That inspector's bench test trick saved me $200 in rework

Last month a county inspector came through my shop and watched me leveling my workbench with shims. He said you're wasting time, just flip the bench over and pour a thin self-leveling compound on the underside, let it dry, then flip back. I told him that sounded messy but he showed me on a scrap board right there, used a cheap mortar mix, not the fancy stuff. Now I do it on every new bench, takes me 20 minutes instead of 2 hours of shimming. Has anyone else tried this method, or do you stick with the old way?

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leow902mo ago

Wait, have you had any issues with the compound cracking over time on the underside? I tried this after a buddy swore by it, but I found that the thin pour can chip off if you drop something heavy near the edge. I started adding a little bit of fine sand to the mix before pouring, and that seemed to stop the flaking. Plus, I learned the hard way that you really do need to tape off the bolt holes first, or you'll be digging compound out of threads for an hour. The 20 minute claim checks out though, it's way faster once you get the hang of the pour and leveling it with a straight edge. Your inspector definitely knew what he was talking about, I just had to tweak the recipe a bit for my shop's humidity.

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