Levelling (grinding) concrete floor

[Davi]

What's a good (lowest effort) way to remove a touch of excess concrete? Usually I'd use a floor stone, but there is just too much material and it'll take a month of Sundays to do. Self levelling compound not an option, I have to remove the excess.

[GuinnessMK]

Get a diamond driller in? Most will do some sort of floor grinding.

If it's not a massive area / amount of material, you'd probably be looking at a day rate job.

[Spudler]

http://www.brandontoolhire.co.uk/directory/prodvie...

[Solitude]

somewhere in my darkest memory is a tool, a big one, like a floor sander, but it has a large rotating wheel, like a propeller, blades...big ones.....and it does this job. Fella

[mk1fan]

Do you mean a scabbler? Noisy and messy though.

[Davi]

LOL who'd have thought it, they make one for the job

Define 'messy'... The wife isn't going to be happy!!!

[Ynox]

Guessing that even with extraction you'd be looking at a LOT of dust.

I personally wouldn't like to use kit like this in a house which isn't a building site. I've still got bad memories of the dust created chasing out a concrete floor with an SDS drill. Let alone grinding down the floor...

[macar]

Floor grinder from Brandon Hire, dampen the floor before and during work. Should be OK, but the better half a box of choc's.

[Solitude]

OH NO......Not noisey and messy ????
Decide if you want it done and do it.

Perhaps they make a laser that does it in a nanosecond, on hire at travis perkins for a tenner (that the wife and Kids can use !!)

[Davi]

Solitude said:

OH NO......Not noisey and messy ????
Decide if you want it done and do it.

Perhaps they make a laser that does it in a nanosecond, on hire at travis perkins for a tenner (that the wife and Kids can use !!)

get out of bed on the wrong side did we?

I will do it, I do everything that needs to be done. I just make informed decisions on how to proceed rather than making assumptions. If it's akin to using a large angle grinder full chat it's going to take longer to clear up the mess than it would to just continue doing it by hand, so I'll continue by hand. If it's not that bad, and more like say using a belt sander with good extraction, then I'll go for the floor grinder. See I'm clever like that, I prefer to attack tasks logically and fully informed.

[dazV12]

AY UP BUD
why is self leveller not an option????
maybe easier than having to use a scabbler and taking off all yor skirtlng boards etc?
how mich do you have to take off?

[Davi]

dazV12 said:

AY UP BUD
why is self leveller not an option????
maybe easier than having to use a scabbler and taking off all yor skirtlng boards etc?
how mich do you have to take off?

no skirting boards fitted at the moment so it's relatively straight forward on that front

Self levelling isn't an option for several reasons - first off its 50m2 and I'm out of cash and secondly it's got a really weird composite floor covering 1/3rd of the area, which we were advised not to self level over. Tried a small patch and sure enough, it just doesn't stick so breaks up rapidly.

It's about 3/4 " to take off, but it's only over a very localised area about 1ft wide - basically two previously-separate floor areas join, both sides raise at the edge which now becomes the centre join.

[dazV12]

have fun with the reducer lol
tape all your doorways up with masking tape or if you need to gain entry to the room put 2 polythene screens up 6" appart with slits at opposite sides (to walk through) to reduce dust because beleive me you will find dust in your bedroom drawes!!
might be worth putting a damp proof membrane down after to gard against damp rising specially if there was a wall their previous we have had problems from this in the past (wooden floors swelling and lifting carpets damp) the moisture is pulled up from the foundations of the wall (hope this makes sense and helps )

[Davi]

LOL yeah cheers, I'm getting the impression this isn't going to be much fun.

We've got 3 vacuum cleaners and an industrial extraction unit - I think I'll get all the family down to aim them at it as well as the plastic sheeting...

[Lost soul]

Solitude said:

somewhere in my darkest memory is a tool, a big one, like a floor sander, but it has a large rotating wheel, like a propeller, blades...big ones.....and it does this job. Fella

That is for floating it off while its still wet

[cerbfan]

This is an interesting thread. I have a 50m2 area of concrete outside in the garden of our childrens nursery that we are currently sorting out. We want to leave the concrete area so the kids can use there bikes and trikes on it but at the moment it is a bit scabby with some slight steps in it and some weird circular pattern in places. If I could grind off say 10mm from it then it would all look uniform and be nice and smooth. Is this linked floor grinder the machine for the job? Is it easy enough to use and get a good even finish for someone with no experience of one before?

[Lost soul]

cerbfan said:

This is an interesting thread. I have a 50m2 area of concrete outside in the garden of our childrens nursery that we are currently sorting out. We want to leave the concrete area so the kids can use there bikes and trikes on it but at the moment it is a bit scabby with some slight steps in it and some weird circular pattern in places. If I could grind off say 10mm from it then it would all look uniform and be nice and smooth. Is this linked floor grinder the machine for the job? Is it easy enough to use and get a good even finish for someone with no experience of one before?

It would be easier to level it up than to grind it down

Edited by Lost soul on Friday 9th July 10:19

[-Pete-]

I have a 2m2 area of screed which peaks around 1" high where the wall used to be, I don't want to fill the house with dust if I can avoid it. Can anyone think of some kind of power tool which will nibble/scrape the surface at low speed, leaving a rough surface ready for levelling compound?

[Spudler]

OP, is it actually concrete or screed? if the latter dont mess about with grinders, just cut a line where the screed starts to rise and break/chisel the offending area of screed up...then re lay that area.
Also the cheapest option.

This would also apply to Pete above.

[-Pete-]

The OP is probably under 10 tonnes of dust, but mine is screed. That's what I thought, just chisel it away, but I wondered if there's a low impact low dust but motorized way of doing it. My SDS drill seems a bit overkill.