Latex over tiles and plywood in New Brompton refits
Most levelling compounds are mixed with water. Latex screed is mixed with a latex liquid, which is added to a cement based powder, and that is what the trade means by the name. It goes down in a thin coat over a base that is already firm, to give a thin floor covering something smooth to sit on.
Kitchen and bathroom refits in New Brompton's older terraces are a typical setting. Lift a worn vinyl in a house of that age and the base below may be a mix of old quarry tiles, a later concrete patch and a strip of timber where a wall once stood.
The tiles can often stay. If they are firmly bonded, we clean them, prime them with a product suited to a smooth, non porous surface and lay the latex across them. A tile that rocks or rings hollow comes out first and the hole is filled.
Timber is treated differently. Latex will crack on bare floorboards because they flex and have gaps between them, so the boards are first covered with flooring grade plywood, fixed down at close centres. The latex then goes over the primed plywood.
Old concrete that has worn uneven, and some old adhesive that is thin and still well stuck, can also take latex once cleaned and primed. A calcium sulphate screed is a special case: its laitance is removed and it is primed before any latex goes on. If you want to know how flat a floor must be for your finish, the Gillingham floor levelling page sets out the SR classes.
Checking a Gillingham floor before any latex goes down
Latex can only be as good as the floor it covers, so three checks come before a price, whether the house is in Grange, Brompton, Lords Wood or Rainham.
First, damp. Many older terrace floors in New Brompton were laid without a membrane, and a latex coat does nothing to hold back moisture rising through them. A floor with high readings needs rebuilding with a membrane before any thin finish. Our Gillingham sand and cement screed page covers that rebuild.
Second, movement. Springy boards crack a latex coat, so loose boards are fixed and weak joists sorted before plywood goes down.
Third, level. A coat a few millimetres thick cannot lift a floor that drops away by a good deal across a room. Where the floor is badly out, we build it up with a deeper compound or a new screed first. Where an old sand and cement screed has crumbled in patches, screed repairs come first and latex after.
Converted flats are 3% of Gillingham's homes, and in a house divided into flats a kitchen may sit over a timber floor while the bathroom next to it sits on concrete. Each base gets its own primer and preparation.
How we price latex screed in Gillingham
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 Gillingham
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 Gillingham
As the crow flies, our yard in Slough is about 54 miles from Gillingham, which lies to the east. Postcodes here include ME8 and ME7, and Chatham (2.5 miles), Rochester (3.5 miles), Snodland (6.5 miles) and Sittingbourne (7.1 miles) are close by.
More on latex screed, part of our screeding services.
