What latex screed does in Havering kitchens and bathrooms
The name puts people off, so here is what it actually is. Latex screed is not a screed in the usual sense of a thick layer that sets the floor height. It arrives in two parts, a cement based powder and a latex liquid, and the liquid replaces the water you would normally mix in. That latex gives the cured skin a little flexibility and helps it hold onto surfaces a plain water mixed compound would struggle to grip. It goes on thin, a few millimetres, and its only purpose is to give the new covering a smooth face.
That makes it a refit material rather than a building one. Strip a kitchen or bathroom in an older Havering house and the floor beneath is rarely a single material. Under the lino there may be quarry tiles by the sink, a strip of concrete where a wall was taken out, and plywood laid over the boards near the back door. Sheet vinyl, LVT, safety flooring and rubber copy whatever sits beneath them, so every one of those changes would print through within weeks.
Of the borough's homes, 11% were built between 1973 and 1999. Kitchens and bathrooms of that age have often been refitted once already, and the previous floor may still be firmly stuck in place. If the old tiles are solid, latex can go over them after cleaning and the right primer, which spares you breaking them out.
Whether the house is in Ardleigh Green, Rise Park, Chase Cross or Harold Wood, the order of work is the same: test the base, prime each material to suit, then pour and trowel the latex so it settles smooth. If the room needs a deeper fix as well, our Havering floor levelling page covers that work.
When Gidea Park floors need more than latex
Latex finishes a floor; it does not repair one. There are three cases where something else has to happen first, and we will say so before quoting.
Bare floorboards come first on that list. Boards flex underfoot, and a thin cement based layer laid straight onto them will crack along every board edge. They need screwing down and covering with flooring grade plywood, fixed at close centres, before latex has a chance. If the floor still bounces after that, the joists want a carpenter, not more compound.
Damp is the second. Latex has no power to stop moisture coming up through a slab, and vinyl or rubber on a damp base will blister or let go. We test before we pour, and a wet floor needs a membrane or a rebuild.
Third, a floor badly out of level. Each Gidea Park house was individually designed, so the floors there vary from one home to the next. A few millimetres of latex will not lose a big fall. That calls for repairs to the screed underneath or, where the old floor has failed, a new hand-laid floor of the kind on our sand and cement page for Havering.
One more check applies to newer homes anywhere in the borough: if the base turns out to be a calcium sulphate screed, its laitance is sanded off and a compatible primer goes on before any latex touches it.
How we price latex screed in Havering
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 Havering
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 Havering
Havering is about 37.1 miles east of our Slough base as the crow flies, with postcodes including RM11, RM1, RM13 and RM5. The nearest towns to it are Barking and Dagenham (4.2 miles), Brentwood (5.4 miles), Redbridge (6.4 miles) and Chigwell (6.9 miles).
More on latex screed, part of our screeding services.
