How to even floor between previous kitchen & diner

[sergeantash]

Hi all,

I took a wall down between my kitchen and dining room and now intend to lay a wooden laminate floor throughout - however the kitchen side has a concrete floor, the dining room side has a wooden floorboard floor and they're not quite the same height (concrete side is higher).

What would you guys recommend as the best method to level the floors? I'll be fitting a kitchen in the room and at this time plan to do that before I fit/even the floor so that the units will be easily adjusted to be level, I can then floor around them.

I believe that if I lay twice the thickness of under laminate sheeting on the floorboard side, that the two will align, would this be acceptable? I have heard that I could lay ply over the entire floor but believe that this would be hard work as the room is about 6m x 4m.

I appreciate your views!

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• sergeantash
• 13 Jan 2013
• 1

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• sergeantash
• 13 Jan 2013
• 1

 

[mattysupra]

//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=77960

 

[sergeantash]

//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=77960

Thanks Matty but I want to avoid such extensive measures for an easier/less messy solution?

 

[Chri5]

When you hang a decent length level or straight edge over the concrete floor you will be able to measure the gap between floors.

You have no choice but to ply out the lower floor to give a same level before underlay is used.

Doubling up under lay will make one side of the floor feel softer and it will drop and become uneven over weeks, months, years of foot traffic.

Before ply make sure everything under the floor (wiring and pipes) is new or at least not needing servicing for 10 plus years.

If the existing boards are 20mm you can screw the ply, but use screws that are no longer than ply depth + existing board depth otherwise they will puncture the sub void and if there's pipes or cables

 

[sergeantash]

When you hang a decent length level or straight edge over the concrete floor you will be able to measure the gap between floors.

You have no choice but to ply out the lower floor to give a same level before underlay is used.

Doubling up under lay will make one side of the floor feel softer and it will drop and become uneven over weeks, months, years of foot traffic.

Before ply make sure everything under the floor (wiring and pipes) is new or at least not needing servicing for 10 plus years.

If the existing boards are 20mm you can screw the ply, but use screws that are no longer than ply depth + existing board depth otherwise they will puncture the sub void and if there's pipes or cables

Thanks Chris, I guess this weekend I'll have to take a good look at it, I think the ply solution is probably the only way forward - thanks again.

 

[sergeantash]

Just an update on this one - after taking some spirit level measurements, I found that the concrete side of the room was actually the same level, it was simply the side of the concrete which joined the wood floor which seemed to bevel up giving the impression that it was higher.

So...I dug out just over a foot width through the entire length, dug down to about 4/5 inches (easier than I thought it would be actually) and then mixed up some 1/3 ratio cement mixed with a waterproofer and retarder and filled the hole. I then used a flat metal scraper to drag over the surface between the existing concrete and wooden floor to ensure that the two were absolutely level.

Its now absolutely solid and the two floors align perfectly at the right height, ready to be covered with matting material prior to the wooden floor being laid!

Here's after I dug out the trench..

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• sergeantash
• 19 Mar 2013
• 1

And here after I've filled it, note that this photo was taken before I smoothed the surface over (I allowed the cement to go off a bit before doing so).

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• sergeantash
• 19 Mar 2013
• 1

And for anyone curious, it took one bag of cement and three bags of sand!