How do I level up my kitchen floor?

Larry L
by Larry L
Our kitchen has been added on/remodeled several times and the floor slopes off in a couple places. We would like to tile or laminate the flooring but don't know how to proceed to level it out.
  4 answers
  • Larry, the first thing you should do is address why the floor is sloping in the first place. Is this just built uneven when it was remodeled or is the home sinking in that direction or even the framing holding up the floor starting to give?
  • Dan is correct on this. You first must figure out why its not level before you even being to fix it. Depending on how bad it is will determine what you need to do to fix it. There are liquid leveling compounds that can be used, and worse case removal of the floor and cutting new wood fillers to level out may be required. If your looking to install laminate then leveling compound quite often does the trick. If your going the tile route, then you not only need to level, but support the floor from any additional movement. Sometimes this means removal of all the older flooring and all new plywood and supporting framing. So first off we need to know how bad the floor is sloping. How old is the home? How many layers of old flooring is already down. And what do you really want to put on the floor. Tile or laminate? It makes a difference on what and how you proceed.
  • KMS Woodworks KMS Woodworks on Jan 17, 2012
    In some extreme cases I have had to replace the floor joists in a room. This entailed rebuild the bottom half of the walls too...we need a bit more info...and the level of slope...and the existing structure.
  • Renovation by Design Renovation by Design on Jan 17, 2012
    If the floor joists are good you can cut shims and resheet the floor or pour self levelor. For minor sloping I usually make it up with floor fill under the cement board and thinset on top of it before I lay tile.