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Warning: leveling compound dried before I got the tack strips down
Had a job in a 1950s house yesterday where the subfloor was way off. I mixed a full bag of self leveler and by the time I got it smoothed and started laying tack strips around the edges, it had already skinned over. Realized I shouldve laid the strips first and marked everything before mixing. Lost about 45 minutes scraping it flat. Anyone else ever prep the tack strip zone before pouring, or do you just accept the mess and move on?
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theabarnes9d ago
...and honestly that's the part people don't think about until it bites them. I started marking the tack strip lines on the subfloor with a sharpie before I even mix, then I nail the strips right after the leveler goes down but before it starts to set. It takes some speed but you get a rhythm. The trick is to keep a wet edge on the pour and work in smaller sections if you're doing a big room, that way the leveler stays workable longer. And if you're using those plastic strips instead of wood, they're even easier to press in while it's tacky. But yeah, you really do have to treat the whole thing like one continuous step, not two separate jobs.
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