Took 3 weekends to fix a wavy bathroom floor I thought was level

I started tiling my half bath in Akron and assumed the subfloor was flat because the old vinyl looked smooth. After laying about 15 tiles, I noticed the grout lines were drifting and a few corners sat higher than the rest. I pulled up three tiles and checked with a 6 foot level, that's when I saw a dip maybe a quarter inch deep right in the middle. I tried self leveling compound but mixed it too thick, so it dried lumpy and I had to grind it down with a rental sander. That took a full Saturday by itself, then another weekend to redo the underlayment with plywood shims. Finally got it flat enough to re-tile this past Sunday, but the whole thing ate 3 weekends instead of the one day I planned. Anyone else battled a hidden dip that only shows up after you start setting tile? What did you use to find it faster?

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casey3424h ago

My buddy Mike had the exact same thing happen in his Akron basement bath last year. He found out the hard way that the previous owner had just laid plywood over an old drain pipe hump. He ended up using a 4 foot level with a straightedge on every joist bay before laying anything now, saved him a whole weekend of patchwork.