Home Depot
LevelQuick RS mixing problems with recommended 3/8 drill mixer

On May 25, I used LevelQuick RS to level the area of an abandoned drain in my basement.

Other than the mixing instructions, I followed all of the instructions, and leveling the area was a snap.

The Home Depot Associate who assisted me with the purchase recommended using the following mixing tool: 010306950015 MIXER HDX 24" THINSET/GROUT MIXER. Although the directions on the bag say to use a 1/2 drill, the Home Depot Associate said it would be OK to use a 3/8 drill. This tool may have worked OK with a 3/8 drill if I had slowly poured the LevelQuick powder into a bucket with 6.5 quarts of water, but I first poured about half of the LevelQuick powder into the 5 gallon bucket and then added some of the water.

The reviews I read said it was better to have 2 people to do this job because of the short set time of the LevelQuick product, so I recruited my wife to help me. My wife was operating the drill, because I thought it would be too difficult for her to lift the bag of LevelQuick. When she turned on the drill, the paddle stalled in the bucket while the drill motor spun. She accidentally hit the lock button on the drill, and the drill continued to spin until it pulled the plug out of the electrical socket. She let go of the drill motor and it hit her in the hip, and she complained about her finger hurting her. I uprighted the bucket and tried to mix it myself. The paddle stalled in the bucket and it would have burned up my drill, but I shut it off before it did.

Instead of using the mixing tool recommended by the Home Depot Associate, I used a paint mixing tool and a 3/8 drill. Instead of adding the water to the powder, I slowly added the powder to the water while my wife operated the drill. After all of the LevelQuick powder was added to the water, the mixture was very fluid. It was the consistency of watery pancake batter. I slowly poured two mixed bags into the area to be leveled, feathered the edges with a drywall knife, and let it set up. I checked it this morning and it looks like it did the job as advertised.

Unfortunately, I have to listen to my wife complain about the bruise on her hip and how her sore finger and sore hip will affect her golf swing. I told her I was sorry about her injuries. I also told her that if this had not happened, she would have another excuse for her high golf scores.

I will be telling the Home Depot Associate who sold me the mixing tool about my experience, so he can advise others on the proper way to mix the LevelQuick RS.

I think LevelQuick should print on the bag what I described about the mixing process (slowly adding the powder to the water and not adding the water to the powder).

Company: Home Depot
Country: USA

  <     >