I am about to lay some laminate flooring in the basement
The current floor is nice level concrete, but with a few bits of
damage(?)
these are shallow 'puddles'(i.e. holes where water would form puddles,
if there were any water) - no more than 1 cm deep, but one is about 4
cm across.

I would like to 'patch' these holes somehow, before laying the
underlay and flooring on top.

1)should I use ordinary cement? I am worried this might not stick, and
as a result come loose and cause bumps under the floor.

2) Should I use something else? Some kind of hard, adhesive filler?
Recommendations?


Neal

In article , Neal Harwood wrote:
I am about to lay some laminate flooring in the basement
The current floor is nice level concrete, but with a few bits of
damage(?)
these are shallow 'puddles'(i.e. holes where water would form puddles,
if there were any water) - no more than 1 cm deep, but one is about 4
cm across.

I would like to 'patch' these holes somehow, before laying the
underlay and flooring on top.

1)should I use ordinary cement? I am worried this might not stick, and
as a result come loose and cause bumps under the floor.

Yes, use cement with sand to make a render:
Spray the depression with diluted PVA adhesive to ensure a good bond.
(Add enough water to make the PVA flow easily, or you could just brush it onto
a small hole.)
Mix 1 part cement to 4 parts builders sand by volume, then add enough water
to make it thoroughly damp, but without excess water. If you squeeze the mix,
there should be no excess water if there is, then mix in more cement and sand.
trowel it into the hole and press and wipe with plenty of pressure to make it smooth and level. Cover with plastic sheeting for 24 hours to allow it to set
without drying out.

2) Should I use something else? Some kind of hard, adhesive filler?
Recommendations?

Well, for a small hole "Plastic Padding", exterior Polyfilla or anything
that sets hard, sticks to concrete and resists damp should do.

--
Jan

In message , Jan Wysocki
writes
In article , Neal
Harwood wrote:
I am about to lay some laminate flooring in the basement
The current floor is nice level concrete, but with a few bits of
damage(?)
these are shallow 'puddles'(i.e. holes where water would form puddles,
if there were any water) - no more than 1 cm deep, but one is about 4
cm across.

I would like to 'patch' these holes somehow, before laying the
underlay and flooring on top.

1)should I use ordinary cement? I am worried this might not stick, and
as a result come loose and cause bumps under the floor.

Yes, use cement with sand to make a render:
snip

2) Should I use something else? Some kind of hard, adhesive filler?
Recommendations?

Well, for a small hole "Plastic Padding", exterior Polyfilla or anything
that sets hard, sticks to concrete and resists damp should do.

for shallower depressions I would use self levelling compound - which is
just a cement based mixture that can be used in quite thin layers.
--
Chris French, Leeds

chris French wrote in message ...
for shallower depressions I would use self levelling compound - which is
just a cement based mixture that can be used in quite thin layers.
A PVA mortar works just as well if there are no damp problems and saves you
buying 20kgs of the stuff.

stuart noble wrote:

A PVA mortar works just as well if there are no damp problems and saves you
buying 20kgs of the stuff.

PVA mortar is great, but the only thing you can't do with it is feather
it really thin, because you're limited by the sand grain size. Cement
based self levelling uses much finer dust than soft sand, so allows you
to feather it down to almost nothing.


--
Grunff

Grunff wrote in message ...
stuart noble wrote:

A PVA mortar works just as well if there are no damp problems and saves
you
buying 20kgs of the stuff.

PVA mortar is great, but the only thing you can't do with it is feather
it really thin, because you're limited by the sand grain size. Cement
based self levelling uses much finer dust than soft sand, so allows you
to feather it down to almost nothing.

I don't think the self-levelling stuff is cement based. Cement coloured
certainly, but some strange kind of mineral that IIRC doesn't set without
the latex binder.