Latex on older concrete in Pinner and North Harrow
Latex screed is a two part product. A cement based powder is mixed with a latex liquid in place of water, which makes the cured coat a little more flexible and helps it bond to surfaces that would defeat a basic compound. It is meant to go on thin, typically a few millimetres, as the last smoothing layer before the finish.
Houses of that age in those three areas often have old concrete ground floors, and many of those have cracked or settled over the decades. That splits them into two groups. A slab that is rough on the surface but solid, dry and no longer moving can take latex: it is cleaned, cracks are filled, a primer suited to concrete goes on, then the latex. A slab that has sunk, rocks underfoot or reads damp is another story; latex over it would crack again, and the right answer is a new floor built up with a membrane, insulation and screed.
Old tiles from an earlier kitchen or utility room face the same test. Tiles bonded hard to the slab can usually stay, cleaned and primed, with latex skimmed over the grout lines so a sheet floor or LVT does not show them. One hollow sounding tile means the whole area is checked, and any loose tiles come up.
Upstairs, floors in houses are normally timber. Bare boards are never a base for latex; they are screwed down and overlaid with flooring grade plywood, and the latex goes over that. Wider dips, or a floor that has to meet a measured flatness class, belong with floor levelling in Harrow.
Wealdstone terraces and Harrow View flats: checks first
Two very different kinds of home need two different checks before latex goes down.
In Wealdstone's Victorian and Edwardian terraces, damp is the first question. A house of that age there may need its floor rebuilt over a new damp proof membrane, and latex is no substitute for one. A thin smoothing coat over a damp solid floor lets moisture through, and the vinyl or LVT above will lift. We take readings, and if they are high we say so and price the rebuild instead.
In the new flats of Harrow View and central Harrow, floors are liquid screed laid over acoustic layers. If the screed in one of those flats is calcium sulphate and a refit calls for latex, the laitance must be sanded off and the surface primed with a compatible product first. Latex spread straight onto an unprepared calcium sulphate surface can fail at the bond.
Old adhesive turns up in both kinds of home. Hard, thin residue may be primed over, but soft or thick glue is removed, and grinding is often the cleanest way, as our page on Harrow concrete floor grinding explains. For a smoothing coat in a nearby borough, see latex screed in Brent.
How we price latex screed in Harrow
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 Harrow
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 Harrow
Harrow is about 13.5 miles east-north-east of our Slough base as the crow flies, with postcodes including HA3, HA8, HA1 and HA5. The nearest towns to it are Bushey (3.8 miles), Brent (4.6 miles), Watford (5 miles) and Ealing (5.3 miles).
More on latex screed, part of our screeding services.