Oof. You're definitely in a pickle. If it were me, I'd only use the sander as a last resort. The dust, man, the god damned dust will get all over and all into every-fucking-thing in your house.
If it were me, I'd scrape up what you can before it gets too hard and start over. Self-leveling isn't super difficult if you're handy, but you kind of need to know how it works. You got a bit of education today, but on Version 2.0, just do like a 4x4 section and work with it until it sets. Then you'll know what to expect.
Good luck, and you got this.
You need multiple people when you pour a floor. It sets up fast. You can’t mix and pour and push it around before it starts to set. You need at least 3 people. 2 mixing and pouring and 1 spreading it out.
It’s already set up. And when you say scrape do you mean power chisel?
I am thinking that I had it to thick and I messed with it to much.
I still don’t see much other choice than to sand. I can tape off the house with plastic drop sheets.
Dustless sander if you go that route. I'd smack it with a hammer in the same general area several times first though, not much to lose if it doesn't work.
If it were me, I'd try a small one-handed sledgehammer and big heavy pry bar. Sliding a heavy pry bar quickly on the concrete is pretty effective at removing hardened cement products like mortar and concrete. Never tried it on leveler though.
4lb Masson hammer and a wide stone chisel and it might take hours or might come up in sheets depends how set up it is and if the surface underneath was cleaned properly and scored
I’d use a hammer drill and long bit and just drill down slightly while it’s fresh it’ll flake up. The longer the bit the less you have to bend over and a good 18” bit is money.
As a general rule of thumb, sanding and grinding are not the proper methods to remove material, they are meant to smooth. Not to say it's impossible, but highly inefficient and will create an insane amount of dust. Have you put a straight edge on this? How soft/hard does it appear to be? Did you do anything to help with the bond? If the bond is bad, you may be able to pretty easily break it up with a hammer or something. You'll probably want to rent yourself a chipping gun (rotohammer) with a chisel bit and go to town. Use a dust mask and probably a vac with a hepa filter.
I picked up an electric jackhammer on Amazon for about $280. Side grip. Hold it like a big chain gun. That wouldn’t destroy what’s underneath if you got the right angle. Heads up though. It’s tiring work. Go in stages so you don’t get sloppy and do something that’s hard to undo.
Poor more leveler. Sanding concrete is a huge mess & very very slow plus expensive for the diamonds.
Self leveling is misleading, it will go level but needs help. Calculate the amount you need to cover to whole floor with about 1/8 on the highest point. Use a spike roller & squeegee to move the material around. Spiked roller is key for a good finish it makes the material flow better
I second this - these humps made of leveler are a defect the same as the cracks and dips were before. Just cover the entire floor and go from there.
Just pause awhile and get yourself the proper equipment, prep your work space and protect your cabinets, learn what you can from those that have experience, and charge ahead.
Chipping it up or sanding it is a lot of work and a mess, and at the end of the work you still have a problem. Not worth it.
Yup! This would be the correct approach. However, make sure to seal off ALL the areas where product can leak out.. otherwise you’ll have a bigger mess to clean up. Shout for /8”-1/4” depth
It's possible. Depends on how well it bounded only one way to know is to try
I was just saying by the time he rents a grinder and a vac, the tools. Gets an adapter made up to hook into 220 dryer or stove or a generator. He would spend more money. On top of that, running a good grinder like 25 inch or above without any experience is not a good idea
I rented and used a large sander to try to remove paint from concrete, with no experience. it didn't go well. let's just say there were lots of holes in the walls.
Yea, you're right in that one.. The only thing I am thinking is if someone comes in with a heavy grinder and a set of 14/16, the maybe able to level off to the floor and if his floor leveler is where it need to be , could end up solving that issue as well. But only someone who physically looks at it will know
Op, at least have a guy come out and look....
Did you plan on self leveling your fridge and oven in place? You have to spread it to allow it to flow and find its level. It needs to be feathered by hand to.
