Screeding heated floors at Beaulieu Park and Channels
Beaulieu Park and Channels are reshaping the north east edge of the city, and the local plan aims for 18,000 more homes by 2036, so new build plots will keep coming forward for years. Homes of this kind are often designed with heating in the floor from the start, and 12% of Chelmsford's homes were built since 2015.
On a new plot the build-up is usually set by the developer: insulation, an edge strip, the pipes clipped to the insulation, and a flowing screed poured over the lot. That flowing screed needs a minimum of 25mm over the pipes, giving a finished depth of roughly 45 to 50mm. Being fluid, it closes round each pipe without trapping air, and that slimmer, denser slab responds to the thermostat more quickly.
A sand and cement floor can also bury the pipes, though it needs about 45mm of cover, which makes the build-up deeper. It may still be the choice for a wet room or where a cement surface is required.
The pipes must be fixed, pressure tested and left under pressure while the screed is poured, so any damage is spotted at once. We check that, along with insulation and edge strip, before we start. Specification showing a calcium sulphate grade? Our Chelmsford anhydrite notes decode it. The boards and sheeting below can come from us as well, through our membrane and insulation supply.
Retrofitting heating in older Chelmsford houses
Retrofitting is the trickier job: in a Moulsham terrace or a post-war semi, the doors, stairs and thresholds have already fixed the floor height. The old floor normally comes up to make room for insulation, pipes and new screed, and a liquid screed's thinner build-up is often what makes the job possible.
Heated rear extensions and garden rooms are more forgiving, since their floor level is set as part of the build. Either way, commissioning follows the same rules. Calcium sulphate can be warmed from about day 7, whereas sand and cement should be left alone for a minimum of 21 days. After that, the installer's schedule lifts the temperature a notch at a time across several days before the system runs as normal.
Rushing the first heat-up can crack the screed or spoil the floor finish, while a gradual start helps to dry the floor before tiles, LVT or engineered wood. Only a moisture reading says it is ready, and what slows or speeds screed drying is covered in our guide. Further afield, see heated floor screeding in Braintree.
Underfloor Heating Screed prices in Chelmsford
Liquid screed over underfloor heating: £20 to £35 per m² supplied and laid (trade2base, June 2026), so £700 to £1,230 for 35 m². trade2base gives these figures excluding VAT. See our floor screeding cost guide or screed calculator.
Who lays your underfloor heating screed in Chelmsford
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.
Underfloor Heating Screed from Slough to Chelmsford
Chelmsford is about 50.2 miles east-north-east of our Slough base as the crow flies, with postcodes including CM1, CM3 and CM2. The nearest towns to it are Billericay (8.2 miles), Witham (8.4 miles), Wickford (8.8 miles) and Maldon (8.8 miles).
More on underfloor heating screed, part of our screeding services.
