Latex over old tiles and boards in Carterton
A renovation in an older Carterton house rarely starts with a clean slab. Lift the lino in a kitchen and there may be quarry tiles beneath; take up a bathroom floor and there may be timber boards with hardboard nailed over them. Some 28% of the town's homes were built between 1973 and 1999, old enough for most of their floors to have been through a refit or two already.
Each base needs its own treatment before the latex goes down.
Tiles. Quarry and ceramic tiles can stay if every one is firmly stuck. Loose tiles are lifted and the holes filled, the surface is degreased, and a primer for smooth, non-absorbent surfaces is applied.
Boards. Bare timber is never coated directly. Old hardboard is usually lifted, the boards are screwed down, and flooring grade plywood is fixed over them. The latex then goes over the plywood.
Concrete. An old slab that is solid but pitted or uneven takes a primer suited to porous concrete, then the latex.
Old adhesive. A thin, hard layer that is still well stuck can sometimes stay; anything soft, thick or powdery comes off first, sometimes by grinding the slab clean.
The compound itself is a cement based powder mixed with the latex liquid, poured and trowelled to a thin, smooth layer of a few millimetres. The latex in the mix helps it grip and flex slightly on these mixed bases, which a water-mixed product may not manage as well. Thin sheet finishes then sit on an even surface instead of copying every tile edge and board joint beneath.
Damp and springy floors in Carterton homes
Latex is a surface treatment, and it has firm limits.
It does not cure damp. If an old solid floor is drawing moisture, a thin coat on top will not stop it, and the adhesive under new vinyl can fail. We test before we prime, and where the reading is high the floor needs a membrane, or a new build-up with insulation and screed, before any finish goes on.
It does not stiffen a floor. If timber bounces underfoot, the latex will crack along the joints. The cure is more fixings, packing or new plywood, and that work comes before our visit.
It does not rescue a floor that is badly out of level. A thin layer smooths; it does not lift a low corner by any real amount. Where the dip is deep, the right step is a levelling pour across the whole room, or a new screed where even that will not do, with latex over it only if the finish needs it.
Primer choice ties it together. A calcium sulphate screed has its laitance sanded off and is always primed before latex, and concrete, tiles and plywood each take their own product too.
Our area takes in all of Carterton, including Brizewood and Shilton Park, and there is a separate page for latex screeding in Cirencester.
How we price latex screed in Carterton
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 Carterton
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 Carterton
Carterton is about 43.7 miles west-north-west of our Slough base as the crow flies, with postcodes including OX18. The nearest towns to it are Witney (5.1 miles), Kidlington (13.8 miles), Wantage (13.9 miles) and Oxford (14.5 miles).
More on latex screed, part of our screeding services.