Any DIY'd self levelling screed for final finish?

[Russinating]

We need to sort out small kitchen floor out - approx 2.5m sq - which has been bare concrete since we moved in. We like the look of polished concrete, and the concrete that's down at the moment is just unfinished/dirty/damaged as it's had lino tiles on at some point by the looks of it. It's flat/level and otherwise in good condition (no massive holes or chunks missing etc).

I'm looking at screeding it with an epoxy screed such as this: https://antel.co.uk/flooring/47-epoxy-self-smoothing-floor-screed.html

Has anyone done this themselves before? Any risks? How do you protect the kitchen/step and prevent whatever you pour down finding a hole underneath the cabinets/against a wall and sucking up litres and litres?

Pics of the space:

 

[JRJ]

Personally as its probably going to be no thicker than a couple of mm I'd caulk the kick boards and all gaps around the units, thin strip of wooden beading across the step and pour away.
Shouldn't interfere with the removal of the kickboards, or you could remove them altogether mastic an edge behind where the kickboards will sit and pour and then recut the kickboards to fit.

 

[jaybee]

Yeah, it depends on how level it really is already. If it truly is very level, you could do as JRJ says and do a very thin layer all round having prepped it. Any thicker than a few mm though and it's going to be a pain to remove any of the kick panels or wood near the back door if you ever needed to. Say for plumbing issue if the kick panels and uprights are set in the screed layer, or even just resting up against it, it can be set hard in place. Removing it could damage the wood and crack the floor layer too on the edge. Normally this kind of thing is obviously done first with a clear room.

 

[JRJ]

How easy would it be to remove the three units on the left? remove them and the right hand end panel, kick boards and run a floor sanding over the current concrete?

 

[norm]

Epoxy is a strange choice of floor finish for a kitchen, in a garage it's ideal. I would tile it, you'll be overall happier with it. Epoxy can be tricky stuff to use also.

 

[Russinating]

How easy would it be to remove the three units on the left? remove them and the right hand end panel, kick boards and run a floor sanding over the current concrete?

Not easy at all. If that was a requirement we wouldn't do it.

Epoxy is a strange choice of floor finish for a kitchen, in a garage it's ideal. I would tile it, you'll be overall happier with it. Epoxy can be tricky stuff to use also.

Problem is the area is not square at all; none of the corners are right angles and the step in particular is off by a far degree. The added small step down and the little nook and I'm worried small tiles will highlight the angles, and larger ties are more faff.

That's aside from the fact that we like a concrete finish and trying to pick tiles we like is difficult!

 

[JRJ]

What about a diagonal pattern or herringbone tile pattern that'll throw the lines out anyway? or even hexagon tiles in a couple of different colours.