The Pencil Test: How To Know If Your Concrete Is Truly Flat

A blog about how to determine if cement floors are truly flat and how you should correct it.

What is the pencil test?

The pencil test is a simple way of testing how level your concrete is. It’s easy to conduct, inexpensive, and provides immediate results, so if you ever need to know whether your concrete floor needs to be leveled or not, this is the ideal method for you. All you need for this test is a carpenter’s pencil.

How do I perform the pencil test?

All you have to do for this test is place the carpenter’s pencil on its side in various places across the floor. If the pencil rolls around or falls over, then your floor isn’t flat and requires immediate attention. This can be caused by a number of things such as uneven settling of the subfloor or improper compaction during the pouring process. You may even find that your concrete floor has settled unevenly over time due to an excess of moisture in one area of your home.

The Pencil Test: How To Know If Your Concrete Is Truly Flat

A lot of people ask me if their concrete is truly flat. There are many ways to determine if your concrete is truly flat. We will discuss the pencil test in this article.

The pencil test is a method used by professional concrete finishers and inspectors to determine if a floor is flat or not. This test has been in use for decades, and it does an excellent job of determining if the floor is flat or not.

Below are the steps for doing the pencil test:

1. Clean any dust or debris from the surface of the concrete.

2. Take a pencil and place it on its side on the floor. The graphite part of the pencil should be facing up toward you as seen in Picture 1 below.

3. Take a level that is at least 2 feet long and place it on top of the pencil, as shown in Picture 2 below.

4. Now slide the level forward until it makes contact with the end of the pencil, as shown in Picture 3 below. You will notice that I have used colored dots to mark where the level contacts both ends of the pencil. Either end can be used as long as you use both ends when doing your measurements

The Pencil Test: How To Know If Your Concrete Is Truly Flat

The pencil test is a simple way to determine if your concrete is flat and level. It can be performed on new concrete slabs that have not been ground and polished yet, or on an existing floor. It’s the best way to find out how flat your concrete really is before grinding, polishing or applying any type of coating or overlay.

There are two parts to this test:

The first part involves rolling a pencil across the surface in various directions (front to back, side to side, diagonal etc.). This will show you any low spots that need to be filled with self-leveling compound or grout. I like using a 12″ T-Square for this portion of the test because it allows me to cover more area faster.

The second part involves drawing a line with a pencil in several locations throughout the room and then checking these lines with an 8′ straight edge. This will reveal any high spots that need to be ground down before polishing the floor. The straight edge should be placed directly on top of the pencil line and then checked from both sides for light under the straight edge. If you can see light under the straight edge anywhere along the line, it means

How does one know if a concrete floor is flat enough for the application it will be used for? There are a number of tools that can be used to check the flatness of a cement floor. The most common tool for determining floor flatness is the Pencil Test.

In this post, we’ll discuss how to use the pencil test to check if a floor is truly flat and what to do if it isn’t. We’ll also cover a few other tests you can use to find out if your floor is flat.

The Pencil Test

This test is performed by rolling a pencil or other object along the surface of the concrete. If the object rolls smoothly across the concrete then it has passed. If the object gets stuck in any spots, or does not roll smoothly, then the concrete does not pass and has low levels of flatness.

Why Does My Concrete Have Low Levels Of Flatness?

There are many reasons why your concrete may have low levels of flatness. Some reasons include:

– Dirt on top of slab during pour

– Slab was poured too thin

– Slab was poured too thick in some areas and too thin in others

– Pouring conditions were unfavorable (too hot or too

When pouring cement floors, one of the most common mistakes is not making sure that they are flat. The floor may look fine when you lay it down and it even feels flat, but once the walls go up, you will realize that something is wrong. You can tell that the floor is not flat when you see gaps or bulges between the wall and the cement floor.

Another way to tell if the floor is truly flat is to use a pencil. This may sound crazy, but it really works! In order to make sure your cement floors are flat, draw a line on your cement floor with a pencil at several different points across the room in a few different directions. Then take a very straight 2×4 (or another straight and long tool) and lay it across the lines so that each board touches about 5-10% of each line. If your boards do not touch any of the lines at all throughout your house, then you know that your cement floors are truly flat! This simple pencil test can save you hundreds of dollars in future repairs by helping you determine any problems with your cement slab before they become too big to fix.

If your boards touch some parts of some lines but not others, then there is still hope for your cement floors! You will

In order to determine if your concrete floor is flat, you’ll need to test it with a pencil. This blog will show you what tools you’ll need and how to check the floor.

Once your concrete floor has been poured and dried, it’s time to determine if it’s completely flat. To do this, you’ll need a few simple tools, including a straightedge or a 4-foot level, a pencil, and a tape measure.

If your concrete is truly flat, the pencil should rest on the straightedge without falling off. If the pencil falls off of either end of the straightedge, then there is some sort of dip in the concrete at that spot. If the pencil falls off at one end but not the other, then there is a slope at that spot.

Once you’ve determined that your concrete isn’t flat in certain places, you can correct it by applying cement filler over those spots. First, however, use water and sandpaper to remove any excess paint around those spots so that when you are finished applying cement filler over them, they are level with the rest of the floor.

An easy way to tell if a floor is truly flat and level is to use a simple tool: a pencil. This method is suitable for both new and old floors, but it’s best anticipated during the construction phase.

Take a pencil and place it on the floor. If the pencil rolls in any one direction, then you have a low spot that needs to be addressed.

The fix is relatively simple, but can take some time depending on the size of the low spot.

First, you need to determine how much material you need to fill the low spot so that it is level with the rest of the floor. Take a long straight edge such as a 4’ or 8’ 2×4 or 2×6 and place it across the low spots, or where you want to fill with self-leveling concrete, making sure it spans over at least two joists. Measure down from the bottom of your straight edge to the top of the floor at several points across its length noting where it rests on each joist. The difference between your highest reading (where your straight edge contacts the floor) and your lowest reading (where your straight edge rests on a joist) will be how much product you need to fill in order to make that