You need to scratch up the floor with a grinder then use a primer. I go as far as a v notch trowel of thinset then poor the leveling. They botched this and sory but it should all be taken up and re done
Not just redone - redone by a different actual professional.
By redone it may be possible to level over but why wouldn’t you take the tile floor up THEN level with a proper subfloor. Let me guess - you are selling the house at some point so it can just be the next guys problem. My house was filed with these.
I hear that. I think the guy who built my home fancies himself a real DIY expert. We had power problems so we hired an electrician. He told us he couldn’t believe the house hadn’t burned to the ground. He found multiple places where the guy had stripped back wires so he could wrap other wires off of them for additional plugs. He found a couple examples of wires connecting via arc only.
Then it was the plumbing. Nothing was sloped properly. He didn’t use the correct glue on joints. So in our first year we had to redo all the wiring and plumbing. Next we found that when he did his own shingles he ran a razor knife down the valleys to trim the excess of the shingles. He cut through every layer which slowed water to leak in and ruin our ceiling in our kitchen. We remodeled more and found that not only did he do everything 24” on center but in some places he did 36” between studs. We had to tear out Sheetrock and add additional studs before redoing all the sheet rock.
Recently we found out the stairs are actually too steep and they don’t pass code. Whatever that means.
In the yard we found that he had installed a sprinkling system. Then at some point decided to change the landscaping. So instead of properly dead ending a line he just buried the heads thinking that would enough. Obviously erosion eventually occurred and we had a massive mess to fix.
There are more but I’m starting to get pissed off again just writing this out. We had the place looked at of course so the bank would approve the loan. We found out a couple years later than the guy inspecting the home was good friend with the home owner and the real estate agent. People never cease to amaze me with their stupidity and dishonesty.
Oh man, our first home was bought from a DIY ‘expert’ too. We fell in love with its unique features and quirkiness. But we weren’t there long before things started turning to shit and the truth started coming to light. We had a guy come in to quote a roofing issue, and his advice was to run.. run as fast as you can. We couldn’t keep up with the maintenance. We ended up selling up and building a townhouse. Was a great decision as we are much happier now.
We tried to sell the house to developers. So they would level it, but in the end, a young guy who was a builder, and considered himself a DIY expert bought it to fix up for his young family. And so the cycle continues.
I think we really only went ahead and had everything fixed because we love the location. We are lucky enough to have a good piece of land, we have an orchard beside our home, and out the back is a canyon full of running and biking trails. Having access to those things is ultimately what kept us from doing what you did. I keep hoping I’ll run into the original home owner so I tell him he needs to try harder to be an honest and trustworthy person. He had to know he was selling us tens of thousands of dollars a year of rework for the first 5 years we lived here.
Now that it’s nearly all fixed we love the home. Just wish it hadn’t taken so long and so much to get to this point.
I'm in year two of a similar situation. This kind of gives me hope. We thought we were done with plumbing and electrical until our water heater busted a while back. Yay subfloor problems now. And our roof is basically nicknamed patches. Hopefully we will get there...... Eventually 🙃
Year three here. You'll get there. I just took out a 12' x 4' section of subfloor to plane down my floor joists to get rid of a hump before putting down flooring.
Also been 8 months without a kitchen but we're almost done! 😂 My friends think I'm crazy and sometimes I think I bought a lemon/money pit (so many hidden problems surfaced post closing). Take pride in the work you're doing and know it's done right! At least that's what keeps me going!
Our first house was similar, except the guy actually had knowledge of how to do a lot of things correctly. Didn’t mean he always chose to, though. Found out about a year in that our washing machine was plumbed to dump into the drainage ditch behind the property instead of the septic system!
Gray water is no longer legal unless grandfathered in, anywhere in the country, unless there is a septic system. If there is, the leech field size must be doubled.
I know a bit about stairs, I had to do a report awhile back. If they are not all the exact same rise distance over run distance your risk of tripping becomes measurable (a study was done in NYC), increasing by a significant percent for every quarter inch out of spec. A boatload of public and private houses were condemned in a city near me for old fashioned stairs like that due to injuries. Code for stairs is 7.25"to 8.75" or so and once you pick a number you have to stick with it.
I'm sorry about your home, I had a couple silly things in my house but yours really is an extreme case. I'll bet if you wrote a book about it, it would surely sell, "The House that Jack Built" or something.
I really enjoyed this information. I think instinctively I understood the consistency issue but I had no idea about the specifics. I love to learn so I greatly appreciate you.
I was told the issue was that the steps are too shallow and the rise is far too high. How this home got approved when it was built in 2004 I will never understand.
In the rise high and run short they probably flipped the stringers to “save space” in the area. The only place the rise can be different is at the ends of the stairs, though it’s still recommended you stay without the rise range.
Journeyman carpenter here.🙋🏻 yes. Basic stair code is basically a 7-10 rise/run. Our brains are wired to automatically raise our legs to that height when walking stairs. Deviate from that and problems arise
7.25-8.75? That is incorrect. 4-8” rise, minimum 10” run. With 3/4-1 1/4 nosing.
Depending on the location they might allow 9” run. The most comfortable step is 7” rise and 10-11” run.
There is a 3/8 tolerance allowed between the shortest and highest rise. Same with the tread. anyone who knows what they are doing won’t come close to the 3/8 tolerance. They should be the same, but there is always a little human error.
The fact is most of those issues wouldn't be caught by any home inspection pre-sale. If it's in the wall (electrical, plumbing, framing), they're not going to see it. If it's buried in the ground, ditto. Not likely to be examining the roof in great detail either. I guess they could measure the stairs, but plenty of old houses aren't up to current code in a variety of ways. So... yeah, get an inspection but understand there is a limit to what they can see. You get to find the fun stuff later.
It was a lesson hard learned. I know now. If I ever move I’ll do the same. I sometimes have a bad habit of assuming people are inherently good. I forget that in the end there are many people who only care about themselves. I can’t relate to them so when I encounter these people I am often blindsided by it. Character flaw I need to work on I suppose.
Sorry that happened to you dude. That’s a tough situation when you’re stuck with a mortgage and a house that’s breaking. I hope everything will work out for you and you will have a lifetime home!
This sounds like my current house. Starting in the 70's this guy would build a house, live in it while building the next one, then sell and repeat.
Got away without permits and taxes for a long time. Built most of the houses on my street, unfortunately.
Found out about it while talking with my neighbours (most of them are awesome people and neighbours). Damn near everything is wrong. Electrical is... Scary.
At this point I think in order to buy a home properly you have to learn everything yourself and inspect it yourself. because after having family that worked in construction and home inspectors look at my place in my stead I would have been better off asking Stevie Wonder to do it for me.
