# Forum Home Renovation Concreting  Levelling agent for a concrete path?

## YoungBolt

Hi folks,  
The path leading to my house was very poorly laid a few years ago. I think the person who installed it had never seen a level in their life as the middle section of the path is lower than the opening and the staircase to the house. 
As a result all water flows into the centre of the path. It’s basically like a hammock for water. The middle of the “hammock” drops at least 20-25mm lower than the height of where you step onto the path and this low point spans about 1.5m. 
It's shockingly bad.
(Dont even get me started on the edges of the path that were feathered upwards, that they decided to used some boulders as formwork that I had to patch repair, and the sandy as hell mix they used that you can just hand sand out). 
I've tried leveling with some Dunlop rapidset mortar, and then when that failed I used a sand+cement+bonconcrete mix, but I wasn’t able to get a good finish I’m happy with. The rapid set was too hard to use on a large surface, and I struggled with the sand & cement mix to get a smooth finish on the edges of the pour, plus as it started drying the edges started peeling up from the surface. In the end I just scrapped it all off with a shovel (came off easy). 
I’m really not keen to have to break up this path and reconcrete it due to time and cost constraints. Id only need 0.3-0.4 m3 Of concrete which is below the minimum delivery for minimix, and minimum cost is $300 + mesh & gravel.  
I've browsed through the internet on self leveling agents and almost all of them I could find via google are for internal use and underlying. I have had very little luck with any being rated for external use and/or on a pathway.  
What are my options to try and level out this path ?

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## droog

You will spend more time and money trying to fix it than simply replacing it. 
At the foothills of the Dandenongs right? Try Ferntree Gully minimix 0.2m3 upwards https://www.ferntreegullyminimix.com.au/mini-mix 
Very rare for them to have put mesh in a path like that, will most likely be 50mm thick laid direct on the dirt. 
If its the front door from your previous posts the truck can dump in place.
Break it up, couple of lengths of decking and some stakes, wait for truck, pour, trowel, beers!

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## YoungBolt

I suppose that is what I'm trying to ascertain - whether I can maybe spend $50 and 1 hr to level it out, rather than the $200-300 it'll likely cost for concrete & mesh and hours to break up, take to the tip, lay new etc ?
If it wasn't so expensive to buy concrete and go to the tip, I'd much rather lay a new path as I get to have the finish I like and the standard of job will hopefully be somewhat better than the atrocity this is.  
Very surprisingly, there seems to be mesh in this pathway. The butchers that installed this disaster of a path, used boulders as part of the form work in some areas and after I removed them and cleaned up the area I found a few bars in the concrete. So I've got that to contend with as well. 
I called a few flooring suppliers and one recommended me a Mapei product called Adesilex P4 .https://www.mapei.com/za/en/products...il/adesilex-p4
 It is a glue but can also be used as an outdoor leveling agent. It's $40 for 20kg bag, but I might need 2 bags as it needs minimum 3-4mm of coverage to work properly. That would be $80. Anything else I've googled was $80+ for one bag.  
If I can get concrete for $200, I'd seriously consider just laying a new path.  
Or just ripping it all up and putting down pavers on a mortar base instead. Working with this weird curve thing might be a pain though. And pavers can move and be a pain.  
Ergh if only they did a half decent job we wouldn't be here!

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