add your hunch was correct about the installer that you are unsure of. At the very least he should have voiced a concern about the floors flatness
 
it is tile in the next room.
Here is what I'm thinking. I'm thinking if that is cerani tile the ceramic guy could have put cement board down for whatever reason or the guy that put the carpet down wanted the carpet to come up even or just above the tile so he built a ramp onto the cement. Usually cement floors are close to even when they are pured, not level but basically on the same plane.
But there is no way of telling without lifting that edge. It may look worse that it actually is.
 
Well that's an encouraging thought... I think that the kitchen with the ceramic used to be the garage, to be honest. So I'm not sure that they were ever even. I did find someone who knows what he's doing to come out to take a look though, hopefully this week. He took one look at the photo and said exactly what you all did, that that slope is too severe. He's hopeful that we can make it work with a glue-down plank though. Thank you all! I'm glad that I trusted my gut and NOT that other installer!
 
If it helps to know it, I have rarely seen a 'flat' floor that doesn't need prep to get it closer to specs. Sometimes prep costs as much or more than the installation. Painting a car or a house is that way too.
The floor still needs to be smooth with those glue down planks, and if the floor is smooth but wavey, the planks will look wavy and not like the wood they are designed to mimick.
If there are no doorways to contend with, self leveling concrete that is specifically designed for flooring might be a good thing to use to make the floor flat with exception of that steep slope. Depending on the room size it might get spendy, but it will certainly be flat..... and level.
There are computation formulas for depth and square footage so you can figure the number of bags required.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top