Pushing mobile bases over rough concrete joints

[Don Morris]

My recent basement shop renovation added 10' X 10' to the shop. The cement junction was pretty level but it isn't smooth. There is an area of about 8" wide by 8' with irregular "bumbs and ridges" where a small portion of the new cement spilled over onto the old cement and wasn't smoothed well. This has made moving my mobile base equipment over it occassionally touchy if there is something that I don't want disturbed during the move. My inclination is to rent one of those rt. angle cement grinders and try to grind the bumps down. But if I get to the point of going beyond having a flat floor...what then? Is there an epoxy, quick cure cement, thin something that could fill in the small 1/8" to 1/4" gaps that I could use to bring me back to a smooth and level floor? Anybody out there have this kind of a problem? Where do I go for a solution that won't bankrupt me? The house renovation already has. Thanks guys.

Don M

[Jason Roehl]

It's called...floor leveller. It comes in 25- and I think also 50-lb bags that you mix with water to a milkshake-like consistency. You can pour it on, let it self-level, and trowel the edges to feather them if you need to even something out, or you can use it too fill in holes. All the borgs have it.

[Eric Shields]

Don,

The borg's sell a crack/hole filler that you could use for this purpose. I used it on my basement floor prior to painting. It comes in a large toothpaste like tube, squeeze to mix, clip the end, and fill your gap or hole. Dries within 48 hours if I remember correctly. I do believe it is a quickcrete product. I liked this approach because I wouldn't have a 20+ lb bag of concrete I didn't need. FYI, it comes in different textures and applications. Hope this helps.

Eric

I have no affiliation of either the borg's or quickcrete

[Vaughn McMillan]

Don, if you're just grinding off high spots, there's a good chance you won't grind too deep, so you likely won't need to worry about floor leveler compounds. BTW, an inexpensive angle grinder and an appropriate grinding stone should work fine. Be sure to wear a dust mask when doing it.

Also, keep in mind that if you fill in a "crack" in the slab that's actually an expansion/contraction joint, the filler material will eventually pop out due to slab movement.

- Vaughn

[Erik Stol]

Don,

I do understand your problem. Overhere in Eurrope we make floors on top of the rawconcrete, out of very fine concrete. In fact it is a mixture of sand and cement. Sometime's this is poured in a very rough way. To smoothing it, we use very big grinders. in fact it is a huge orbitalsander of approx. 2' in diameter. It is very dusty when grinding but the result is very good.

You can als use a epoxycoating that is self leveling although you have to keep in mind that the humidity of the floor itself may no be more then about 4%. Otherwise you will get those nice bulbs in your coating caused by moisture that wants to get out.

Erik
The Netherlands