Floor leveling and extra floor height due to adding heat.

This often starts with the plumber.  Shower drain roughed in.  Or bathroom being added.  

Then I make a leveling plan.  Simple cad drawing.  This drawing would have included the toilet location, except that part was already done when I showed up.  

You want a plan because the height affects ceiling height in basements.  Floor transitions.  

Different flooring materials have to be flat within different tolerances.  So you will want to discuss flooring types as well.  

On this one it was im

So you get the pipes set in concrete.  The foam area is for the bathtub.  

Then floor is prepared.  They are often covered in old paint, or grease.  After this the floor is cleaned.  Then let dry.  

It is tested for porosity.  Then primed.  There are other steps as well.  I am just trying to give an overview of this process.  

Then height pins are set using cad drawing and laser level.  

So you not only want to ensure that it is level, but level to the required height for what you are trying to do.  

Sometimes you will want to level the bathroom, but not the adjacent storage area etc.  So that's why a floor plan is helpful as well.  

Then you need to decide what product is appropriate for the job.  Different ones for different applications.  

Ordering requires first doing volume calculations.  
It is better to order a little too much from a place that you can make returns.  

Leave some of the bags in the box truck.  So that you have them if needed.  And can easily return them if you don't.  

Pre measure all of your water.  You are racing against time when you are mixing and pouring.  

Get your bags all ready in advance.  

Don't just set height pins in the field.  Mark where you are going to stop as well.  This room was being carpeted, so they wanted it level going into the bathroom, but it wasn't as critical in this area.  

Be sure to capture the dust while mixing.  Health and safety is important.  Lungs are precious.  

So wear a mask, and capture the dust at the source with a good quality vacume, and also pull the mixing area under negative pressure.  Supply fresh air as well.  Even high quality vacumes do not capture the finest particles.  And those are the most dangerous to health.

Then you pour.  Sometimes one big pour.  Sometimes in two pours.  That depends on the depth.  Different products can only be poured to certain thicknesses.  Also Sometimes there is an old floor drain being removed.  So there are drainage considerations as well.  

Floor drains being added often require a self priming p trap.  Otherwise the water in the p trap can evaporate allowing sewer gas into yo

If you are also heating the floor, you would then add a heat matt.  This is after the floor is leveled already.  So this step adds a bit of height, and needs to be accounted for at the doorway.  Heated floor jobs are often one ones that I use stone transitions at the doorway.  

Not just because they are pretty.  It is because the height of the bathroom will often be higher than the adjacent room, a

After the heat wires are installed, they get poured in to the rpm matts.  This is similar to self leveling, but it is a different product.  

Again the leveling of the floor is already done before the rpm matts go down. 

This ensures that the heating cables are close to the top, not buried and inch and a half into the pour.  

The heat can go up to fixtures, but not under them.  

Don't just set height pins in the field.  Mark where you are going to stop as well.  This room was being carpeted, so they wanted it level going into the bathroom, but it wasn't as critical in this area.  

I heat up to showers.  But not into them.  I like to design showers so that you reach in to turn on the water from outside of the shower.  So you do not get splashed with the initial cold water.  Also this warms up the pan before you step in.  

This transition was added because the heigh of the bathroom floor ended up being taller than the adjacent room.  Because I leveled it and also added electric floor heat cables.