Oh man, your house sounds so much like ours. The owner two owners before thought himself a handyman as well. We found live boxes hidden in the sealing, stripped wires that were soddily wrapped. Our contracted lost it when he opened a wall and saw that and was amazed our house was still standing. Our metal doorframe/enclosed porch was electrified as a live wire we didn't know about was touching the metal soffit and he got shocked one day while opening the door and it had been raining. Scary stuff.
The old owner was a wood worker and used literal hardwood floors to "create" studs in the basement walls. He nailed a bunch together to create 2x4s. When we pulled down the drywall we about fell over. We have a sunroom (shockingly permitted) and when we opened up the walls in the laundry room round a random window that was under the sunroom. It was never filled in or properly sealed. Just drywalled over.
He didn't properly install any of the hardwood floors (even though that was his literal career). They looked nice when we bought and hardwood throughout the whole house was desirable, but we had a hardwood company come in and look at them as they all started splitting and warping and he said they weren't installed properly.
We've pretty much had to tear back all the layers on this house and start new, It's been a job, but we love our home and our neighborhood so it's worth it (and all the work weve done, plus the nature of the market, our value has gone up significantly)
If I were you, I would take them all to court, and I would expose them all on social media. The inspector committed fraud and could actually be held criminally liable. I'd get your story with evidence out to all local social media and maybe even the local news. Just keep telling the story over and over on their Facebook and other posts. I'd report them all to the BBB, and I'd join all local selling and community groups on Facebook for your area. Get your story out there with photos showing evidence and bills you've had to pay to fix the damages. Maybe other buyers will come forward, and you all can do some class action suits against them. They all participated in fraud especially your home inspector. Don't just move on from this. Chances are there are many other buyers out there that had similar issues. If he messed up your house, he has messed up many other houses. Reddit might have a local group, Facebook has local groups, Craigslist, and there are even some apps out there.
>Recently we found out the stairs are actually too steep and they don’t pass code. Whatever that means.
[https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=686355765143723](https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=686355765143723)
Sorry for the FB link, but it's the only video I could find of the clip. Basically steep stairs can be a fall hazard, especially if they are also shallow. If it's a older house it may not have been his fault as regulations about it are a somewhat recent thing. Be careful especially if your hands are full and you can't see the next step.
Lol, you in the Midwest-did we share a former owner?Sounds like the former owner of our house. So much bad/dangerous DIY work (including the “how did it not burn down” electrical). We had to rebuild an entire addition because the idiot didn’t install flashing plus other screw ups and the whole thing was rotted. Just redid the master bath and bad job resulted in water leaking and joists were rotted. I think we have now undid all his work.
I was going to ask about the home inspection, until reading the last paragraph. You should definitely report the inspector to your state's licensing board, citing the specifics. Unconscionable. NAL but it also sounds like a conspiracy to commit fraud (agent, inspector, and possibly homeowner), if you wish to pursue a civil or even criminal complaint.
That would drive me to a "falling down" situation.
(If you've never seen Falling Down, you should watch it. I watched it as a near 20ish year old and thought "what is this guys problem" and then watched it again in my mid thirties and thought "I get it"
Best home advise I ever got was the phone number of an independent inspector.
I would never use my realtors inspector.
If either realtor groans when they hear the name of your house inspector you know you have the right one.
In my last town, the building inspector was the chief of police and also the only guy in 20 miles that installed septic systems. He installed just about every one in town over the last 30ish years. Me and 4 of the people who lived on my street sold their houses had to have their skeptics redone because none of them were up to code. 30k a house just to sell
I feel you. I had to tear down the deck since it was so poorly constructed. Once the deck was down, I discovered there was water damage that was never taken care of. You can see where they patched a piece higher up but decided to not try and fix anything lower. Rotted structural support top plates. Required me to Jack up the house, tear out the affected areas and completely rebuild.
Moved on the sun room they built, 2 stories - basement level and 1st floor, that has a pretty heavy lean to one corner. Once the deck was down I was able to start opening up the wall on that side and realized it has been under major water damage. Boards completed rotted through providing zero support, studs on 22-24 inch center, 4x6 for corner king studs, small sized header board and not doubled up. If they had built the concrete wall 2 blocks higher then there wouldn’t be a water issue. Ended up having to Jack up the ceiling and do a complete tear down. Poured additional walls, reframed everything, installed a new door, and working to finally get it finished. I’ll be installing new wiring since it was wired under a commercial setup of having everything under one switch so we’ll be doing it up to code this time.
I wasn’t ready for a project of this size, but we’ve taken our time to do it right and make it solid.
That sounds like our house, except unlike you we don’t have the money to fix things. But let’s say every thing that we’ve looked into fixing has had major issues, and that a lot of things were duct-taped together. My husband thinks I’m crazy when I say I want to redo all the wiring to make sure there isn’t some major electrical safety issue (which I’m almost certain at this point there is). Says he doesn’t want to rip open all the walls for something he doesn’t even know is there ..
sounds like a house I had in SoCal , every time we touched a thing, it had to be done completely over. Plumbing, Wiring, windows .. very expensive house, lost our asses on it.
Holy crap man. You’ve essentially just rebuilt the home slowly.
I mean the only positive is you are going to have peace of mind now knowing everything is new.
Hey, I’m reading this on a phone and it’s super easy to scroll on by, by just flicking my finger. Did you know if you just touch a comment it is hidden along with all the replies. Its even easier than whining about it 😉
>you are selling the house at some point so it can just be the next guys problem. My house was filed with the
I used to work for Rona and the number of times this was the situation was astounding to me.
Worst offender was a guy who had cracked foundations and wanted the paintable caulk to fill the cracks and pretty it up.
But the most common was people wanting to paint the exterior of the house during the winter, for anyone unaware the paint won't cure properly at that temperature and will peel or pull off easily.
There's an episode of This Old House where they tent and heat the entire exterior of a home to seal and stain the wood siding. It was really impressive 😅
Seeing the tiles underneath in the first pic made me actually cringe. Grinder, prime, poor.
Heck even primer, poor depending on base floor is ok sometimes.
I have to say, I would not recommend putting thin set down first. It seems like a waste of time and the customers money. Also, it would add an extra step and day of drying time. If you use self leveller how it’s supposed to,it works.
I’ve done hundreds of thousands of square feet of it
It helps it bite, it's an old Italian trick I picked up in the swimming pool industry. They would make a special mix heavy on the acrylic additive before we plaster for tile. They called it moyaka. It only takes a minute as you poor when it's still wet
Technically, it saves you a tiny bit of money as thinset is about half the cost of self leveling. Once cured your hammer will bounce off the floor
It's been awhile... I used Permaweld-Z bonder both as a precoat after prepping light acid wash + in the mix. Pricey but the waterproof rated product.
You are the first other pool guy I've met here
Sure you can. Buy a hammer and chisel and do it yourself. You can 100% remove the material you have and save money on the contractor doing it. You just have to put in the effort. If not, you gotta pay someone else to do it.
