Levelling a concrete floor for laminate? Fair price?

brownbake

Hi,
We were in the process of having our long hallway laminated and half way through the job the fitter told us that there would be movement as the concrete floor wasn't level and the laminate wouldn't last!!! Aaargh.
Anyway he said that the floor needed to be levelled with a water based cement mix which he could get for £200 and fit for another £50. He reckons he will need 6 bags of a product costing £33 a bag. It is approx 7.5m2

Along with the fitting of the laminate this is a great additional cost and not something we budgeted for and not a great time 3 weeks before Xmas!

He was here for quite a few hours preparing, cutting and laying the laminate until the problem became evident and hasn't charged us anything for a mornings work. He said he could have done it and it would have looked good for a month but then would have started moving badly and break.

My question is has anyone used the products available on the Internet as I have found a couple that would apparently cover the area needed but at £90 or £70 delivered? He said he would show me reciepts for materials but if I can save £100 it all helps. I would be happy for him to lay the product. All my searches for floor levelling stuff is considerably less than £33 a bag.

He was initially going to charge £150 for laying the laminate which included supplying door bars. In total it is about 10m2 to include an airing cupboard as well. I had all materials, laminate, underlay and new skirting. We were happy to pay this price but now it has basically gone up from £150 - 400 because of this floor levelling!! This has completely defeated our budget and money saving ideas.

Basically we could have paid for the floor to be tiled - quoted £300 for fitting of them.

The things I saw were here - http://www.tradepriced.co.uk/flooring_screed.html
and here http://www.floorheating.ltd.uk/curre...=&USE_INV_ADD=
this - http://www.wickes.co.uk/Special-Mortars/Latex-Floor-Levelling-Compound/invt/224669
or this
http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=9273059&fh_view_size=6&fh_location=%2f%2fcatal!!!1%2fen_GB&fh_search=floor+levelling&fh_eds=%C3%9F&fh_refview=search&ts=1228728992234&isSearch=true

Any advice or help greatly recieved as we need this done quickly - like last week!!

Thanks

Canucklehead

brownbake wrote: »

Hi,
We were in the process of having our long hallway laminated and half way through the job the fitter told us that there would be movement as the concrete floor wasn't level and the laminate wouldn't last!!! Aaargh.
Anyway he said that the floor needed to be levelled with a water based cement mix which he could get for £200 and fit for another £50. He reckons he will need 6 bags of a product costing £33 a bag. It is approx 7.5m2

Along with the fitting of the laminate this is a great additional cost and not something we budgeted for and not a great time 3 weeks before Xmas!

He was here for quite a few hours preparing, cutting and laying the laminate until the problem became evident and hasn't charged us anything for a mornings work. He said he could have done it and it would have looked good for a month but then would have started moving badly and break.

My question is has anyone used the products available on the Internet as I have found a couple that would apparently cover the area needed but at £90 or £70 delivered? He said he would show me reciepts for materials but if I can save £100 it all helps. I would be happy for him to lay the product. All my searches for floor levelling stuff is considerably less than £33 a bag.

He was initially going to charge £150 for laying the laminate which included supplying door bars. In total it is about 10m2 to include an airing cupboard as well. I had all materials, laminate, underlay and new skirting. We were happy to pay this price but now it has basically gone up from £150 - 400 because of this floor levelling!! This has completely defeated our budget and money saving ideas.

Basically we could have paid for the floor to be tiled - quoted £300 for fitting of them.

The things I saw were here - http://www.tradepriced.co.uk/flooring_screed.html
and here http://www.floorheating.ltd.uk/curre...=&USE_INV_ADD=
this - http://www.wickes.co.uk/Special-Mortars/Latex-Floor-Levelling-Compound/invt/224669
or this
http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=9273059&fh_view_size=6&fh_location=%2f%2fcatal!!!1%2fen_GB&fh_search=floor+levelling&fh_eds=%C3%9F&fh_refview=search&ts=1228728992234&isSearch=true

Any advice or help greatly recieved as we need this done quickly - like last week!!

