Refitting kitchens and bathrooms in Crawley's New Town homes
Strip out a kitchen or bathroom that has been refitted two or three times and the floor tells its history. There may be ceramic tiles from one decade, vinyl adhesive from the next, a concrete patch where a pipe was moved and a strip of hardboard by the door. A new sheet or LVT finish laid straight onto that would show every edge within weeks.
Latex screed is made for this. The powder is cement based, and it is mixed with a latex liquid where an ordinary compound would take water. Spread a few millimetres thick, it covers joints, grout lines and small changes of height in one pass and leaves a surface that thin finishes can follow.
Each part of the base is judged before anything is mixed. Quarry or ceramic tiles that are still stuck fast can stay, cleaned and primed. Old adhesive can stay if it is thin, hard and well stuck; soft or flaking residue comes off. Concrete that is uneven but sound takes a primer and the latex directly.
Semi-detached houses make up 23% of Crawley's homes. Where a semi is opened up into one kitchen and dining room, the new space can join floors that were never quite level with each other. Latex handles differences of a few millimetres. Anything larger is a job for levelling compound or a new screed, and where an old screed has cracked right through, see replacing cracked screed in sand and cement.
Plywood, damp and primers on Crawley floors
Upstairs bathrooms and suspended floors raise a separate question: what to do about timber. Latex never goes straight onto floorboards. Boards shrink and swell, and a thin cement based layer cannot follow that movement, so it cracks along every board edge. The floor is fixed down first, then overboarded with flooring grade plywood screwed at close centres, and the latex goes onto the primed plywood. If the floor is springy underfoot, the joists or boards are dealt with before any of that.
Damp is checked on solid floors. Latex is not a damp proof layer. A slab with moisture coming through needs a membrane or a different solution, and covering it would only move the problem into the new flooring.
Primers are chosen for the base. Concrete, plywood, tiles and old adhesive each take a different one. In the newer homes of Forge Wood and Kilnwood Vale, a heated liquid screed is a likelier base; if it is calcium sulphate, its laitance is removed and it is always primed before latex goes on.
Finishes that rely on a latex base include sheet vinyl, LVT, lino, rubber and safety flooring, and carpet laid over old tiles benefits too. In flats, where an acoustic layer may sit under the finish, the latex has to suit that build-up, so tell us what is underneath.
How we price latex screed in Crawley
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 Crawley
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 Crawley
Crawley is about 35 miles south-east of our Slough base as the crow flies, with postcodes including RH10 and RH11. The nearest towns to it are Horley (4.1 miles), Horsham (7.1 miles), East Grinstead (7.9 miles) and Reigate (8.5 miles).
More on latex screed, part of our screeding services.
