Latex over old tiles and boards in Canterbury refits
Latex screed is a trade name, not a separate kind of screed. The bag holds a cement based powder, and it is mixed with a second part, a latex liquid, where an ordinary compound would take water. It goes down thin, usually a few millimetres, and its job is to give a sheet or plank finish something smooth to sit on.
That makes it useful on the bases a refit uncovers. Lift the lino in an older Canterbury kitchen and there may be quarry tiles underneath. If they are still firmly stuck, cleaned and primed, latex can go straight over them, and the grout lines and chipped edges disappear under the new surface. Loose or hollow tiles have to come up first, because the compound only holds as well as the layer it is bonded to.
Floorboards are a different case. Latex never goes straight onto bare boards, which move with every footstep and would crack it. The boards are screwed down and overboarded with flooring grade plywood, and the latex is laid over the ply. For a bathroom on an upper floor, that gives vinyl or safety flooring a smooth, rigid base without the weight of a screed.
Homes built between 1919 and 1944 make up 10% of Canterbury's stock, and concrete floors of that age can be patched, pitted or marked with old adhesive. Sound adhesive can sometimes stay if the product data allows it; anything soft or flaking comes off. Where a ridge or lump stands proud, grinding the concrete back comes before the latex.
When latex is wrong for a Canterbury floor
Latex is a finishing layer. It cannot hold down a springy board, stop moisture rising through a slab or fill a floor that falls away by several centimetres. Laid over any of those, it cracks, loses its bond or lets the new vinyl blister, and the refit has to be undone.
Damp comes first in this city. In Wincheap, where Victorian terraces sit among 18th century brick houses, a solid floor may have no membrane at all, so we test it before any latex is mixed. A damp solid floor needs a membrane, or digging out and relaying, and rebuilding a failed floor in sand and cement covers that route.
Homes within or close to the city walls that are listed or sit in a conservation area bring another check. Their floors are usually meant to breathe, so whether any compound belongs on them, and which one, has to be agreed for the building before we price.
Primers matter on every base. Tiles, plywood, concrete and old adhesive each take a primer suited to them, and a calcium sulphate screed in a newer flat always has its laitance removed and is primed before latex touches it. If your question is general flatness rather than an awkward base, our Canterbury floor levelling page explains the flatness classes. Close by, we also cover latex screed in Whitstable.
How we price latex screed in Canterbury
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 Canterbury
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 Canterbury
On the map, Canterbury sits east-south-east of Slough, about 76.5 miles from our base in a straight line (postcodes including CT1, CT2 and CT3), next to Whitstable (5.9 miles), Herne Bay (6.7 miles), Faversham (8.5 miles) and Ashford (12.8 miles).
More on latex screed, part of our screeding services.