In order to get started on the basement, we had to complete a few preparation steps. One of those steps was filling in a low spot in the concrete with floor leveler. I started by mixing and pouring in one 50lb bag of automatic floor leveling compound, and then quickly realized that it was going to take more… a LOT more. I picked up a bag of cement, mixed it up, and poured it… and found it nearly impossible to smooth out due to the high content of rocks in the mix. Next, I picked up four bags of a smoother topping cement, mixed it ALL, and poured it in. MUCH better. It was far easier to smooth it out, and filled the space nicely. Once that was set, I poured three more bags of self-leveling compound on top, to fill it out nicely. In total, that’s four bags of self leveling compound at $43 per bag, and four bags of cement at about $6 per bag. $196 total just to bring the floor more or less to level. Ouch! It looks great though!

Since I had the cement, I completed another prep-step while it was wet. I cut off this pipe sticking out of the ground, and filled it with cement. Our building inspector told us it was part of a pre-existing drainage system, and could be removed.

In addition to the cement, there were (and still are) a few other things that had (have?) to be done… Pulling nails, removing old vacuum tubing, changing the water pipes to fit the new layout, hauling in lumber, buying toys, err, tools to help with construction. (More on that in the next post!)

Categories: Basement Renovations, Photo Comment