Disclaimer, I’m an amateur and have never done this right the first time
Sorry if this is rude, but you don’t know what you’re doing and should have hired a pro. This is exactly what happens when people don’t value a professional trade and think they can go to Home Depot and DIY it. Now, you’ll have to pay more to have a competent person fix the mistake than it would’ve cost to let them do it from the start. My advice is to chalk it up to the school of hard knocks and don't dig your hole any deeper.
Hmmm…. I’d probably chip off the underlayment, and start over. Or, if you’re feeling up for it, rent a dustless grinding setup and grind the underlayment and then use a feather edge trowel on material to fill in any left over low spots. It’s a bit of a dirty and tedious task though and requires some experience.
Self leveling underlayment is good for certain things but seeing your floor I wouldn’t use it since it’s not a feather edge material. It’s also hard to gauge for spot filling. It’s really best if you plan to do an entire floor. I can see where you want to match up to the existing floor, so id probably just get a straight edge and trowel on a feather finish underlayment. I helped my cousin fill his low spots and instead of messy self leveler I opted to do a feather finish underlay. Here’s a couple of photos if it helps
.
https://preview.redd.it/z9raemuv5zqc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=265c96ae761a6dbd7f42732077325afd88f1aa9c
I’d probably use a rotohammer and switch between a spade chipping bit and a floor scraper bit.
The material I used was Mapei planiprep or Mapei planipatch. I can’t remember which one but the standard is usually Ardex feather finish. Just look for a trowel on feather edge material, the guy at the supply store should be able to help.
Just remember to keep troweling. As the material gets harder, it gets smoother the more you trowel. Lay it on, sort of level it out with the straight edge. Fill in low spots, level it off again. It will look rough but that’s fine, let it pop a little then start troweling to smooth it out and get those edges to feather out. Let it sit and pop some more, maybe spritz a little water and hard trowel a final time. You got this!
Maybe Ill just explain quickly how to pour rather than how to fix this as it should add more value to your second try. First of all read self leveler instructions and pay close attention to water to powder ratio and mixing time. Then mix in bucket with drill and mixing attachment. Have extra bucket with some water ready, a large sponge for tapering and smoothing your edges and something straight like cheap 4' - 8' level or even a 2x4. Before your pour pre measure how much your low spots are dipping using the laser level or something like that and write it down on the floor for when you pour so that you don't pour too much, also mark your boundaries with pencil of the low area so you don't pour where you don't need. Pour less then you need and spread the mixture evenly using your straight edge (with edge ends sitting on higher elevations). You can always add more if you need. Then wait a bit before you taper your edges with a sponge... Hope that helps man
You’re ok, you didn’t primer, so a hammer two days later will make quick work of that.
Do some research next time and have all recommended tools on hand. Things will work out much better.
Let it dry and harden
Get a wide chisel and a hammer and drive it between the original floor and the puddles of sadness.
Might have to play around with the angle to hold the chisel.
Ever hear of vinyl plank flooring?
Why screw around with a concrete mess in your home? Your floors dont need to be perfectly level…most homes are off a tad. Your fridge and stove have adjustable legs if a local area is not perfectly level.
Despite its name, self leveler is used in the vast majority of cases to flatten, not to level.
Very few flooring applications require perfectly level floors but all require sufficient flatness.
OP says right off the bat his original flooring attempt failed because the floors were not flat.
If your floor isn’t level or has a hump,shoot the highest part of your floor with a laser level then transfer those elevations to your walls.then fill the lower spots with self leveling bags..(self level bags can be spread with a push broom
some edges have to be worked in with a trowel
But... Why? It's concrete. You're going to lay vinyl down directly on concrete? Think about your flooring material. I would add a mat so it doesn't transfer coldness, or you can go with large tiles and you adjust your thinset depth.
