As I have done several floor pours myself (with varying degrees of success) I have learned that it greatly helps the self leveling mass to use a spiked roller on a long handle. It releases the air bubbles and helps levels the concrete since contrary to the name it needs help to self level. Maybe having an extra person doing the spike rolling while you are pouring could work but beware that the spike roller flings some concrete so cover everything important up to knee height.

As an amateur with woodworker, i typically feel overpowered with the entire arrangement kzfaq.infoUgkxrYREG3-7f1Aqk9ams3ZESRNzGnfdUtyQ . Be that as it may, this arrangements drove me through with much clarity and effortlessness woodplans. Works i now work like a genius. That is great!

Great vide and just in time. My brother is building a house out of shipping containers and we are doing everything ourselves. We are now in the process of pouring subfloor. His wife and he don't want the tiles in the house (just in the restrooms) so they decided to go for self leveling floor. Your idea is easy to make, cheap and effective. Big thanks.

That stuff is amazing. I poured some about an 1/8-3/16” deep over old linoleum in recessed 3’ x 6’ laundry area about 5 years ago and it’s held up beautifully under the washer & dryer. Not one chip or crack.

It'll be interesting to see how long before the cracking begins, personably I would never pour a hard cement product over softer lino tiles. But what you have made is a fantastic forward thinking invention, may I suggest a slide gate set up inside the trashcan to control the flow and allow you to control it from the top and make the base so the trashcan and pipework is tilting downwards on a angle so it self drains as much as possible.

Pro tip if you're mixing self level and you use ice water when you mix it flows way better we add like two bags of ice to a fifty gallon drum full of water then we mix in a half drum using the ice cold water

This made the idea of a pour over floor more palatable and approachable. For even a novice like me. Thank you for sharing. My dad was always creating ingenious contraptions. I feel like I’d be paying homage to him. Whenever it is I attempt this. Thank you!

Another option for the spout is a flexible hose that you lift and tie up so that the mouth is above the concrete line in the bucket. You can add a flat clamp on the hose to decrease the size of the nozzle.

Instead of the valve or the cap, just use a flexible hose where the end can be lifted above the height of the trash can to stop the flow. Great video, thanks.

Look into getting a guage rake and a spiked roller. Guage rake will ensure a consistent thickness is spread over your substrate and the roller will eliminate the overlaps from each pour and blend the whole self level together

That floor will fail. No question. The tiles below needed to be removed first. But as it was too much work, you couldn’t be bothered. Instead you’ll need to redo the floor when it inevitably fails. Once the tiles are up, you should then grind off the residual glue, or you could have used a smoothing compound that is designed to go over old adhesive residues. The only thing I can see right here is priming. Other than that. Nope. Also. It’s a smoothing compound. Whilst it will find its own level. It won’t make an uneven floor level, merely smooth out areas that are rough.

great idea on the trash can and cart. In place of a ball valve look for a 1-1/2" PVC gate valve. The type with a sliding gate and will have a handle, probably t-shaped, that you draw the gate in and out with. It looks something like a dust collection blast gate but it's sized for PVC pipe. They cost less than you ball valve and I think (but I have not tried) it will work better for your application. Here is an example but they are made by many companies. Look for : *Valterra 6101 PVC Gate Valve, White, 1-1/2" Slip* or something similar.

This is just crazy satisfying to watch. Great problem solving!

I've been thinking about doing my garage and now I'm DEFINITELY going to do it this way. Genius. Well done!!

A) you dont need this whole contraption. You can mix and dump and use a squeegee to help it spread. It is self leveling after all. B) this is not to be a finished flooring. It is soft and will easily scratch and start to crumble and chip. So dont expect this to be like a true concrete slab

Nice! Mods I’d try: 1)gate valve instead of ball 2)Hole in the bottom of the can instead of side with a bulkhead. This way it can all drain out 3) try mixing all the concrete in the bucket? May be too hard for drill… but would save you some buckets and trips.

knew you were a smart guy right from the begining. as soon as i heard self leveling concrete. watch ur entire video. and turns out to be correct. ur really smart

Genius. Better results with comfortable application of usually awkward and messy material. Congrats!