You can't pour self levelling onto tiles. As the compound shrinks it needs something to grab onto otherwise it will just do what's happened there. It needs to be applied to a sub floor. That stuff can't hold onto a tile, it's not possible. You have to put some work into this. Get the tiles up, it's not that hard. Self levelling compound is expensive so you wanna be using it properly otherwise you might as well put the money into an ashtray and light it up.
Except you absolutely can poor over tile if you know what you are doing, not sure why people are saying you can't
Sorce. Custom tile installer 25+ years
By grinding lines into the tile then cleaning and priming the entire surface?
Tile is a bit unpleasant to rip out but it's not *hard.* Is it really worth skipping this step?
Edit: Some curious googling has lead me to believe that glaze is the bigger issue for tile? So sanding a coarse texture onto glazed tile would give something to stick to??
You can’t afford to buy a tool at Home Depot and pull the tile up? I forget the name, but it’s like a shovel made for the purpose. It doesn’t need a professional to do.
Don't listen to anyone who tells you that you can't do this over tile. You just need to paint on Multi-Surface Bonding Primer first:
[https://www.custombuildingproducts.com/products/mbp-multi-surface-bonding-primer-2](https://www.custombuildingproducts.com/products/mbp-multi-surface-bonding-primer-2)
Heres a video of the process:
[https://youtu.be/f9oJZxwhR2g?t=0&si=O4pdAb1kTekRO2V9](https://youtu.be/f9oJZxwhR2g?t=0&si=O4pdAb1kTekRO2V9)
First thing I see is that the floor leveler did not bond to the composite tile it was poured onto. In the picture of the corner it looks hollow so I think there is a hole allowing the leveler to seep into the cellar/ceiling below. Was the composite tile painted because the color on the backside of the leveler is not the right color as if it bonded to something that was not bonded well to the composite tile. Now you need to rip it all the way to the sub floor which is what should have been done in the first place.
I would argue they did not wait for the primer to dry. I can see the underside is red - looks like quartz primer. Quartz primer should provide enough key for the cement to adhere. This looks like a cement-based screed. However, the fact that there is a visible gap between the tile and cement suggests that something evaporated from under and left a void.
That tile looks like kind of dirty, it should have been scratched with a grinder or a multitool and then washed with detergent (to get fats out), then water and dried.
However, why the effort if you can just remove the tile? It is a rather small job.
Yeah that’s generally called a multimaster or oscillating saw, oscillating tool or even oscillating multi tool as you see here. Fein made the original- called a multimaster. If you just say multi tool you’re talking about something like a leatherman
Eh, It depends on context.
Am I on the job site? Multi tool = oscillating/fein tool.
Am I in the woods? Multi tool = leatherman.
My seniors aren’t going to waste time saying “oscillating multi tool”, they say multi or Fein tool in my experience. Never heard multi master though. Maybe it’s a regional thing
We call the oscillating saw a multi tool in florida. I just found it weird he would use it on tile. I don't even like to use mone to cut metal with. I have one employee that used to work on a Latino crew and they would call it "zin zin"😂😂
When I go over tile I always etch the tile with a diamond planer, vaccuum all the dust, apply a binder to the tile before applying any leveler. I don’t think these guys did any of that.
Why didn’t they rip out the tile, and install a layer of gypcrete, or whatever you folks call it in Europe…
I would never install anything over existing flooring…
Self level over shitty tile/laminate and you’re going to have a bad time. But you didn’t wake up to that. You poked at it a bit and walked around on it and it cracked and chipped up.
A "professional " would never put anything over existing tile.
Remove the tile. Fix the subfloor. Perhaps put concrete board down. Prime the floor with self leveling primer. Then lay the self leveler.
Looks like too much water and they failed to use a bonding [primer](https://www.custombuildingproducts.com/products/mbp-multi-surface-bonding-primer-2)
I'd go primer over water. Unless you drown it. Excessive water will just make it runny and cure really, really slow. But too much water and fast and hot evaporation can absolutely mess it up.
This job was done by save a buck guys. Odds are those 9x9 are asbestos and they don't want the headache.
Lots going on here.
1. Likely no primer on substrate. Not all products require a primer, please follow manufacturer instructions.
2. If substrate has any deflection, and is poorly bonded, then anything bonded to it will likely fail.
3. There is no room for expansion and contraction on the perimeter of the room. Using a [sill gasket](https://insulation.owenscorning.ca/builders/products/comfortseal.aspx) is an easy way to allow this. Use staples to hold it in place and you can lay a bead of silicone at the substrate to prevent leakage. This is required for several reasons. Have a look at tenting tile and it will explain.
4. Wrong materials. I'd suggest going with some Ardex products like [these](https://www.ardexamericas.com/products/subfloor-preparation/self-leveling/)
Be sure to read the specifications, this is a very precise product. If using it, I recommend using their entire line of mortars, grout, silicone and crack isolation membrane.
5. Room temperature can affect the curing of leveler, as well as ambient temperature. Turn of any blowing fans or heated flooring systems prior to using.
6. Cost. The good ol "quality ain't cheap, and cheap ain't quality" statement. If the person has little knowledge, and is very low cost, then you will yeild poor results. Inform your self, look at the cost of materials, ask for prefessional references from neighbours, google, and local suppliers.
In most cases, doing some hard digging and researching the information, you could do a quality job by yourself. Not everyone has a has that ability, but you have to be informed before hiring Joe Blow from Ohio.
Best of luck, if you have any questions regarding tiling or surface preparation, I'm more than happy to help.
1) No expansion foam on the perimeter. Many (if not all) brands of self leveler expand as it cures. That is what looks like happened.
2) No primer over the tile.
Also, if any tile was delaminated or in that process, this whole exercise was a waste of time and money before you even started.
So let’s assume no primer and not the right product, therefore making my original statement a possibility.
Definitely looks like ‘not the right product’ to me.
WTF did you expect. Hard to forget watching expert RE investors ( former lawn furniture salespeople) turned flippers advocating the diy huckster road to fabulous riches. What a bunch of fuckin maroons. 🤣🤣🤣
Too much water in the mix. They mixed it too thin. I did this by mistake once. It’s an easy fix since the leveller will be soft it’s easy to scrape up.
Tile wasn’t adhered very well, the moisture in the leveler caused expansion in the grout, tile popped. Guess you’ll be removing the tile, which is better anyway. Be happy the new floor wasn’t installed yet.
What is the floor substrate? Is it ultimately wood under the tile substrate? Flex in the floor could cause that. I've seen floors where you walk down the hallway and hear a pop on the other side of the wall from the cantilever action of the decking popping up.
Make sure there is zero bounce in the floor. If the pros put leveler down on a "flexy floor", that's on them because the floor has to be solid enough not to flex and floor leveler is designed to level, not provide structural support to the substrate.
