Awkward bases in Highfield and Grovehill refits
Latex screed is less a separate kind of screed than a trade name for a two part compound. A cement based powder is mixed with a latex liquid in place of water, which gives the cured layer a little flexibility and a firm grip on bases that ordinary compound dislikes. It goes down thin, typically a few millimetres, and its job is to smooth a floor that is already sound, never to rebuild one.
The planned neighbourhoods went up in phases, Highfield in the mid 1950s and Grovehill from 1967 among them, so their houses are now decades old. Lift an old vinyl floor in a house of that age and the base underneath is rarely tidy. Typical finds are quarry or ceramic tiles still bonded hard to the slab, patches of old adhesive, a concrete floor worn uneven by decades of feet, or timber boards on an upper floor.
Each of those can take latex, with conditions. Tiles are tapped to find any loose ones, then cleaned of grease and polish. Old adhesive has to be firmly stuck and suited to the primer. Timber boards are never latexed directly: they are first overboarded with flooring grade plywood, screwed down at close centres, and the latex goes over the plywood. A cement screed is primed to control suction, and a calcium sulphate screed must have its laitance removed and always be primed before latex goes near it.
The finish decides whether it is worth doing. Sheet vinyl, LVT, safety flooring, lino and rubber all show every ridge and grain line beneath them, so they need it most. Carpet is more forgiving, though a latex skim still stops old tile joints showing through over time.
When latex is the wrong fix in Hemel Hempstead
Latex copies the floor it sits on. If that floor moves, is damp or is badly out of level, the problem comes straight back through the new finish, so part of the job is saying no.
Springy floorboards are the first case. A bounce underfoot cracks a thin compound however carefully it is mixed, so loose boards and tired joists need fixing, and the plywood overboarding has to be rigid, before any latex is mixed.
Damp is the second. A ground floor slab with no working membrane pushes moisture into the latex and lifts the vinyl above it. We test before we pour, and where damp shows, a membrane or a new floor comes first.
The third is a floor with a large dip or slope. A few millimetres of latex cannot correct a fall of several centimetres across a room. A fall that size needs a new screed, often a dug out floor and a fresh sand and cement bed, while smaller hollows can take deeper levelling compound. Small cracks and hollow patches in an old screed are cut out and filled first; our page on screed repairs explains how that is done.
How we price latex screed in Hemel Hempstead
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 Hemel Hempstead
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 Hemel Hempstead
Hemel Hempstead is about 17 miles north-north-east of our Slough base as the crow flies, with postcodes including HP1, HP2 and HP3. The nearest towns to it are Berkhamsted (4.5 miles), St Albans (5.7 miles), Harpenden (6.6 miles) and Chesham (6.9 miles).
More on latex screed, part of our screeding services.