This is Brilliant! It would be fun to see it with different colors of concrete

Keeping the can elevated outside and running a clear 1 inch vinyl hose inside would lower the risk of spilling a bucket of cement. (1 Inch hose is about $1.50 - $2.50 a foot) Can would work better being short with a bigger diameter to make pouring easier since it only needs to hold a little over 5 gallons. They make carts with hydraulics you could use to lift the can to increase pressure, with almost 2 feet of travel. (They cost $250 for a 500 lb. one though.) You could use a hose plug and kink when not in use. Lift up to turn off. Since it is clear you can tell when it is clean and squeeze trouble spots to focus water. You could also hook a hose with a back-flow valve to the end of the hose, while flipping the can over a drain for cleaning. If something gets clogged you can see where and can cut it out and rejoin the hose if it is long enough to make it worth it. (Doing it elevated to keep from making a mess.) A little expensive for a single pour but okay for repeat use.

it's a nice idea...would love to see how it holds up over time, I feel like you can see where it's already cracked and been filled in the final shots.

Definately could have used a light set in the base as a funnel for drain. Put enough of a light setting mix at the base of trashcan. Tilt is away from nozzle so it sets up at an angle. Then when it dries it will form an angled bottom towards the nozzle.

One way to get the compound to self level is with a spiked roller, if you are after the wave effect put about 20% more water in the mix to thin it and just throw the buckets in. Self-levelling has an open time of 20 minutes on average so needing 40 minutes to pour means the actual sand and concrete were settling on the bottom of your tank, hence your floor seems to have a lot of waves and is not perfectly flat. You are doing 90% of the same amount of hauling, get a 100l mixing tub for a project this size one person stays on the mixer constantly and everybody else dumps the bags in. Afterwards you can use a small 12l bucket to scoop up material while somebody else keeps mixing to prevent it from settling and setting.

Practice makes perfect! I always appreciate your videos - explanation, process, reflection and humility. Thank you!

Seems like a solution in search of a problem. And an awful lot of extra steps and parts to clean. You still have to pour the buckets so I'm not sure why the heck this was easier on your back. What you really need are some spiked shoes and a gauge rake.

Hi Ben, great video, I used to work in the process eng industry and we would use a knife gate valve to cut through slurry instead of ball valves. Hope it’s a good suggestion, would save you getting in a mess with the cap

This is a neat design and concept! Nice job! I will be interested in seeing how the concrete holds up after time as the wood subfloor, vinyl floor, and concrete all have different thermal expansion rates. I’m assuming the room is climate controlled though, so it may not matter.

Great result, cost effective design, no back pain, easy to use. Awesome! Thanks for the share.

Great work Ben and Crew. Saving your back is a -big deal-, your future self will thank you for it.

Your project are always amazing 💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥

If this were a professional gig you might want to consider getting a concrete float to even out the very top surface after it begins to set. As it is you end up with that interesting wave pattern, but most people would likely prefer a homogenous and uniform color and texture surface. I love the device you've made, as it is always releasing the denser, more grain rich self leveler where the bucket dump would always pour the more watery content first followed by the heavier aggregate rich material in uneven patches I say well done!

Gate valve would be the best/easiest way to control flow. Also a gauge rake is a must for this style of application.

There is this sort of rake I've seen others use on this self leveling stuff that really mixes it better I think. Ideally it would be a uniform finish in the end .

I dont think most people will appreciate how AWESOME this is!! First off, mixing batches to remain consistent between mixes is NOT easy to do as one pour dries, and requires 2-3 people to keep up. I wonder if the only difference between the cheap underlayment levelers is color, vs the more expensive overlay products? You can use a spike roller to get rid of those layer lines. Something I recommend. You can also use some grease to coat the ball valve, or maybe some silicon at the start. It will make a barrier so what ever sticks on will get pushed off as you turn it and not get in between....IN THEORY :-)

Your ingenuity is always inspiring.

Great idea. Of course not taking up the old vct tile will leave your job to last as long as the vct stays very well adhered. Be prepared for almost immediate failure due to the water migrating and breaking the vct bond. Also to your closing the flow issue just attack a flexible long hose to that threaded end that can be bent to be above the present filled level to let gravity do your shutting off for you. Visually lame ( looks like an elephant ) but very efficient.

Got my tattoo from your competition from a random google search 3 years ago. Saw the thumbnail and I was like wait. Why does he have my tat. Haha awesome. We’re bros!

