Concrete damages are more prominent in old houses. Do you have one? Several issues may arise if a properties’ flooring has reached beyond its lifespan. The most common flooring issue among old houses is uneven floors. A concrete floor Miami repair is sure to pop into your mind.
If you see the deeply pitted surfaces, crumbling edges with cracks, you want to replace the flooring. But before you do that, look at common old flooring problems and the concrete Miami repairs that fit them.
- Excessive moisture or water presence
- Fading of the concrete sealer
- Discoloration of the floor coating
- Stains and old stains which are hard to remove
- Worn out flooring due to old age and heavy usage
- Heavily trafficked floorings
- Movement of the ground
- Sinking soil
Beware of Uneven Floors
So now you have probably realized that it is not only the howling vents that remind you of ghosts that bother you in an old house. The lingering worn-out concrete floors are the ones you need to worry about most.
Ghostly sounds will not do you harm, but uneven floors would.
So how do you fix these? Old floorings news the hands of the experts in decorative concrete resurfacing. But while you wait, there are quick fixes to it and DIY tricks to first-aid the dying floors.
DIY Fixing: Procedure and Needed Materials
The first thing to do when you see an old home’s dying floor is to inspect it. (do not worry; it’s not going to die literally). But before you worry and plan a costly replacement, maybe you can DIY fox it. It saves you money. Now see the steps below to guide you.
Materials You Will Need
- Framing hammer
- Tape Measure
- Carpenter’s marker/pencils
- Floor leveling compound
- Wooden rail
- Scribbling tool
- Circular Saw
- Hammer drill
- Cordless drill
- Carbide-tipped masonry bit
1. Inspect and Evaluate. Inspect and evaluate the flooring. Know the root cause of the damages. An old flooring might be typical for an old house, but the reasons for the damages may vary. Go back to the list above to remind you of the causes of flooring problems.
2. Fix subfloor problems. Before you go ahead and fix what’s on the surface, you need to see and repair what is wrong in its foundations. The subflooring itself might be the problem., You may want to call a separate flooring expert to work first from the bottom and leave you what is to fix up.
- Install New Footers. An old house’s uneven floors probably got old joints and footers. So first, you need to dig up or jack the slabs above or lift them. Place the new footers underneath it. This process takes time, and you will need an expert worker to do this. Working on this step requires caring for surrounding structures like the walls, windows, and other parts that may break or crumble when lifting the heavy slabs.
- Scrib the Saggy Floors. After removing those jacks, you can straighten up the saggy joist by using the scribing tool to move the uneven parts up.
- Prop Up. Measure the wooden rail and see if it fits and cut the fence using a circular saw. The wooden rail supports slabs to keep them in an uplifted condition.
- You are ready to place the wooden rail or wooden layer across the concrete slab at this stage.
3. Leveling the Concrete Surface. Once the subfloor is prepared, it’s time to level the concrete.
- Press down the scribe rail to the slab. Using a construction adhesive, make sure the board or the slabs are in place and secured.
- Lay the second rail using masonry nails to fasten them together. To make this step effective, create pre-bore holes on the first rail and concrete using a carbide-tip-masonry-bit. Ensure that the rails and albs will not split apart when the second layer is fastened above.
- Do these steps until you reach the third rail.
4. Pour the Leveling Compound.
5. Cure the Leveling Compound Overnight.
Conclusion
If you have the right tools, DIY is probably easier. But once you realize that you can’t find the tools and materials, better call the experts in flooring resurfacing for help.