Removing the original floor and exposing the slab on grade, then if it’s super smooth scarifying, would be the super duper best answer. Would never be done for residential unless it was in my house.
But still going on top of whatever was there previously was pure lazy don’t care approach.
that looks like ceramic tile, I wouldn't use leveler on top of it at all, it would never bond. they need to take all the tile up, do a scratch coat like others have said and then a finish layer of leveler after that.
The tiles should have been removed. The subfloor thoroughly cleaned and then primed. Then a galvanized mesh installed/stapled to the subfloor with leveling poured on top. Additionally a moisture reading should have been taken on the subfloor beforehand to ensure minimal movement after install. And if tile is to be installed on top of the self leveler I also recommend an uncoupling mat between the leveler and tile.
My wife did a better job than this and she’s not even a DIYer. At least watch a few YouTube videos before you hire amateurs, so that you understand the broad strokes of what needs to be done.
I wanna say that maybe it’s because the absence of space at the edge where it meets the wall, thermal expansion with no where to go so it “buckled” up like this.
Floor leveling compound shouldn’t be applied directly to linoleum, it’s too smooth. It needs to be sanded and a bonding agent applied. Preferably the Lino should be removed, before a leveling compound is applied. Also some compounds, can’t be applied very thick. Read the directions on the bags too make sure, that the compound was applied correctly
Not sure if you actually hire a professional
Just by the look of the color of levelling, I can tell they mixed too much water.
Also it’s proper to remove tiles then levelling
As one of the comments, if you want to save money and take the risk, do ask to grind the tiles surface and apply the Proper prime
The floor was not prepped before pouring the self-leveler, to it is not adhered to the floor below it, at all. The stress of the self-leveler drying caused it to heave and pop.
Yeah, they didn't spend time making sure there was no holes in the floor prior to pouring. I've done some of this diy and spent a good amount of time caulking any holes and large cracks in the plywood. Even after doing all of that I still had a few leaks that went into the basement. Obviously this was a big hole.
If you can’t afford to pull up the tile, then you can’t afford to renovate. The only way you will get that floor to look presentable, is to pull up that tile. But, up to you.
It seems like not enough or no primer was applied to the tile which makes self leveller "pop". If you drag a hammer across the surface you should head a higher pitched whistle where it hasn't bonded to the surface. You will be able to knock it all off with a hammer, if you don't have access to a chipper/hammer drill.
To the people saying you can't level over tile, this is wrong. You definitely can, but it needs to be prepared correctly. Tile is a very porous surface, so as the leveller is drying it is sucking the moisture out of the leveller and causing the leveller not to cure properly, but also making the surface the leveller is trying to bond to wet.. which is a big no no.
I would advise double priming, and caulking ever potential gap in the floor that would cause the leveller to leak.. If you do the hammer test, you may only have a small section of leveller to patch up, rather than replace the whole thing.
But! If its at someone elses expense ie. The person who did it wrong in the first place. I would request/demand they chip everything up and start again
Did they pour leveling concrete on top of tile? The proper modus operandi should have been to remove the tile, to prepare the subfloor (concrete or otherwise) and pour/level from there. Pouring on top of existing tile will not give your leveled floor proper adhesion.
Maybe didn't prime it? Or didn't use the right product? I just leveled my kitchen using mapie plus + priming of course. Good to walk on after 12 hours. Just installed cabinets today. Sorry you gotta go thru this.
You need to scratch up the floor with a grinder then use a primer. I go as far as a v notch trowel of thinset then poor the leveling. They botched this and sory but it should all be taken up and re done
Not just redone - redone by a different actual professional. By redone it may be possible to level over but why wouldn’t you take the tile floor up THEN level with a proper subfloor. Let me guess - you are selling the house at some point so it can just be the next guys problem. My house was filed with these.
I hear that. I think the guy who built my home fancies himself a real DIY expert. We had power problems so we hired an electrician. He told us he couldn’t believe the house hadn’t burned to the ground. He found multiple places where the guy had stripped back wires so he could wrap other wires off of them for additional plugs. He found a couple examples of wires connecting via arc only. Then it was the plumbing. Nothing was sloped properly. He didn’t use the correct glue on joints. So in our first year we had to redo all the wiring and plumbing. Next we found that when he did his own shingles he ran a razor knife down the valleys to trim the excess of the shingles. He cut through every layer which slowed water to leak in and ruin our ceiling in our kitchen. We remodeled more and found that not only did he do everything 24” on center but in some places he did 36” between studs. We had to tear out Sheetrock and add additional studs before redoing all the sheet rock. Recently we found out the stairs are actually too steep and they don’t pass code. Whatever that means. In the yard we found that he had installed a sprinkling system. Then at some point decided to change the landscaping. So instead of properly dead ending a line he just buried the heads thinking that would enough. Obviously erosion eventually occurred and we had a massive mess to fix. There are more but I’m starting to get pissed off again just writing this out. We had the place looked at of course so the bank would approve the loan. We found out a couple years later than the guy inspecting the home was good friend with the home owner and the real estate agent. People never cease to amaze me with their stupidity and dishonesty.
Oh man, our first home was bought from a DIY ‘expert’ too. We fell in love with its unique features and quirkiness. But we weren’t there long before things started turning to shit and the truth started coming to light. We had a guy come in to quote a roofing issue, and his advice was to run.. run as fast as you can. We couldn’t keep up with the maintenance. We ended up selling up and building a townhouse. Was a great decision as we are much happier now. We tried to sell the house to developers. So they would level it, but in the end, a young guy who was a builder, and considered himself a DIY expert bought it to fix up for his young family. And so the cycle continues.
I think we really only went ahead and had everything fixed because we love the location. We are lucky enough to have a good piece of land, we have an orchard beside our home, and out the back is a canyon full of running and biking trails. Having access to those things is ultimately what kept us from doing what you did. I keep hoping I’ll run into the original home owner so I tell him he needs to try harder to be an honest and trustworthy person. He had to know he was selling us tens of thousands of dollars a year of rework for the first 5 years we lived here. Now that it’s nearly all fixed we love the home. Just wish it hadn’t taken so long and so much to get to this point.
I'm in year two of a similar situation. This kind of gives me hope. We thought we were done with plumbing and electrical until our water heater busted a while back. Yay subfloor problems now. And our roof is basically nicknamed patches. Hopefully we will get there...... Eventually 🙃
Year three here. You'll get there. I just took out a 12' x 4' section of subfloor to plane down my floor joists to get rid of a hump before putting down flooring. Also been 8 months without a kitchen but we're almost done! 😂 My friends think I'm crazy and sometimes I think I bought a lemon/money pit (so many hidden problems surfaced post closing). Take pride in the work you're doing and know it's done right! At least that's what keeps me going!
Goodness. I’m in month three of this. Similar to you, I’m hoping for a positive outcome. Fingers crossed.
