What latex screed does in Basingstoke estate homes
Latex screed is a trade name, not a separate kind of screed. It arrives in two parts: a cement based powder and a container of latex liquid, which is stirred in where an ordinary compound would take water. The latex gives the cured layer a little flexibility and helps it grip surfaces that a water-mixed product struggles with. It goes down thin, usually a few millimetres, and its whole purpose is to give a soft or thin finish a smooth face to sit on.
That makes it a refit product. A kitchen in an estate terrace may have had several floors in its life: ceramic tiles, then vinyl stuck over them, then perhaps laminate. Once the latest layer is pulled up, what remains is seldom smooth enough for new LVT or safety flooring, and every grout line would show through a thin sheet.
Latex can go over firmly bonded ceramic or quarry tiles once they are cleaned and primed, over uneven but sound concrete, over thin traces of hard, well stuck adhesive, and over flooring grade plywood screwed down across timber boards. It is never laid straight onto bare floorboards, because boards move and a thin layer on top cracks along every joint.
Flats account for 21% of Basingstoke's homes. Where a flat's bathroom has a timber floor, the job starts with plywood overboarding and finishes with latex over the ply. If the real problem is a broad dip or a slope rather than a rough surface, our Basingstoke floor levelling service covers flatness classes and deeper compound.
When latex will not work in Basingstoke
A thin compound can only follow what is under it. If boards bounce underfoot, latex cracks along their edges within weeks, so loose boards are screwed down and overboarded before anything else. Tiles that sound hollow when tapped are lifted. If the base is damp, latex will not cure it: moisture keeps coming and the bond fails, so a damp check comes before any mixing.
Height is the other limit. Latex is for smoothing, not for taking a 20mm fall out of a kitchen. A concrete ground floor that has cracked, sunk or lost its level needs breaking out and rebuilding, with insulation and a hand-laid screed for failed ground floors in its place.
Priming decides whether the latex stays put. Absorbent concrete, glazed tiles and plywood each take their own primer. If the base turns out to be a calcium sulphate screed, its laitance is sanded away and a compatible primer goes on before any latex.
Ridges of old tile adhesive or paint that stand proud are taken off by machine first, a step explained on our concrete floor grinding page for Basingstoke. For the same work further afield, see latex screed in Thatcham.
How we price latex screed in Basingstoke
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 Basingstoke
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 Basingstoke
On the map, Basingstoke sits south-west of Slough, about 26.5 miles from our base in a straight line (postcodes including RG21, RG22, RG24 and RG23), next to Tadley (6.7 miles), Alton (9.6 miles), Fleet (10.7 miles) and Thatcham (11.9 miles).
More on latex screed, part of our screeding services.