Pipe cover and floor height in Godalming houses
A heated floor works only if the screed around the pipes is solid, with no air pockets, and deep enough to spread heat evenly. The minimum cover depends on the screed. With liquid, 25mm is the least that can sit over the pipes, giving roughly 45 to 50mm overall. Hand-laid sand and cement wants about 45mm above them, so the whole floor ends up thicker.
On a retrofit, that difference counts. In an older Godalming house, the finished floor usually has to meet existing doors, stairs and thresholds, so the space available for insulation, pipes and screed is fixed. Liquid screed often wins here because it needs less depth and flows fully around the pipes.
On a new floor there is more freedom. Around 19% of Godalming homes were built from 2015, and newer plots are often designed with heating in a flowing screed from the start. If the drawings for a new house call for a particular calcium sulphate grade, the page on anhydrite flow screed in Godalming explains what that means for drying and sanding.
The extension join is the other common case. On inter-war council houses such as those at Ockford Ridge, a heated rear extension has to finish level with the older room next to it. That sometimes means reducing the insulation depth, or levelling the old floor afterwards so the two meet cleanly. Ahead of the pour we check or supply the insulation, the membrane and the edge strip, and your installer should already have pressure tested the pipes.
Switching the heating on in a Godalming home
Most heated floors that fail do so at the first warm-up. Turning a new screed straight up to full temperature can crack it, so the system is brought up gradually and held, following the screed maker's schedule.
Timing depends on the material. Calcium sulphate normally lets you start the heating at around 7 days, and the warmth then helps force dry it. Sand and cement has to wait 21 days or more before the system is switched on. We hand over written guidance for the commissioning, and your heating installer sets the controls.
Semi-detached houses make up 28% of Godalming homes, and a heated kitchen extension on a semi shows how the finish and the heat-up interact. The new floor may be tiled, fitted with LVT or finished in engineered wood, and each of those needs a flat, dry base. Engineered wood in particular is sensitive to moisture left in the screed, so the heating schedule and the drying check go hand in hand before the fitter arrives. Our liquid screed page for Godalming covers flatness and access, and our insulation and membrane service covers the layers underneath.
Underfloor Heating Screed prices in Godalming
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 Godalming
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 Godalming
Godalming is about 24 miles south of our Slough base as the crow flies, with postcodes including GU7 and GU8. The nearest towns to it are Guildford (4.1 miles), Aldershot (7.8 miles), Haslemere (7.9 miles) and Farnham (8.3 miles).
More on underfloor heating screed, part of our screeding services.