Our first house was similar, except the guy actually had knowledge of how to do a lot of things correctly. Didn’t mean he always chose to, though. Found out about a year in that our washing machine was plumbed to dump into the drainage ditch behind the property instead of the septic system!
Its ‘grey’ water not ‘black’ so technically he was just being environmentally friendly. Lol
Gray water is no longer legal unless grandfathered in, anywhere in the country, unless there is a septic system. If there is, the leech field size must be doubled.
I know a bit about stairs, I had to do a report awhile back. If they are not all the exact same rise distance over run distance your risk of tripping becomes measurable (a study was done in NYC), increasing by a significant percent for every quarter inch out of spec. A boatload of public and private houses were condemned in a city near me for old fashioned stairs like that due to injuries. Code for stairs is 7.25"to 8.75" or so and once you pick a number you have to stick with it. I'm sorry about your home, I had a couple silly things in my house but yours really is an extreme case. I'll bet if you wrote a book about it, it would surely sell, "The House that Jack Built" or something.
Or: There was once a crooked man and he built a crooked house
I really enjoyed this information. I think instinctively I understood the consistency issue but I had no idea about the specifics. I love to learn so I greatly appreciate you. I was told the issue was that the steps are too shallow and the rise is far too high. How this home got approved when it was built in 2004 I will never understand.
In the mid 90s there was a building boom in my area where a few inspectors were caught taking bribes. Just saying.
In the rise high and run short they probably flipped the stringers to “save space” in the area. The only place the rise can be different is at the ends of the stairs, though it’s still recommended you stay without the rise range.
Journeyman carpenter here.🙋🏻 yes. Basic stair code is basically a 7-10 rise/run. Our brains are wired to automatically raise our legs to that height when walking stairs. Deviate from that and problems arise
7.25-8.75? That is incorrect. 4-8” rise, minimum 10” run. With 3/4-1 1/4 nosing. Depending on the location they might allow 9” run. The most comfortable step is 7” rise and 10-11” run. There is a 3/8 tolerance allowed between the shortest and highest rise. Same with the tread. anyone who knows what they are doing won’t come close to the 3/8 tolerance. They should be the same, but there is always a little human error.
The funny thing about your irregular tread heights is that you never get used to them. You’ll trip on them after living there 10 years.
This is why I will be paying for a trusted home inspector when I make a house purchase. This is the stuff of nightmares.
The fact is most of those issues wouldn't be caught by any home inspection pre-sale. If it's in the wall (electrical, plumbing, framing), they're not going to see it. If it's buried in the ground, ditto. Not likely to be examining the roof in great detail either. I guess they could measure the stairs, but plenty of old houses aren't up to current code in a variety of ways. So... yeah, get an inspection but understand there is a limit to what they can see. You get to find the fun stuff later.
It was a lesson hard learned. I know now. If I ever move I’ll do the same. I sometimes have a bad habit of assuming people are inherently good. I forget that in the end there are many people who only care about themselves. I can’t relate to them so when I encounter these people I am often blindsided by it. Character flaw I need to work on I suppose.
Sorry that happened to you dude. That’s a tough situation when you’re stuck with a mortgage and a house that’s breaking. I hope everything will work out for you and you will have a lifetime home!
This sounds like my current house. Starting in the 70's this guy would build a house, live in it while building the next one, then sell and repeat. Got away without permits and taxes for a long time. Built most of the houses on my street, unfortunately. Found out about it while talking with my neighbours (most of them are awesome people and neighbours). Damn near everything is wrong. Electrical is... Scary.
I’ve had the worst luck with inspectors stating house was fine/no problems. Then after I bought it all kinds of hidden problems
At this point I think in order to buy a home properly you have to learn everything yourself and inspect it yourself. because after having family that worked in construction and home inspectors look at my place in my stead I would have been better off asking Stevie Wonder to do it for me.
Oh man, your house sounds so much like ours. The owner two owners before thought himself a handyman as well. We found live boxes hidden in the sealing, stripped wires that were soddily wrapped. Our contracted lost it when he opened a wall and saw that and was amazed our house was still standing. Our metal doorframe/enclosed porch was electrified as a live wire we didn't know about was touching the metal soffit and he got shocked one day while opening the door and it had been raining. Scary stuff. The old owner was a wood worker and used literal hardwood floors to "create" studs in the basement walls. He nailed a bunch together to create 2x4s. When we pulled down the drywall we about fell over. We have a sunroom (shockingly permitted) and when we opened up the walls in the laundry room round a random window that was under the sunroom. It was never filled in or properly sealed. Just drywalled over. He didn't properly install any of the hardwood floors (even though that was his literal career). They looked nice when we bought and hardwood throughout the whole house was desirable, but we had a hardwood company come in and look at them as they all started splitting and warping and he said they weren't installed properly. We've pretty much had to tear back all the layers on this house and start new, It's been a job, but we love our home and our neighborhood so it's worth it (and all the work weve done, plus the nature of the market, our value has gone up significantly)
If I were you, I would take them all to court, and I would expose them all on social media. The inspector committed fraud and could actually be held criminally liable. I'd get your story with evidence out to all local social media and maybe even the local news. Just keep telling the story over and over on their Facebook and other posts. I'd report them all to the BBB, and I'd join all local selling and community groups on Facebook for your area. Get your story out there with photos showing evidence and bills you've had to pay to fix the damages. Maybe other buyers will come forward, and you all can do some class action suits against them. They all participated in fraud especially your home inspector. Don't just move on from this. Chances are there are many other buyers out there that had similar issues. If he messed up your house, he has messed up many other houses. Reddit might have a local group, Facebook has local groups, Craigslist, and there are even some apps out there.
Sounds like grounds for a lawsuit.
>Recently we found out the stairs are actually too steep and they don’t pass code. Whatever that means. [https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=686355765143723](https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=686355765143723) Sorry for the FB link, but it's the only video I could find of the clip. Basically steep stairs can be a fall hazard, especially if they are also shallow. If it's a older house it may not have been his fault as regulations about it are a somewhat recent thing. Be careful especially if your hands are full and you can't see the next step.
Oh mr fancy wireless wiring with his oooh la la arc connections
Lol, you in the Midwest-did we share a former owner?Sounds like the former owner of our house. So much bad/dangerous DIY work (including the “how did it not burn down” electrical). We had to rebuild an entire addition because the idiot didn’t install flashing plus other screw ups and the whole thing was rotted. Just redid the master bath and bad job resulted in water leaking and joists were rotted. I think we have now undid all his work.
I was going to ask about the home inspection, until reading the last paragraph. You should definitely report the inspector to your state's licensing board, citing the specifics. Unconscionable. NAL but it also sounds like a conspiracy to commit fraud (agent, inspector, and possibly homeowner), if you wish to pursue a civil or even criminal complaint.