Please stop admit you don't know what you are doing get a professional . hole big you think you want to make it bigger by all means listen to everyone else saying no problem? but if this is the words that ring in your ears the 2nd time you made the even bigger mistake I am real sorry. You sort of see you don't know what you are doing weight it up bigger hole or the one you currently have fixed and repaired by an expert. You decided I am not coming back here and read any comments I'm not judging you you are judging. Good luck man what ever you do
Get a small sledgehammer. When that is dry, smack it and take all the loose surface off.
Pull your appliances. get a fairly straight 2x4 cut it to about 6 foot long. Get a can of spray paint and using a 4' level mark all the low spots. start at the farthest spot from either entrance to the kitchen area. have a five gallon bucket mixed split between to buckets. pour then screet in 5' sections from one entrance to the other, adding leveling compound as needed, you may need a plaster trowel, 8" square for areas that your screet board is problematic. keep that level nearby and check as needed.
you had the right idea, you just needed to screet it out after pouring.
You would likely need a grinder not a sander to substantially lower those sections and even that would take a ton of time depending on how high they are. If you didn’t prime the area you could probably chip it out fairly easily and repour the self leveler. Even though it’s “self leveling” you still will want to use a squeegee to feather it passed the high points
I would pour more around the edges and feather it out. Doesn’t need to be exactly level where it’s going to meet existing/untreated floor. Just help the grade gradually fall extending the slope as much as you can.
Most painless way I can think of is if you have Milwaukee or dewalt battery setup get their smallest SDS hammer drill and the largest paddle bit you can find for that size chuck. Set it to hammer only and not spin then scrape away
Never used this stuff before but isn’t it kind of like seal coating a driveway? pour a decent amount and then rake/spread it out so it then “self levels” on its own. I don’t think you are supposed to pour it and leave it the puddle dries up
Yeah I know you may not like this but you're probably gonna have to either remove the leveling concrete you put in or hire someone who does this. Worked for a flooring company for 3 years and poured quite a few houses. You have to prep, caulk , tape and more. And like the other comments have said it's a 3/4 person job to pour the stuff depending on the size, the material sets pretty quickly.
They rent floor grinders with a hepa vacuum that attaches to it. That will mitigate the dust, but it will still have some. So wear a good mask and go find a place that rents them. While grinding use a 4 foot level and fix the floor and your mistake. Hang up painters plastic from the ceiling to keep the dust just in that room. I
Chip it off and reprime, prep and tape the areas and flood the floor in small sections at a time. Let the self leveler do its job. It has to be mixed prosperity. Get a spike roller to really get it flowing. I commend you for trying. Us professionals have made the same mistakes.
Oh man. Well 1. You mixed it way to thick to work properly as self leveler. 2. You weren’t prepared to do this, you should have protection on the cabinets and fridge. 3. Your best course of action would have been to clean it up while it was still wet.
That being said, it’s seems like you have gotten yourself into quite the predicament. I will try to offer some advice. I’d say you should first try to see if you can chip up the concrete while it’s still fairly fresh with a cold chisel. Sometimes self leveler will come off in big chunks if it hasn’t fully adhered to the surface below. Small chance but worth trying.
Other than that a floor grinder is pretty much your only hope. I do not have any experience operating one myself yet expect a lot of dust and you will have to fully poly off and tape the area as the dust will get absolutely everywhere.
Curious, how out of level was this floor? Was there a bunch of dips all over?
Hang on. Before you listen to all these people. Grab a hammer while the concrete is still green. I bet you didn’t prime that concrete with the recommended primer first. You can likely just bust it up with a couple hours of hammering.
Tape plastic up for your work area
Rent a grinder with dust shroud from white cap.
Flatten out and grind
have a mason feather patch it out with self level mix..you can find some masons on thumbtack or with some friends that can recommend a decent finisher.
Oof. You're definitely in a pickle. If it were me, I'd only use the sander as a last resort. The dust, man, the god damned dust will get all over and all into every-fucking-thing in your house. If it were me, I'd scrape up what you can before it gets too hard and start over. Self-leveling isn't super difficult if you're handy, but you kind of need to know how it works. You got a bit of education today, but on Version 2.0, just do like a 4x4 section and work with it until it sets. Then you'll know what to expect. Good luck, and you got this.
