LESLIE: Martin in California needs some help with a remodel. How can we help you?
MARTIN: Yes, I want to remodel an old farmhouse. It’s got a good cement foundation underneath it but when it was built, the floors weren’t level.
TOM: Well, if you have an old floor, there’s a process – there’s a compound called a floor-leveling compound, which is sort of like a liquid slurry that’s …
MARTIN: Yes, that’s what I’ve heard about.
TOM: Yeah, Martin, one of the major manufacturers of that product is LATICRETE – L-A-T-I-C-R-E-T-E. LATICRETE International. They have a product called LatiLevel – L-A-T-I-L-E-V-E-L – which is basically that; it’s a cementitious powder. You mix it with water and you get out of that a very free-flowing, self-leveling, sort of underlayment that you can put in any type of – a number of floors on top of that.
MARTIN: Does it just adhere to wood or will it adhere to – some of this has that old asbestos tile on the floor?
TOM: No, I don’t think you want to cover the asbestos; I think you’re going to have to professionally take that off first and then you put …
MARTIN: OK.
TOM: And then use the floor-leveling compound above that. We don’t like creating asbestos sandwiches around here. (Martin chuckles)
MARTIN: But it would have to go on a wood; you couldn’t just go over like a linoleum or anything like that?
TOM: That would be a bad idea because it wouldn’t stick.
MARTIN: Yeah, so get down to the original wood on it, yeah.
TOM: (overlapping voices) Right. Yeah. Martin, you know, I would get used to some of those uneven floors – that’s what gives the old house its charm – and do this very strategically. I hope that helps you out. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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