The change to the ball valve with the cap will work best to not have the spout vertical. I would simply let it lay horizontal so capping it won't get wet cement all over your hands.

You could eliminate the moving parts of a shutoff valve by using a flexible hose. Raising the tip of the hose above the level of mixture in the barrel will stop the flow. Use a hook or nozzle port to keep the tip of the hose elevated.

Anything is an improvement over that linoleum tile, and I think the end result looks great.

Freakin awesome I'm surprised in 35 years I hadn't seen 1 till now

Love the concrete application device! So dang simple an yet super effective! Great job!

Great idea. Would it have been easier to mix the cement in the gray bucket ? The floor looks great.

Damn man that is pretty freaking clever!

Nice! My boss did something very similar using a metal bin to seal coat (instead of using our tank with the pump and hose and ya da ya da). 🎉 😊 .. lol we also had problems with our valve! As they say- great minds think alike.

Nice way. If I ever have to do something like that I will certainly try something similar. Now, I think using a tap is the way to go, not the cap, as this one will be messier and dirtier, as well as both parts will get more and more dirt overtime making it difficult to screw/unscrew, and you have to wash them both as well. I think the inicial method is the way to go (despite it's concrete anyway and not exactly a "clean" liquid") and I mean it because I've seen a similar problem with this solution: there's this artificial pond near my house. It's used to water some orchards (five different owners). Three years ago it was remodeled and now it has a tap like the one in the video only larger, like twice the diameter at least. It's also a bit hard to open and close by hand and, also, it's in a hole like 50 cms. (over 1,5 feet) deep, so it's not nice to use so to speak. However, one of the other users came up with this: he used some long enough rebar and gave it an L shape. Then, on the longer side of the L he welded some more rebar so now that end has a U shape. The distance between the "arms" of the U is enough to reach both "arms" of the tap. In theory, the wider the better as long as it's not wider than the length of both arms of the tap combined. But this may also feel like it's going to break the tap, so you may leave it wide enought it's wider than the round part of the arms of the tap (its axis). Why? because in fact the leverage is done with the shortest part of the L shape you did at the beginning, the longer, the better. To use this contraption you just place the U shape on the tap, hold this thing by the longest part with one hand and open/close the tap by using the shortest part with the other hand. I think watching it is way easier than writing and explaining it, but I hope it helps. Thank you.

Those self leveling formulas aren't meant to be final wear surfaces- they're supposed to serve as substrates for the final finished floor.

I've been in the flooring business for over 30 years and this is a great idea....when I was installing and younger I would always try and come up with better more efficient and easier ways to do something. This is a great Idea and if I was still in the field and not crunching numbers in the office I would be making one of these for sure. I'll have to show this to my guys so they can make one. For example of what I did once to make things easier was....I used my riding mower with ropes and pulleys to pull up carpet that was welded to the concrete...it worked great.

This is freaking GENIUS!!

Looks like 1/8" to 3/8" thickness. Probably ok in a bedroom might crack over time especially in high traffic areas. Love the distribution method. You'd do this before a high quality flooring installation anyway with Self leveling compound.

If you try to cap it while there's still cement in there, it will definitely get into the threads, and it may lock it in place once dried. If you plan to immediately take it outside and remove it, then clean everything out, that's probably fine. That said, be prepared for a little mess as you try to put it on. I think the ball valve was the right way to go, just because it's plastic doesn't necessarily mean it will break easily, some plastics can be quite strong.

Great learning video. Nice information and good hands on training.

That, my Sir is a Super Genius Tool! If only you had a gate type of system to stop the flow of the leveling concrete when you need it.

Great system. Thanks for sharing! Be very handy if could time pouring a floor just before a soap box derby...

did i understood correctly or did you just pour only half (up to one ) centimeter of "concrete" as a floor finish? i hope thats not the end result, and you will place another finish on top. I think its going to crack soon. I might be wrong. Let us know

I would have used just a normal hose pipe instead of the tube which you could just fold back to cut the flow and secure with wire. Or you could have a large bin located outside near your mixing area which could topped up continually while a long extended hose pipe pours the concrete in the room. Thus no need for expensive wheel or tubes. Nevertheless, great job.

You could use a section of hose that you could compress externally to open and close the flow.

Ahh the Landlord Special ☺️

Further development suggestion, lift the bin so that you can put the outlet pipe through the bottom. On the side, even low down, you'll waste mix and or end up tipping the bin out manually. Good idea though, excellent result.