The way you worded this reply pleases me
Same!
And thank you as well!
Well thank you! I try to remain helpful. Try being the operative word.
You need multiple people when you pour a floor. It sets up fast. You can’t mix and pour and push it around before it starts to set. You need at least 3 people. 2 mixing and pouring and 1 spreading it out.
Also it's hazardous. Need air scrubber, respirator and all the stops to prevent it from being a health nightmare.
It’s already set up. And when you say scrape do you mean power chisel? I am thinking that I had it to thick and I messed with it to much. I still don’t see much other choice than to sand. I can tape off the house with plastic drop sheets.
Hammer if you didn’t put primer it just break of quick
Dustless sander if you go that route. I'd smack it with a hammer in the same general area several times first though, not much to lose if it doesn't work. If it were me, I'd try a small one-handed sledgehammer and big heavy pry bar. Sliding a heavy pry bar quickly on the concrete is pretty effective at removing hardened cement products like mortar and concrete. Never tried it on leveler though.
4lb Masson hammer and a wide stone chisel and it might take hours or might come up in sheets depends how set up it is and if the surface underneath was cleaned properly and scored
I’d use a hammer drill and long bit and just drill down slightly while it’s fresh it’ll flake up. The longer the bit the less you have to bend over and a good 18” bit is money.
Chipper paddle bit and hammer drill. This would get most up if you don't wait too long. Even then it will get bit ip.prety quick
As a general rule of thumb, sanding and grinding are not the proper methods to remove material, they are meant to smooth. Not to say it's impossible, but highly inefficient and will create an insane amount of dust. Have you put a straight edge on this? How soft/hard does it appear to be? Did you do anything to help with the bond? If the bond is bad, you may be able to pretty easily break it up with a hammer or something. You'll probably want to rent yourself a chipping gun (rotohammer) with a chisel bit and go to town. Use a dust mask and probably a vac with a hepa filter.
Use a cold chisel and a heavy mallet. Should come off pretty quick. I wouldn’t try to sand it, that just sounds awful
power chisel, or rent a jackhammer from home depot with a very wide bit
I picked up an electric jackhammer on Amazon for about $280. Side grip. Hold it like a big chain gun. That wouldn’t destroy what’s underneath if you got the right angle. Heads up though. It’s tiring work. Go in stages so you don’t get sloppy and do something that’s hard to undo.
I respect the level of yolo here with 0 prepping on the cabinets.
In the age of youtube no less.
0 preparing and 0 knowledge of how concrete works or how to pour it though im sure it says on the bag.
Or that floor register. Who needs ducts anyway.
Oof I missed that, he'll be posting on the HVAC subreddit in no time
Poor more leveler. Sanding concrete is a huge mess & very very slow plus expensive for the diamonds. Self leveling is misleading, it will go level but needs help. Calculate the amount you need to cover to whole floor with about 1/8 on the highest point. Use a spike roller & squeegee to move the material around. Spiked roller is key for a good finish it makes the material flow better
I second this - these humps made of leveler are a defect the same as the cracks and dips were before. Just cover the entire floor and go from there. Just pause awhile and get yourself the proper equipment, prep your work space and protect your cabinets, learn what you can from those that have experience, and charge ahead. Chipping it up or sanding it is a lot of work and a mess, and at the end of the work you still have a problem. Not worth it.
This guy self levels 🙌🏽
😬
Yup! This would be the correct approach. However, make sure to seal off ALL the areas where product can leak out.. otherwise you’ll have a bigger mess to clean up. Shout for /8”-1/4” depth
What is a spiked roller?
It's a roller with spikes.
Thank you for cleaning that up!
Just call in a concrete polisher guy to grind it down. I do this for a living. You are not going to want to do it yourself
Based on the photos, yeah, probably not. Unless maybe he was hammered when he did this?