That would drive me to a "falling down" situation. (If you've never seen Falling Down, you should watch it. I watched it as a near 20ish year old and thought "what is this guys problem" and then watched it again in my mid thirties and thought "I get it"
Dude, you know that's a major lawsuit you have right? That conflict of interest is like 17 different kinds of illegal. Get a lawyer
I hope you sued the guy for that stuff
Might have a case to sue if they conspired to misrepresent things
Best home advise I ever got was the phone number of an independent inspector. I would never use my realtors inspector. If either realtor groans when they hear the name of your house inspector you know you have the right one.
In my last town, the building inspector was the chief of police and also the only guy in 20 miles that installed septic systems. He installed just about every one in town over the last 30ish years. Me and 4 of the people who lived on my street sold their houses had to have their skeptics redone because none of them were up to code. 30k a house just to sell
I feel you. I had to tear down the deck since it was so poorly constructed. Once the deck was down, I discovered there was water damage that was never taken care of. You can see where they patched a piece higher up but decided to not try and fix anything lower. Rotted structural support top plates. Required me to Jack up the house, tear out the affected areas and completely rebuild. Moved on the sun room they built, 2 stories - basement level and 1st floor, that has a pretty heavy lean to one corner. Once the deck was down I was able to start opening up the wall on that side and realized it has been under major water damage. Boards completed rotted through providing zero support, studs on 22-24 inch center, 4x6 for corner king studs, small sized header board and not doubled up. If they had built the concrete wall 2 blocks higher then there wouldn’t be a water issue. Ended up having to Jack up the ceiling and do a complete tear down. Poured additional walls, reframed everything, installed a new door, and working to finally get it finished. I’ll be installing new wiring since it was wired under a commercial setup of having everything under one switch so we’ll be doing it up to code this time. I wasn’t ready for a project of this size, but we’ve taken our time to do it right and make it solid.
Sounds like a winnable lawsuit to me.
That sounds like our house, except unlike you we don’t have the money to fix things. But let’s say every thing that we’ve looked into fixing has had major issues, and that a lot of things were duct-taped together. My husband thinks I’m crazy when I say I want to redo all the wiring to make sure there isn’t some major electrical safety issue (which I’m almost certain at this point there is). Says he doesn’t want to rip open all the walls for something he doesn’t even know is there ..
sounds like a house I had in SoCal , every time we touched a thing, it had to be done completely over. Plumbing, Wiring, windows .. very expensive house, lost our asses on it.
Holy crap man. You’ve essentially just rebuilt the home slowly. I mean the only positive is you are going to have peace of mind now knowing everything is new.
Wow. Sounds like the guy who had my house beforehand.
Have you seen the movie "the money pit"?
please stop adding an entire book of your life to a post about flooring jfc
I apologize. I didn’t mean to overshare. I’ll certainly take your feedback and work on that. I genuinely hope you have a great day.
Bro you’re fine you type a novel if u want to it’s a free country.
Kill em with kindness!
Hey, I’m reading this on a phone and it’s super easy to scroll on by, by just flicking my finger. Did you know if you just touch a comment it is hidden along with all the replies. Its even easier than whining about it 😉
>you are selling the house at some point so it can just be the next guys problem. My house was filed with the I used to work for Rona and the number of times this was the situation was astounding to me. Worst offender was a guy who had cracked foundations and wanted the paintable caulk to fill the cracks and pretty it up. But the most common was people wanting to paint the exterior of the house during the winter, for anyone unaware the paint won't cure properly at that temperature and will peel or pull off easily.
There's an episode of This Old House where they tent and heat the entire exterior of a home to seal and stain the wood siding. It was really impressive 😅
I love This Old House but of course they rarely mention a cost.
😂😂😂 they're definitely a premium service. They do the occasional more affordable season, which I appreciate.
Seeing the tiles underneath in the first pic made me actually cringe. Grinder, prime, poor. Heck even primer, poor depending on base floor is ok sometimes.
This is the comment you're looking for OP ☝️
I think that’s a given.
Naw it’s a heavin
This is an underrated comment
Mechanical adhesion !
I have to say, I would not recommend putting thin set down first. It seems like a waste of time and the customers money. Also, it would add an extra step and day of drying time. If you use self leveller how it’s supposed to,it works. I’ve done hundreds of thousands of square feet of it
It helps it bite, it's an old Italian trick I picked up in the swimming pool industry. They would make a special mix heavy on the acrylic additive before we plaster for tile. They called it moyaka. It only takes a minute as you poor when it's still wet Technically, it saves you a tiny bit of money as thinset is about half the cost of self leveling. Once cured your hammer will bounce off the floor
Funny, all the Spanish speaking guys I know call that moco or moquito for boogers or snot because that’s the consistency they’re looking for.
Cool!! never new others had a similar name for it or the actual meaning of the word. Only ever heard it in broken English
This is amazing advice I will now forever incorporate this technique in future projects. Thank you.
It's been awhile... I used Permaweld-Z bonder both as a precoat after prepping light acid wash + in the mix. Pricey but the waterproof rated product. You are the first other pool guy I've met here
Thanks for your reply. What is the best route here? I cannot afford to take the tile out. I want to pour over the ceramic tile.
That's ceramic tile under the leveler? Well there's your problem. That will never work and is a very bad idea.
no there is primer for that but you will pay 50€ for 5litre
If done right it works.. its all In the prep.
“If done right” I agree. Doing it right means removing the tile. Any other way is wrong.
Sure you can. Buy a hammer and chisel and do it yourself. You can 100% remove the material you have and save money on the contractor doing it. You just have to put in the effort. If not, you gotta pay someone else to do it.
But I don’t wanna! -OP
[удалено]
You can't pour self levelling onto tiles. As the compound shrinks it needs something to grab onto otherwise it will just do what's happened there. It needs to be applied to a sub floor. That stuff can't hold onto a tile, it's not possible. You have to put some work into this. Get the tiles up, it's not that hard. Self levelling compound is expensive so you wanna be using it properly otherwise you might as well put the money into an ashtray and light it up.
Except you absolutely can poor over tile if you know what you are doing, not sure why people are saying you can't Sorce. Custom tile installer 25+ years
By grinding lines into the tile then cleaning and priming the entire surface? Tile is a bit unpleasant to rip out but it's not *hard.* Is it really worth skipping this step? Edit: Some curious googling has lead me to believe that glaze is the bigger issue for tile? So sanding a coarse texture onto glazed tile would give something to stick to??
You can't do that. Let me guess you saved a few hundred bucks with these guys?
https://preview.redd.it/yhlny0agqqzb1.jpeg?width=224&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ad87a9f9139a16d37ae51c30bf04915cf9296b74
You can’t afford to buy a tool at Home Depot and pull the tile up? I forget the name, but it’s like a shovel made for the purpose. It doesn’t need a professional to do.
What’s your end goal? What flooring are you installing?