Thanks

Good morning: Your fitter should have spotted this when quoting and his price is on the high side;). The OH uses Wickes products

HTH

Canucklehead

brownbake

Hi, thanks for that.

Problem was that he quoted for the job over the phone based on the m2 rates. If he had came and looked at it - as I asked him to he would have noticed these things and quoted me more for the job as quite complicated - lots of doors etc. I think he has tried bumping up the price because he initially underquoted on the job.

Phoned up someone else and have been quoted £8.50 a m2 for floor levelling - this guy is gonna come and look at it!!

In total it is about 10m2 including cupboard so from £250 which wasn't including cupboard about 7.5m2 to, hopefully £85 for the whole thing.

People will still be getting Xmas presents if it all goes OK

owls

why has he not paid a visit prior to estimating? quite often concrete floors are not totally flat and smooth, ie to 5-10 mm tolarance out in an average room.

any how if its just self leveling compound your after you can get it in powder versions for about 8 quid a bag i tend to use a make by everbuild good stuff.

very straightforward to do prime the floor with pva and away you go.
the only reason it might be 33 quid a bag is if it has a damp proofing admixture in it.

a_star_3

8-£10 a bag is right. All you need is a latex based self leveling compound. You wont even need too much thickness if its only out a bit. 2-3mm

brownbake

owls wrote: »

why has he not paid a visit prior to estimating? quite often concrete floors are not totally flat and smooth, ie to 5-10 mm tolarance out in an average room.

any how if its just self leveling compound your after you can get it in powder versions for about 8 quid a bag i tend to use a make by everbuild good stuff.

very straightforward to do prime the floor with pva and away you go.
the only reason it might be 33 quid a bag is if it has a damp proofing admixture in it.

I have no idea why he didn't come round to estimate - I did ask him if he wanted to. Recommended from a friend of a friend. I don't know why he didn't check the floor levels before laying half the laminate either!! It is a complete waste of time and he has already stitched me up by not coming on days he said he would so I hope that this guy who is quoting for the floor levelling turns up today.

brownbake

Lo and behold the guy that said he was coming this afternoon to quote - phoned him up at 1.30 to find out what time - said he was on a job taking an hour and would be here between 3 and 3.30. I waited till 5 to phone him asking him where he was - didn't answer the phone!!!

TBH I don't understand why tradesmen say they will be there to give a quote and then don't bother or even have the decency to let you know they won't be coming.

I would say 90 % of the tradesmen I have wanted have either never turned up to quote or if they do then don't give a quote.

If you can't do the job or are busy just say so and stop wasting my time!!! Sorry to all the genuine reliable people out there.

davemorton

B & Q sell the self leveling compound stuff, but would putting ply or hardboard down to even it out not be an option???

phill99

As the director of a Mintenance Company, I would suggest that for that area you would need 4 - 5 25kg bags. I would always suggest a latex based compound as it has more flexibility and tolerance. The last lot i bought 6 weeks ago was about £17.00 per bag. It is no more than 2 hours work (2 guys normally needed as one pours the mixture into the mixing bucket and one to mix it with a power mixer). I woukld charge about £80 labour plus the matereials. £160 tops and I would guarantee to turn up!

Trimmer_2

Put a straight edge across the floor surface to see how far out the floor is.
I did some engineered flooring recently for a customer and had to level her floor first (31m2 in a hall and dining room which had had walls taken out following an extension). I had to use 16 bags of 25kg powder on the first coat and another 6 after that - the floor varied by 30mm in places. The screed that I use is called stopgap 300 made by F Ball.

brownbake

The thing is he should have check these things prior to quoting and fitting half the floor IMO don't you think?

Half job done - which was quoted £150 10m2 - then - oops - it will need levelling at £250 plus fitting of £150.

Levelling was for 7.5m2 - = £35 m2 - a tad expensive I thought. lol.

Told him do do one - fair lol