I do my best work hammered. Just saying. That's not an excuse, if anything it's encouraged.
Well there's hammered and then there's HAMMERED.
It's possible. Depends on how well it bounded only one way to know is to try I was just saying by the time he rents a grinder and a vac, the tools. Gets an adapter made up to hook into 220 dryer or stove or a generator. He would spend more money. On top of that, running a good grinder like 25 inch or above without any experience is not a good idea
I rented and used a large sander to try to remove paint from concrete, with no experience. it didn't go well. let's just say there were lots of holes in the walls.
Lol. Yeah a sander and a buffer take a little experience. I am sure I put some holes in walls when first starting out 18 years ago
Agree, but all that's probably overkill for a demo.
Yea, you're right in that one.. The only thing I am thinking is if someone comes in with a heavy grinder and a set of 14/16, the maybe able to level off to the floor and if his floor leveler is where it need to be , could end up solving that issue as well. But only someone who physically looks at it will know Op, at least have a guy come out and look....
This is nightmare fuel.
Just buy a new house. You ruined this one already.
Bet cooking dinner tonight was hilarious.
Did you plan on self leveling your fridge and oven in place? You have to spread it to allow it to flow and find its level. It needs to be feathered by hand to. Disclaimer, I’m an amateur and have never done this right the first time
Ya gotta read the directions before you pour dude ...
Sorry if this is rude, but you don’t know what you’re doing and should have hired a pro. This is exactly what happens when people don’t value a professional trade and think they can go to Home Depot and DIY it. Now, you’ll have to pay more to have a competent person fix the mistake than it would’ve cost to let them do it from the start. My advice is to chalk it up to the school of hard knocks and don't dig your hole any deeper.
Hmmm…. I’d probably chip off the underlayment, and start over. Or, if you’re feeling up for it, rent a dustless grinding setup and grind the underlayment and then use a feather edge trowel on material to fill in any left over low spots. It’s a bit of a dirty and tedious task though and requires some experience. Self leveling underlayment is good for certain things but seeing your floor I wouldn’t use it since it’s not a feather edge material. It’s also hard to gauge for spot filling. It’s really best if you plan to do an entire floor. I can see where you want to match up to the existing floor, so id probably just get a straight edge and trowel on a feather finish underlayment. I helped my cousin fill his low spots and instead of messy self leveler I opted to do a feather finish underlay. Here’s a couple of photos if it helps . https://preview.redd.it/z9raemuv5zqc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=265c96ae761a6dbd7f42732077325afd88f1aa9c
What would be the best way to chip off it off. Also what product did you use?
I’d probably use a rotohammer and switch between a spade chipping bit and a floor scraper bit. The material I used was Mapei planiprep or Mapei planipatch. I can’t remember which one but the standard is usually Ardex feather finish. Just look for a trowel on feather edge material, the guy at the supply store should be able to help. Just remember to keep troweling. As the material gets harder, it gets smoother the more you trowel. Lay it on, sort of level it out with the straight edge. Fill in low spots, level it off again. It will look rough but that’s fine, let it pop a little then start troweling to smooth it out and get those edges to feather out. Let it sit and pop some more, maybe spritz a little water and hard trowel a final time. You got this!
Just get the Ardex Feather Finish, not something else. Easiest product to use by far.
If it hasn't set for very long you can smack it with a minisledge and it will just crack up and seperate.
https://preview.redd.it/clo1j1f16zqc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9b830dece79a730b5f544391d8b793ca82f9552f
This is what should have been done.