So creative and the result looks great.

Had you used a spiked roller it would've all leveled out perfectly smooth. Either way, great job and awesome idea. 3rd time's the charm!

the end cap is much cheaper than the ball valve. great job.

someway created wavy pattern pour 👍

Hey! Jessie! Brother gets big kudos for a very cool flooring gadget... Jessie, waiting to see where you are on the hoarder house!

What does the final surface finish feel like, does it feel nice and smooth underfoot or is it kind of rough like a high grit sand paper? Great video, thanks!

the caps a good idea but it doesn't look like the valve is all the way open, so it seems like its still being used to control the flow

Hi there. Great idea. Would it be possible to mark the trash can with appropriate water measurements to mix the cement directly into it?

Semi flexible flooring with thin concrete poured over top is asking for cracking if something heavy is dropped on the floor.

Another option on the spigot end of things would be to use a piece of one inch hose with some kind of a spring clamp to pinch it shut.

use a piece of pvc over the tube glued in place instead of the flex seal. just like you did on the inside, but on the outside. i do this alot on buckets, works great.

Whaaaat? Oustanding project and well executed!

A wonderful idea 🤗. I noticed you were refilling the drum as you went. Did the leveler from the first mix start to set inside the drum by the time you had finished the last mix? Thanks for your videos.

My parents home had that same tile in their kitchen in 1973! Hahaha.

This is absolutely genius! Just used self leveling in my house and this would have been sooo helpful! Definitely will do this next time! Thank you so much for sharing

That's a great idea. Great job!. I would think about buying a rake that has a roller with spikes if your going to be doing again.

Genius!! 💡💡

What a awesone video. I'm saving this!!!

All the Best from brasil

The concrete doesn't crack over time? I tried something similar and found the concrete has expansion/contraction problems with the thin aggregate.

Butterfly valve we use them in mud tanks. Oilfield

Man that’s GENIUS!

If this self leveling compound is anything like what we have in uk them it needs to be constantly staired to stop separation. Maybe a a battery powered stirer inside the bucket but probably just making it over complicated now.

A rubber or pvc 2 inch pipe just like washing machine would work fine, easy clean also

I would like to see a level on that cause that can't possibly be level plus you did not use a aeration roller to remove air pockets introduce by the mixing a good concept similar to what we do in the UK using a pump system but one would be using the hose whilst another is rolling by using the roller you remove air pockets and help disperse the flow more evenly.

Some sort of ball design that automatically plugs the end. Pull a lever, or string . It works well on foam guns

You should try filling the trash can with the concrete and then mix that before pouring. You might get a more uniform color. Also, a 50 gallon drum might be more sturdy than a trash bin.

Great thinking!! Prepping for the job is often the most time consuming. Really good planning to lay out materials, and lay out production. 👏🏼👏🏽👏 I was thinking of a valve like they use in honey spinners, with a child's beach bucket to catch drips. I like seeing cleanup, just as a note for future videos. Appreciate your time and effort in producing original content as well as sharing your brain child. ❤

Great idea , but can be much improved by having the pipe come out the bottom instead of side(for complete draining). Just needs the can raised a bit

Will it just crack easily like thin crust when we step on it hardly

This is pretty frikin badass man! Kick ass idea. WILL be doing this :D

Super cool! You forgot the plywood primer L though

You know those pendulum paintings….. It’d be cool if you could make the spout on that thing spin with multiple holes in it. Then you could get some pretty wild but subtle patterns in the concrete.

Nice job everyone.

This is epic!!!! For sure going to do this if I ever do a big space

We have a patchy concrete driveway..lot of patches. Would like to use this on it

Love videos like this. If I could do things like this, that could be a good thing.

This is a super brilliant solution. Thank you for sharing! How well does this hold up over the long time? I have a room with almost the exact same floor. I've currently got my gym set up in there, so there is a 6x6' space that has about 750-800 pounds sitting on it. Will that concrete hold up to that weight? Could this also be a a good option as a leveler if I decide to put down luxury vinyl plank over it?

You Sir are a GENIOUS

How clean does the floor need to be prior?? I am planning to do this on top of a floor that has carpet glue stuck to it. Can only do so much to remove it.

dude this is brilliant