leveling cement nightmare

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topher5150

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Just bought a house and one of the projects that the previous owner did was to remove the carpet in the basement and put in a layer of leveling cement. Well he neglected to remove the tack strips, and left the cement the consistency of beef stew in most spots. Needless to say walking barefoot in the basement is like walking on a cheese grater. For the sake of my back and hearing is there a quicker way of getting this cement up other than using a hammer and chisel?
 
Rather than the expense of the rentals and the disposal, why not just over-poor and level it
 
most rental companies have an electric jack hammer, called Bosch brute

it comes with a point tip and a blade, ask for the square head, it is for leveling flooors

bosch.jpg

bosch sq.jpg
 
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Is there any type of grinder that could smooth it out? Or is it more bumpy than that?

I imagine you could probably chisel out the tack strips and just pour a fresh layer of self-leveling over the bumpy parts to smooth it out.

Just don't make the same mistake I did-- which was to use an expired powder that had clumped up. That was a disaster. Make sure it is a fresh bag before you mix, and make sure there are no lumps before pouring.
 
Went to the rental store, and she said to rent a 20lb demo hammer for the day is $45ish plus the bits which are $6 each.
I thought about grinding it down but it's so thick, and uneven, and clumpy. I literally looks like he took a bucket of cement and poured it on the floor and walked away.
from what I can tell from chiseling up the tack strips, in the front of the basement anyways, that there is a lot of good cement.
 
The condition lends itself to, was this dwelling a bank repo, or is there an undisclosed failure in the slab, or both, and how willing to discover this, are you.
 
chipping gun & brick chisel will make quik work of this task,,, IF the po was true to form, he didn't adequately prep exist floor to receive leveling mtl

bosch brute ? mankiller for this work,,, same w/bushing tool as it'll leave lotsa divots imo,,, we often have to do this work
 
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