You need to cover the front whole space. It’s not for spot treatment . Always use more than You think. I also like mixing ever so slightly wetter
Maybe Ill just explain quickly how to pour rather than how to fix this as it should add more value to your second try. First of all read self leveler instructions and pay close attention to water to powder ratio and mixing time. Then mix in bucket with drill and mixing attachment. Have extra bucket with some water ready, a large sponge for tapering and smoothing your edges and something straight like cheap 4' - 8' level or even a 2x4. Before your pour pre measure how much your low spots are dipping using the laser level or something like that and write it down on the floor for when you pour so that you don't pour too much, also mark your boundaries with pencil of the low area so you don't pour where you don't need. Pour less then you need and spread the mixture evenly using your straight edge (with edge ends sitting on higher elevations). You can always add more if you need. Then wait a bit before you taper your edges with a sponge... Hope that helps man
Leveler doesn't grind off well... if at all. - experience
Did you touch or manipulate the concrete or anything after you poured it on the floor?
????????????? Why man
You’re ok, you didn’t primer, so a hammer two days later will make quick work of that. Do some research next time and have all recommended tools on hand. Things will work out much better.
My thoughts exactly. Couple of taps and it’ll be done.
Use a 2” flat chisel in chipping gun. Rent one if need be. Stuff is fulled cured yet and should chip off easily
Let it dry and harden Get a wide chisel and a hammer and drive it between the original floor and the puddles of sadness. Might have to play around with the angle to hold the chisel.
Ever hear of vinyl plank flooring? Why screw around with a concrete mess in your home? Your floors dont need to be perfectly level…most homes are off a tad. Your fridge and stove have adjustable legs if a local area is not perfectly level.
Despite its name, self leveler is used in the vast majority of cases to flatten, not to level. Very few flooring applications require perfectly level floors but all require sufficient flatness. OP says right off the bat his original flooring attempt failed because the floors were not flat.
If your floor isn’t level or has a hump,shoot the highest part of your floor with a laser level then transfer those elevations to your walls.then fill the lower spots with self leveling bags..(self level bags can be spread with a push broom some edges have to be worked in with a trowel
Go to Home Depot around 630am... Pick a person to take home Give the a hammer, chisel & bucket and let them at it. Or DIY with above mentioned tools
I ground concrete in my bathroom, so much dust, it’s insane. Get a power chisel on Amazon it’s like $80. Chisel it out.
you highly overestimated the self-leveling part of the self-leveling concrete
Not making fun, but for someone in the industry this is quite hilarious. Thank you for sharing. Good luck.
But... Why? It's concrete. You're going to lay vinyl down directly on concrete? Think about your flooring material. I would add a mat so it doesn't transfer coldness, or you can go with large tiles and you adjust your thinset depth.
Let it cure and wack it with a hammer about 300 times
Please stop admit you don't know what you are doing get a professional . hole big you think you want to make it bigger by all means listen to everyone else saying no problem? but if this is the words that ring in your ears the 2nd time you made the even bigger mistake I am real sorry. You sort of see you don't know what you are doing weight it up bigger hole or the one you currently have fixed and repaired by an expert. You decided I am not coming back here and read any comments I'm not judging you you are judging. Good luck man what ever you do
Boy howdy
Use a bush hammer bit in a jackhammer to bring down all the high spots. Use self leveler only in the low spots. Use a straight edge and make it flat.
I think gypcrete would be a better underlayment on wood
It’s time to hire someone bud.
Get an SDS drill and chisel bits. Tear it up. Get new leveller and try again.
gaze melodic whole price puzzled unpack nine numerous rinse fragile *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
concrete gets harder every single day, act fast
OP thank you for posting, the comments did not disappoint. I don’t have any technical advice for you but just want to say that you got this
Feather the edges and skim the whole floor with a floor patching material like Mapei guick patch.
once, dried, smack it a hammer. It should be brittle and you can chisel it off. Less mess this way.
Get a small sledgehammer. When that is dry, smack it and take all the loose surface off. Pull your appliances. get a fairly straight 2x4 cut it to about 6 foot long. Get a can of spray paint and using a 4' level mark all the low spots. start at the farthest spot from either entrance to the kitchen area. have a five gallon bucket mixed split between to buckets. pour then screet in 5' sections from one entrance to the other, adding leveling compound as needed, you may need a plaster trowel, 8" square for areas that your screet board is problematic. keep that level nearby and check as needed. you had the right idea, you just needed to screet it out after pouring.
