Awkward bases in older Aylesbury kitchens and bathrooms
Kitchens and bathrooms are where latex screed earns its place in Aylesbury. Strip out a room in an older house and the floor under the old covering is seldom one material. There may be quarry tiles beneath a cushioned vinyl, a spread of black adhesive where units stood, or concrete patched in several different mixes over the years. A thin finish laid straight over that would show every edge.
The name describes the mix. A cement based powder is combined with a latex liquid in place of water, giving a compound with a little flexibility and a strong grip. Spread a few millimetres thick, it hides grout lines, adhesive ridges and small hollows, so the new covering lies flat.
What stays and what goes is decided first. Ceramic or quarry tiles that are firmly bonded can remain once cleaned and primed. Old adhesive can stay if it is thin, hard and well stuck, while soft or thick residue is removed. Concrete is checked for dusting and weak patches.
Period houses in the Queens Park conservation area call for sympathetic floor replacement, and where a room there has boarded floors, latex never goes directly onto the boards. They are fixed down and covered with flooring grade plywood, which is primed and then latexed.
Semi-detached houses make up 32% of Aylesbury's homes, and the same plywood sequence applies to an upstairs bathroom in one of them, where the floor is usually timber.
Checks before latex goes down in Aylesbury
Latex covers faults; it does not cure them. Before we price an Aylesbury floor for it, three things are checked.
Moisture comes first. A latex layer is thin and will not hold back damp from below. On an older solid floor with no membrane, a hygrometer reading shows whether the base is dry enough, and if it is not, the floor needs a membrane or a new build-up before any smoothing coat.
Stiffness comes next. A floor that bounces will crack a cement based skin, however flexible the latex. Loose boards are screwed down and overboarded, and failed patches of concrete are cut out and repaired.
Then level. Because latex is only a few millimetres deep, it suits floors already close to flat. A room that falls away by more than that needs a full levelling compound pour or a new screed first.
Priming ties it together. Plywood, tiles, concrete and adhesive each take a matched primer. A newer Aylesbury home may have a calcium sulphate screed, which has its laitance sanded off and is always primed before latex goes on. Thick old coatings are removed by mechanical grinding of the slab, and heavier cleaning comes under floor preparation.
How we price latex screed in Aylesbury
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 Aylesbury
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 Aylesbury
As the crow flies, our yard in Slough is about 21 miles from Aylesbury, which lies to the north-north-west. Postcodes here include HP20, HP21, HP18 and HP19, and Tring (6.6 miles), Thame (8.7 miles), Leighton Buzzard (9.4 miles) and Berkhamsted (10.8 miles) are close by.
More on latex screed, part of our screeding services.