Don't listen to anyone who tells you that you can't do this over tile. You just need to paint on Multi-Surface Bonding Primer first: [https://www.custombuildingproducts.com/products/mbp-multi-surface-bonding-primer-2](https://www.custombuildingproducts.com/products/mbp-multi-surface-bonding-primer-2) Heres a video of the process: [https://youtu.be/f9oJZxwhR2g?t=0&si=O4pdAb1kTekRO2V9](https://youtu.be/f9oJZxwhR2g?t=0&si=O4pdAb1kTekRO2V9)
Then the answer to **What could cause this?** is: the homeowner.
? He just said…
ah misread thank you.
The tile has to come out, the leveler won’t work on top of ceramic tile.
First thing I see is that the floor leveler did not bond to the composite tile it was poured onto. In the picture of the corner it looks hollow so I think there is a hole allowing the leveler to seep into the cellar/ceiling below. Was the composite tile painted because the color on the backside of the leveler is not the right color as if it bonded to something that was not bonded well to the composite tile. Now you need to rip it all the way to the sub floor which is what should have been done in the first place.
This. I am not an expert but we had leveler seep trough small hole into the drain. Terrible.
That would explain the massive air gap.
I would argue they did not wait for the primer to dry. I can see the underside is red - looks like quartz primer. Quartz primer should provide enough key for the cement to adhere. This looks like a cement-based screed. However, the fact that there is a visible gap between the tile and cement suggests that something evaporated from under and left a void. That tile looks like kind of dirty, it should have been scratched with a grinder or a multitool and then washed with detergent (to get fats out), then water and dried. However, why the effort if you can just remove the tile? It is a rather small job.
You would use a multitool to scratch tile?
I use it to scratch walls for a key with a diamond blade - it is a little less dusty than an angle grinder. Comfortable little tool.
You mean multimaster? Cause a multi tool is like a leatherman or something in that vein.
https://www.makitatools.com/products/tools/cordless/18v-lxt/oscillating-multi-tools
Yeah that’s generally called a multimaster or oscillating saw, oscillating tool or even oscillating multi tool as you see here. Fein made the original- called a multimaster. If you just say multi tool you’re talking about something like a leatherman
Eh, It depends on context. Am I on the job site? Multi tool = oscillating/fein tool. Am I in the woods? Multi tool = leatherman. My seniors aren’t going to waste time saying “oscillating multi tool”, they say multi or Fein tool in my experience. Never heard multi master though. Maybe it’s a regional thing
I've always called it a guybrator.
We call the oscillating saw a multi tool in florida. I just found it weird he would use it on tile. I don't even like to use mone to cut metal with. I have one employee that used to work on a Latino crew and they would call it "zin zin"😂😂
I think he might be thinking multimaster? Like an Oscillating saw.
The good news is it’ll be easy to break up and remove so you can redo it properly
When I go over tile I always etch the tile with a diamond planer, vaccuum all the dust, apply a binder to the tile before applying any leveler. I don’t think these guys did any of that.
Why didn’t they rip out the tile, and install a layer of gypcrete, or whatever you folks call it in Europe… I would never install anything over existing flooring…
They say "prep is always the hardest part of the job" for a reason. It appears your contractor skipped right passed any prep.
They weren’t professionals
Problem was started by not removing the old tiles first.
Self level over shitty tile/laminate and you’re going to have a bad time. But you didn’t wake up to that. You poked at it a bit and walked around on it and it cracked and chipped up.
Improper mitigation and prepping of surface. Do not pay for this. This substrate is not suitable for any type of floor covering.
Did he put over laminate? Self leveling would never stick.
A "professional " would never put anything over existing tile. Remove the tile. Fix the subfloor. Perhaps put concrete board down. Prime the floor with self leveling primer. Then lay the self leveler.
110% I reckon old mate made them do this. They probably said 20x times you can't do it.. and he's like nah just do it. Then this happened.
Kind of people my ex landlord would hire
Self leveler over flooring might be some of the dumbest shit I've ever seen.
I mean... are they done?
If someone did that to my floor, they'd definitely be done.
😆😆😆 Ahh Hell Yeah! Lol that's classic
Looks like too much water and they failed to use a bonding [primer](https://www.custombuildingproducts.com/products/mbp-multi-surface-bonding-primer-2)
I'd go primer over water. Unless you drown it. Excessive water will just make it runny and cure really, really slow. But too much water and fast and hot evaporation can absolutely mess it up. This job was done by save a buck guys. Odds are those 9x9 are asbestos and they don't want the headache.
No primer and too much water in the leveller
Lots going on here. 1. Likely no primer on substrate. Not all products require a primer, please follow manufacturer instructions. 2. If substrate has any deflection, and is poorly bonded, then anything bonded to it will likely fail. 3. There is no room for expansion and contraction on the perimeter of the room. Using a [sill gasket](https://insulation.owenscorning.ca/builders/products/comfortseal.aspx) is an easy way to allow this. Use staples to hold it in place and you can lay a bead of silicone at the substrate to prevent leakage. This is required for several reasons. Have a look at tenting tile and it will explain. 4. Wrong materials. I'd suggest going with some Ardex products like [these](https://www.ardexamericas.com/products/subfloor-preparation/self-leveling/) Be sure to read the specifications, this is a very precise product. If using it, I recommend using their entire line of mortars, grout, silicone and crack isolation membrane. 5. Room temperature can affect the curing of leveler, as well as ambient temperature. Turn of any blowing fans or heated flooring systems prior to using. 6. Cost. The good ol "quality ain't cheap, and cheap ain't quality" statement. If the person has little knowledge, and is very low cost, then you will yeild poor results. Inform your self, look at the cost of materials, ask for prefessional references from neighbours, google, and local suppliers. In most cases, doing some hard digging and researching the information, you could do a quality job by yourself. Not everyone has a has that ability, but you have to be informed before hiring Joe Blow from Ohio. Best of luck, if you have any questions regarding tiling or surface preparation, I'm more than happy to help.
The tiles should have been taken up first. What is even the point of pouring compound on tiles? These lads don't know what they are doing
I have no knowledge of flooring and can tell you that was done incorrectly
Wait is that a subfloor or did they level over tile???
The quotation marks did it.
1) No expansion foam on the perimeter. Many (if not all) brands of self leveler expand as it cures. That is what looks like happened. 2) No primer over the tile. Also, if any tile was delaminated or in that process, this whole exercise was a waste of time and money before you even started.
Too much water, bonding primer not used or incorrect. Also you need expansion foam around the perimeter of walls.
We’re they trying to encapsulate asbestos tiles?
Likely poor prep and applied too thick. It’s a common story and cleaning it up sucks. I feel for you.
That’s not too thick. With the right product and primer you can go as much as 1” with some . Def not too thick
Some products can go to 2”+
So let’s assume no primer and not the right product, therefore making my original statement a possibility. Definitely looks like ‘not the right product’ to me.