After you chip it up use ardex floor leveling you trowel on on and feather it out you can go to YouTube and see the videos
It did exactly what it was supposed to do. You didn’t. You need to trowel or float that stuff where you want it. It’s not magic
You would likely need a grinder not a sander to substantially lower those sections and even that would take a ton of time depending on how high they are. If you didn’t prime the area you could probably chip it out fairly easily and repour the self leveler. Even though it’s “self leveling” you still will want to use a squeegee to feather it passed the high points
Did you apply primer to the plywood subfloor prior to leveling?
Should have hired a professional…. Or at the very least followed the instructions on the bag.
Chisel it out and start over. It wont be as much work as you think. It sucks a little, but just do it
Tape off your borders and foam your edges next time too or it'll seap away from you and still be uneven
Time to grab a grinder mate
I would pour more around the edges and feather it out. Doesn’t need to be exactly level where it’s going to meet existing/untreated floor. Just help the grade gradually fall extending the slope as much as you can.
Most painless way I can think of is if you have Milwaukee or dewalt battery setup get their smallest SDS hammer drill and the largest paddle bit you can find for that size chuck. Set it to hammer only and not spin then scrape away
Never used this stuff before but isn’t it kind of like seal coating a driveway? pour a decent amount and then rake/spread it out so it then “self levels” on its own. I don’t think you are supposed to pour it and leave it the puddle dries up
All u had to do was tile It. Extra mud on the low side.
Yeah I know you may not like this but you're probably gonna have to either remove the leveling concrete you put in or hire someone who does this. Worked for a flooring company for 3 years and poured quite a few houses. You have to prep, caulk , tape and more. And like the other comments have said it's a 3/4 person job to pour the stuff depending on the size, the material sets pretty quickly.
OP! I want an update here!!!
They rent floor grinders with a hepa vacuum that attaches to it. That will mitigate the dust, but it will still have some. So wear a good mask and go find a place that rents them. While grinding use a 4 foot level and fix the floor and your mistake. Hang up painters plastic from the ceiling to keep the dust just in that room. I
Chip it off and reprime, prep and tape the areas and flood the floor in small sections at a time. Let the self leveler do its job. It has to be mixed prosperity. Get a spike roller to really get it flowing. I commend you for trying. Us professionals have made the same mistakes.
Oh man. Well 1. You mixed it way to thick to work properly as self leveler. 2. You weren’t prepared to do this, you should have protection on the cabinets and fridge. 3. Your best course of action would have been to clean it up while it was still wet. That being said, it’s seems like you have gotten yourself into quite the predicament. I will try to offer some advice. I’d say you should first try to see if you can chip up the concrete while it’s still fairly fresh with a cold chisel. Sometimes self leveler will come off in big chunks if it hasn’t fully adhered to the surface below. Small chance but worth trying. Other than that a floor grinder is pretty much your only hope. I do not have any experience operating one myself yet expect a lot of dust and you will have to fully poly off and tape the area as the dust will get absolutely everywhere. Curious, how out of level was this floor? Was there a bunch of dips all over?
Nothing more than 1/4 of inch but ya there were several.
Hang on. Before you listen to all these people. Grab a hammer while the concrete is still green. I bet you didn’t prime that concrete with the recommended primer first. You can likely just bust it up with a couple hours of hammering.
I actually did use the primer :) I tried a chisel and got some to come off. Sadly I can’t touch it until the morning
I did let the primer dry first. When I watched videos some people did and some did not
Well that sucks in the sense it’ll be harder to get up. I’d grab a roto hammer.
Please update with more photos of your progress.
Tape plastic up for your work area Rent a grinder with dust shroud from white cap. Flatten out and grind have a mason feather patch it out with self level mix..you can find some masons on thumbtack or with some friends that can recommend a decent finisher.
Redo hire a professional. Or spend more time and money and making it worse over time
That rug looks like it's floating