Latex over awkward bases in Bury St Edmunds refits
Latex screed is the trade name for a levelling compound supplied in two parts: a bag of cement based powder and a container of latex liquid, which is used in place of mixing water. The latex gives the cured layer a little give and a firm grip, so it holds on to surfaces that a standard compound can struggle with. It is spread thin, usually a few millimetres, and its purpose is to make a sound floor smooth rather than to build a new one.
Terraced homes make up 31% of the Bury St Edmunds housing stock, and stripping out an old kitchen or bathroom in a house like that tends to reveal several bases in one room. Part of the floor may be quarry tiles, part a concrete patch where a chimney breast or wall came out, and upstairs the bathroom sits on timber boards.
Each base gets its own treatment. Quarry or ceramic tiles that are still stuck fast can stay, once grease and polish are scrubbed off and a suitable primer goes on. Thin, hard adhesive left behind by an old floor can sometimes stay as well; anything soft or flaking is scraped away. Timber boards never take latex directly. They move underfoot and with the seasons, so they are first covered with flooring grade plywood screwed down at close centres, and the latex is spread over the ply.
Rough concrete is the simplest case. Cleaned and primed, it takes a layer that fills trowel marks and small hollows, so sheet vinyl, safety flooring or rubber laid over it shows no ridges.
When latex is the wrong fix in Bury St Edmunds
Latex makes a decent floor smoother. It cannot turn a poor floor into a good one, and three problems send the job in a different direction.
Damp comes first. Inside the old street grid, where houses often lack a membrane under the ground floor, a solid floor can draw water up and pass it into whatever covers it. Vinyl and LVT trap that water and the adhesive lets go. We test before pricing, and where damp is present the floor needs a membrane, which normally means a relaid floor in hand-tamped screed.
Movement is next. Bouncy boards, or a ground floor that has dropped, will crack a thin compound within weeks. Boards need refixing and overboarding first. Where old chalk workings below parts of Bury St Edmunds have caused subsidence, the reason a floor has dropped must be found before anybody smooths it over.
Third is level. Latex suits a floor that is close to flat already. Where one side of a room sits well below the other, a few millimetres cannot pull it true, and the answer is deeper self levelling compound or new screed.
The primer decides the bond on every base. On a calcium sulphate screed, the laitance is sanded away and a compatible primer goes on before any latex, or the layer can lift.
How we price latex screed in Bury St Edmunds
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 Bury St Edmunds
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 Bury St Edmunds
On the map, Bury St Edmunds sits north-east of Slough, about 76.3 miles from our base in a straight line (postcodes including IP33), next to Newmarket (13.1 miles), Sudbury (14.3 miles), Haverhill (16.3 miles) and Soham (17 miles).
More on latex screed, part of our screeding services.
