Flattening Concrete for Dricore Product Suggestion

Question

I am in the process of laying DRIcore panels in my basement. The ultimate plan is to lay laminate (Pergo) floor once we reach the finish stages.

I have a few small areas where the concrete dips about an inch or so. DriCore recommends filling these areas with a Portland Cement Compound. I see Lowe's and HD have some premixed floor patch. Would that be easiest way to raise up about a 10 sq .ft. area 1 inch or do I have to buy a bag of concrete and trowel on? I don't want to use the self leveling compound as I have already laid half of the DRIcore down, and have laundry equipment there that I would hate to have it run under, if any dams didnt hold the compound.

Looking for product suggestions I can get from Lowe's or HD. Just a plain bag of concrete? Am I overthinking this?

Answer 1

I ended up using a product from HD by custom building products called SpeedFinish (for about $16/box). It is a portland cement based compound designed to level floors. The box says it cures in about 15 minutes. In reality it took a few hours before it fully hardened. I was able to build up the low spot of the concrete floor (i used 3 10lb boxes). I was able to get a nice smooth feather finish and the product dried rock hard. My thinking behind this was that I no longer need to shim that area, the dricore tiles felt very spongy if they were shimmed out pretty high. This completely eliminated the issue and my floor feels great. I also dont care cosmetically because the dricore will be hiding the patch job. Also, if you go this route some advice is to buy more speedfinish than you think, one box does not cover a lot of area, especially if you are trying to raise it up about 1/4" like I was.

Answer 2

you dont want to use concrete as the aggregate in it will prevent you from being able to feather out your patches. you can use plain tile mortar and trowel it in and smooth it out (just like a drywall patch). just make sure you use a good quality polymer modified mortar.