Floor Leveling in Hollywood, FL
Settled ranch-house slabs and beachside condo decks in Hollywood made flat before tile or plank.
Pull up the tile in a Hollywood ranch house and you will usually find the reason it was lipping: a slab that has moved. The houses between Federal Highway and the Turnpike were built from the 1950s into the 1980s on monolithic slabs, and sixty years of South Florida ground movement shows up as dips, cracks, and corners that sit lower than the middle of the room. Our floor leveling work corrects that before new flooring goes in, so the new floor is not fighting the old slab. We work as a renovation contractor in Hollywood in the ranch neighborhoods, the Lakes, and the condos along the beach.
Floor Leveling Cost in Hollywood
| Scope | Typical size | Installed range |
|---|---|---|
| Self-leveling underlayment | Room to whole house | $3–$6/sf |
| Slab grinding of high spots | Ridges and old thinset | $1.50–$3/sf |
| Moisture test | Per house or unit | $150–$400 |
| Moisture mitigation coating | Full floor area | $2–$4/sf |
| Patch and skim coat | Low spots, cracks, trenches | $1–$2.50/sf |
| Whole-house leveling (1,500–2,500 sf) | Typical | $4,500–$12,000 |
A typical Hollywood ranch at 1,600 to 1,900 sf lands in the lower half of the whole-house range unless the slab is badly settled or the owner is going to large-format porcelain, which tightens the tolerance and adds a pass.
Free Estimate
Free estimate — call (561) 556-7509 or email jperrysonsgc@gmail.com with project photos, the city, approximate dimensions, and material selections.
Hollywood homes and what that means for floor leveling
The CBS ranch is the backbone of Hollywood housing. Most were built with a 4-inch slab on compacted fill, no vapor retarder, and terrazzo or asphalt tile as the original finish. Over the decades those floors were covered with carpet, then ceramic, and now the owner wants plank or 24x48 porcelain. Each layer hid the slab's movement. When we open it up we typically find 1/4" to 1/2" of settlement toward one exterior wall, a diagonal crack or two from window corners, and ridges where a wall was removed in an earlier remodel. Grinding the ridges, filling the low side, and bridging cracks with an anti-fracture membrane is the standard sequence.
Old terrazzo adds a step. If the owner wants to keep it elsewhere, we level only the rooms getting new flooring and feather to the terrazzo at doorways. If it is being covered, we grind off the old sealer so the leveler primer bonds.
The beach side is condo work. Buildings along the Broadwalk and the Intracoastal from the 1960s through the 1980s have decks finished for carpet, with camber over beams and dips between. Associations require STC-rated underlayment under hard flooring, so the stack is level first, membrane second, finish last.
Moisture is a real factor in the eastern half of the city, where the water table is close to the slab. Plank and engineered wood need a moisture reading first. Ceramic and porcelain do not care about vapor, but they do care about flatness: 1/8" in 10 feet for large-format, which an old ranch slab never meets without leveling.
Permits are handled by the City of Hollywood Building Division. Leveling alone needs none. A condo flooring change needs association sign-off and, in some buildings, a city flooring permit. When the leveling is part of a larger remodel with a permit, the floor prep rides on that permit.
Hollywood ranch houses often have a converted garage or an enclosed porch, and that slab is almost always lower than the house. We build those up in lifts of leveler so the flooring runs continuous.
Free estimate — call (561) 556-7509 or email jperrysonsgc@gmail.com. Send a photo of the floor and tell us what you want to install over it, and we will reply with a same-day range.
How we do it in Hollywood
- Check the whole floor with a laser and a 10-foot straightedge and mark the low corners, cracks, and ridges.
- Read moisture at several points, with extra attention on ground-floor slabs east of Federal.
- Remove the old flooring and grind thinset, terrazzo sealer, and high spots to clean concrete.
- Fill cracks and old trenches, install membrane over active cracks, and prime the slab.
- Pour self-leveling underlayment to grade, in lifts where a converted garage or porch sits low.
- Verify flatness to the finish flooring tolerance and release the floor to the install crew.
Related services in Hollywood
- Flooring Installation in Hollywood
- Tile Installation in Hollywood
- Epoxy Flooring in Hollywood
- Kitchen Renovation in Hollywood
- Bathroom Renovation in Hollywood
- Painting in Hollywood
Nearby service areas
- Floor Leveling in Fort Lauderdale
- Floor Leveling in Pembroke Pines
- Floor Leveling in Miramar
- Floor Leveling in Davie
- Floor Leveling in Southwest Ranches
Planning guides: Floor leveling before new flooring · Self-leveling underlayment and floor leveling in South Florida · Floor leveling cost in South Florida
Floor Leveling in Hollywood — FAQ
Is a permit needed from the City of Hollywood to level a slab? No. Leveling is prep work. If you are in a beach condo, the association's flooring approval is what matters, and we provide the leveler and STC underlayment details for it.
My ranch house slab has a crack across the living room. Can you just level over it? We grind and fill it, then bridge it with an anti-fracture membrane before the leveler and the tile. Leveling over an unbridged crack means the crack shows up in the new floor within a year.
How many days before the new floor can go down? Grinding and prep one day, pour the next, tile the day after. Plank or wood waits two to three days after the pour so the leveler dries to the flooring manufacturer's limit.
Can you bring my converted garage up to the height of the rest of the house? Yes. We pour in lifts up to the main floor height and run the new flooring across the step line so it disappears.
How do I get an exact price? Call (561) 556-7509 or email jperrysonsgc@gmail.com with photos and the flooring you plan to install. We send a same-day range and confirm it with a site visit and a straightedge check.
Free estimate — call (561) 556-7509 or email jperrysonsgc@gmail.com. Licensed Florida general contractor CGC1540699. Serving Broward and Palm Beach counties.
Permits and compliance handled. J. Perry & Sons pulls the permit, schedules the inspections, and builds to the city and county codes that apply — Broward and Palm Beach municipal building departments, HVHZ requirements where they apply, and HOA/condo association rules. Licensed Florida general contractor CGC1540699.
Free Estimate
Free estimate — call (561) 556-7509 or email jperrysonsgc@gmail.com with project photos, the city, approximate dimensions, and material selections.