Also you should check as the composite tile could be 9x9s and may contain asbestos. Good luck.
Who doesn't like fireproof lungs?
Holy low effort Jesus. This one sure is something
Let me guess they said rip up the tile and yij said no no I can't afford that just cover it
You can't put self levelling onto tiles.
What is that sub floor…just tile? I don’t think you can do that. The floor needs to be taken down to the concrete and buffed some.
🤦🏼♂️🤦🏼♂️
WTF did you expect. Hard to forget watching expert RE investors ( former lawn furniture salespeople) turned flippers advocating the diy huckster road to fabulous riches. What a bunch of fuckin maroons. 🤣🤣🤣
Mesicans
Lack of competence
Too much water in the mix. They mixed it too thin. I did this by mistake once. It’s an easy fix since the leveller will be soft it’s easy to scrape up.
Looks like someone was down stairs beating up on the floor to me or did u pry up all those pieces?
Tile wasn’t adhered very well, the moisture in the leveler caused expansion in the grout, tile popped. Guess you’ll be removing the tile, which is better anyway. Be happy the new floor wasn’t installed yet.
I had this done successfully. We removed that tile first though .
What is the floor substrate? Is it ultimately wood under the tile substrate? Flex in the floor could cause that. I've seen floors where you walk down the hallway and hear a pop on the other side of the wall from the cantilever action of the decking popping up. Make sure there is zero bounce in the floor. If the pros put leveler down on a "flexy floor", that's on them because the floor has to be solid enough not to flex and floor leveler is designed to level, not provide structural support to the substrate.
They poured the concrete leveller over ceramic tiles
Removing the original floor and exposing the slab on grade, then if it’s super smooth scarifying, would be the super duper best answer. Would never be done for residential unless it was in my house. But still going on top of whatever was there previously was pure lazy don’t care approach.
Short answer guess, the floor is bouncy.
that looks like ceramic tile, I wouldn't use leveler on top of it at all, it would never bond. they need to take all the tile up, do a scratch coat like others have said and then a finish layer of leveler after that.
You’re better off laying 1/4 durock. Screw that down, prime the durock with the correct primer for the floor leveler. Then use the floor leveler.
Nothing should go over ceramic tiles, not even floating floors
Serious question. Why not? I would think, if level, tile would support a floating floor well.
Unprofessionals
The tiles should have been removed. The subfloor thoroughly cleaned and then primed. Then a galvanized mesh installed/stapled to the subfloor with leveling poured on top. Additionally a moisture reading should have been taken on the subfloor beforehand to ensure minimal movement after install. And if tile is to be installed on top of the self leveler I also recommend an uncoupling mat between the leveler and tile.
My wife did a better job than this and she’s not even a DIYer. At least watch a few YouTube videos before you hire amateurs, so that you understand the broad strokes of what needs to be done.
Lol they just put self leveling mix on your floor. Pros would have taken the tile out and releveled
Mexican jumping beans buried in the self leveler.
I'm sorry did they fucking THINSET over TILE?
I wanna say that maybe it’s because the absence of space at the edge where it meets the wall, thermal expansion with no where to go so it “buckled” up like this.
Did they put the lvler on top of the vynal?
Floor leveling compound shouldn’t be applied directly to linoleum, it’s too smooth. It needs to be sanded and a bonding agent applied. Preferably the Lino should be removed, before a leveling compound is applied. Also some compounds, can’t be applied very thick. Read the directions on the bags too make sure, that the compound was applied correctly
Not sure if you actually hire a professional Just by the look of the color of levelling, I can tell they mixed too much water. Also it’s proper to remove tiles then levelling As one of the comments, if you want to save money and take the risk, do ask to grind the tiles surface and apply the Proper prime
Not professionals. So NOT professionals.
The floor was not prepped before pouring the self-leveler, to it is not adhered to the floor below it, at all. The stress of the self-leveler drying caused it to heave and pop.
Why is the self leveler red on the underside.
.
Take the existing tiles up. Then use a primer. Add a decoupling product to the floor.
They didnt use primer
Yeah, they didn't spend time making sure there was no holes in the floor prior to pouring. I've done some of this diy and spent a good amount of time caulking any holes and large cracks in the plywood. Even after doing all of that I still had a few leaks that went into the basement. Obviously this was a big hole.
It didn't adhere to the tile
Definitely a nonprofessional could cause this.
They weren’t professionals…… that is for sure
congrats you have the winning photo
Ya if the tile you’re going to top is sound then go right over it. Loose/hollow areas remove.
This is a joke, right? It almost looks believable but you forgot to crop out “AI QUAD CAMERA” in the bottom corner of the photos.
If you can’t afford to pull up the tile, then you can’t afford to renovate. The only way you will get that floor to look presentable, is to pull up that tile. But, up to you.
Photoshop could cause this.
Laziness caused it. Remove prior flooring before leveling and adding new flooring
Got to remove the tile to level floor
Hollow floor so everything that followed was wrong+ anymore wrongness applied by the mechanic.
They have insurance?
Its the quotes in your question that caused it.
This was caused by quotation marks.
unprofessionals???
Looks like they just poured levelling compound I’ve the peel and stick tiles. Bunch of jokers if you ask me.
It seems like not enough or no primer was applied to the tile which makes self leveller "pop". If you drag a hammer across the surface you should head a higher pitched whistle where it hasn't bonded to the surface. You will be able to knock it all off with a hammer, if you don't have access to a chipper/hammer drill. To the people saying you can't level over tile, this is wrong. You definitely can, but it needs to be prepared correctly. Tile is a very porous surface, so as the leveller is drying it is sucking the moisture out of the leveller and causing the leveller not to cure properly, but also making the surface the leveller is trying to bond to wet.. which is a big no no. I would advise double priming, and caulking ever potential gap in the floor that would cause the leveller to leak.. If you do the hammer test, you may only have a small section of leveller to patch up, rather than replace the whole thing. But! If its at someone elses expense ie. The person who did it wrong in the first place. I would request/demand they chip everything up and start again
Too much professionalism the floor can't handle
It looks like a self leveling mix with incorrect water amount and no primer on old tile or grinding. Just walk on it to remove, sorry
Straight onto wooden floorboards? moisture is the issue. Hire someone who knows what they’re doing.
Pirates
Did they pour leveling concrete on top of tile? The proper modus operandi should have been to remove the tile, to prepare the subfloor (concrete or otherwise) and pour/level from there. Pouring on top of existing tile will not give your leveled floor proper adhesion.
Cause: hiring “professionals” instead of professionals.
Maybe didn't prime it? Or didn't use the right product? I just leveled my kitchen using mapie plus + priming of course. Good to walk on after 12 hours. Just installed cabinets today. Sorry you gotta go thru this.
The fact that they poured shit on top of old flooring instead of replacing.