Grinding the join in extended Chigwell houses
Extending and opening up the ground floor is a common step in Chigwell's larger post-war houses, and it leaves a floor in two parts: the original slab, which may have been patched over the years, and the new extension floor beside it. Where they meet there may be a raised edge, a ridge of mortar, or an old slab that sits a few millimetres high along one wall. Compound alone can bury a small step, but the result is thinner and cleaner if the high side is ground down first.
Grinding uses rotating heads set with diamond segments, which cut the surface away in thin layers. Along an extension join they take down the lip; across the old floor they strip adhesive left by previous carpet or vinyl and any paint or sealer that would stop a primer working. On a calcium sulphate screed they can also take off the laitance.
Know the limit before planning the floor. Grinding is for local high points and surface contamination. If the original floor slopes or dips across a whole room, grinding it flat would take too much material away, so we grind only the high spots and then bring the floor true with compound or screed. The next step is covered under levelling the floor afterwards, and full depth replacement on the sand and cement screed page.
Only 13% of Chigwell's homes were built since 2000, so most floors being prepared in the town are older concrete.
Dust control in lived-in Chigwell homes and garages
In a house that is still lived in, dust control is the first thing to plan. Concrete, screed and old tiles contain silica, and grinding them makes fine respirable silica dust, small enough to reach deep into the lungs. We only grind with extraction connected directly to the machine, seal doorways with sheeting, cover vents and keep the work area separate from the rooms in use.
Garages are the other usual job. An attached garage being turned into a gym, study or annexe may have a slab stained with oil or coated in floor paint, and neither will let a primer or screed bond. Grinding takes the surface back to clean concrete. The guide to garage floor screed explains the layers that go on next.
On a screed, we check the depth before grinding, because an over-ground screed loses strength. Where the slab is cracked or breaking up, concrete floor repair comes before grinding. We do not hire out grinders or sell diamond tooling. Resin and polished concrete are not part of our work either; if a resin finish is planned, we prepare the floor for whoever lays it. Homes from the old village core out to Chigwell Row in the east are covered, as are floors nearby through floor grinding in Waltham Abbey.
How we price floor grinding in Chigwell
A fixed written price within 24 hours, once we know the area and what has to come off. See our floor screeding cost guide.
Who grinds your concrete floor in Chigwell
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.
Concrete Floor Grinding from Slough to Chigwell
As the crow flies, our yard in Slough is about 31.6 miles from Chigwell, which lies to the east-north-east. Postcodes here include IG7, and Redbridge (2.4 miles), Loughton (2.5 miles), Waltham Forest (3.9 miles) and Waltham Abbey (5.3 miles) are close by.
More on floor grinding, part of our screeding services.
