Awkward bases in Ashford kitchens and bathrooms
Kitchens and bathrooms are the rooms where latex screed earns its keep, because they are where thin finishes go: sheet vinyl, LVT, lino and the safety flooring used in utility rooms and commercial kitchens. All of them telegraph whatever lies below. A grout line, a plywood joint or a trowel ridge in old concrete will show through once the new floor is down.
Latex differs from the ordinary compound on our Ashford floor levelling page in what the powder is mixed with. It is still cement based, but a latex liquid replaces the water, and that gives the cured layer strong adhesion and a little give. That combination is why it holds to bases a standard product may not.
Upstairs in an Ashford house, the base is usually timber. Bare boards are never latexed directly; they move, they have gaps, and the compound would crack along every edge. Instead the boards are screwed down and covered with flooring grade plywood, fixed at close centres, then primed. A few millimetres of latex hides the screw heads and sheet joints.
On the ground floor of an older house, the base might be a quarry or ceramic tile floor that is still firmly bonded. Rather than breaking it out, each tile is checked, any hollow ones lifted and filled, and the surface cleaned and primed for latex. Hard, thin old adhesive left after vinyl is lifted can often stay too, as long as it is well stuck and suits the primer.
With 66% of Ashford's homes in council tax bands A to C, many households will want to know whether the existing floor can stay. Over a sound base, latex usually means it can.
When an Ashford floor needs more than latex
Latex is a finishing layer. It will not hold a weak floor together, so the warning signs are worth knowing before booking.
A floor that flexes. If boards or ply bounce underfoot, latex will crack along the joints however carefully it is laid. The floor has to be stiffened first.
A floor that is damp. Latex is no barrier to moisture. Older solid floors can lack a damp proof membrane, and 11% of Ashford's homes date from before 1919. Rising moisture under one of those floors will lift both the latex and the new covering.
A floor that is badly out. Latex goes down a few millimetres thick. Dips deeper than that, or a slope across the room, need a thicker compound or a relaid sand and cement screed. Homeowners in Willesborough and South Ashford are more likely than most to face a cracked sand and cement floor, and that calls for relaying, not latex.
A screed with a weak surface. Calcium sulphate screeds, like those laid plot by plot at Chilmington Green and Finberry, must be sanded to remove laitance and primed with a compatible product before latex goes on. A cement screed with a dusty top may need cutting back first; see concrete floor grinding in Ashford.
If you are unsure which applies, photos of the floor and details of the flooring you plan to use let us say which route fits.
How we price latex screed in Ashford
A fixed written price within 24 hours, once we know the area and the base. See our floor screeding cost guide.
Who lays your latex screed in Ashford
K & B Screeding’s own team, led by director Donatas Bardisevicius. Founded 2019, company 12298780.
See what customers say in our Google reviews and on our testimonials page.
Latex Screed from Slough to Ashford
On the map, Ashford sits east-south-east of Slough, about 70.8 miles from our base in a straight line (postcodes including TN23, TN24 and TN25), next to Faversham (11.6 miles), Canterbury (12.8 miles), Sittingbourne (14.5 miles) and Whitstable (16 miles).
More on latex screed, part of our screeding services.
