When we moved into our home 12 years ago the basement was unfinished. With only 2 bedrooms on the main floor and 3 children in our family the basement became a top priority. We quickly made habitable one bedroom and the large family room. Eventually we finished the second bedroom but never did much more to the bathroom than add a shower and make it basically useable.
Over the summer I noticed several spots on the cement floor where the cement seemed loose and flaking. The time had finally come to fix the bathroom's cement floor.
HOW TO FIX A CEMENT FLOOR
SUPPLY LIST
- bag of top coat premix cement (available at most hardware stores in 50 lbs bags)
- small trowel, or trowel of your choice
- Weld Bond White Glue
- disposable bucket (to mix cement into)
- safet glasses
- dust mask
- hammer
- sturdy mixing stick (to mix your cement, water and glue together)
- Chip out the loose cement. Wear a good pair of safety glasses and using a hammer (I used a large 5lbs hammer) chip away the loose cement. Wear your safety glasses because those cement pieces will fly everywhere.
- Clean the area. When you have all the loose cement chipped away then clean the area. Pick up the big chunks, sweep up the smaller stuff and finally vaccum the dust and fine particles - the area needs to be clean.
- Prepare the area. Using a mixture of Weld Bond Glue and water (follow directions on premix cement bag) paint a coating of glue/water over the area to be fixed.
- Prepare the cement mixture. Using a bag of ready mix cement follow label directions and prepare a batch of cement in a small, disposable bucket. (I used an ice cream bucket.) Don't forget to add the glue! Wear a dust mask because the cement mix is very dusty and you will want to avoid breathing any of that dust in.
- Fill the hole. Using a trowel, work quickly (before your cement dries out) and fill the hole with your cement mixture. By jiggling your trowel as you smooth the cement it is possible to acheive a nice smooth finish. In the thin areas or around the edges you may have to pick out the small pebbles.
- Let it set. Depending upon the type of premix cement you used it may take up to a month for the cement to set up properly. During this time you should avoid walking on the area.
- Did it work? Within a week or so you will be able to tell if your patch will hold. Look at your patch. Is it developing cracks? Not good! Press on the surface (or stand gently on the surface), does the patch move? Not good!
If your patch did work and it should if you followed the directions on the premix package then all that's left to do is seal your floor and paint it - use cement sealer and paint.
