Rebuilding tired ground floors in older Herne Bay homes
Pre-1919 houses near the seafront may have floors that need replacing before new finishes can go down. Once an old solid floor in one of those houses has cracked, dropped or lost its damp proofing, a patch repair seldom holds for long. Digging it out and rebuilding it in layers, insulation and membrane first and fresh screed on top, is the more lasting fix.
That rebuild is where a hand-laid mix earns its place. We mix it outside to suit each room's depth, wheel it in, then compact and float it by hand until it is dense and level. That makes it practical in small rooms, through narrow hallways and around awkward thresholds, where setting up a pump would cost more than it saves. Terraced houses are 11% of the town's homes, and with a single front door and a long hall they are typical of the places where a barrowed mix is simplest.
How thick it goes comes down to the build-up. Floated on insulation, it goes down at 65mm for houses and 75mm for commercial premises. Fixed directly to a solid, prepared slab, the bonded version needs only 25 to 40mm, handy in an older Herne Bay house where the neighbouring rooms set the finished level.
The layers underneath matter as much as the screed. Our insulation and membrane work is priced alongside the floor, so one team is responsible for the whole build-up.
Showers, garages and slower drying in Herne Bay
A few rooms have to be cement based, full stop. Calcium sulphate does not belong anywhere that gets wet, so for a wet room or walk-in shower it has to be sand and cement, hand-shaped with falls that run water to the drain. With Herne Bay popular as a place to retire, a level-access shower room is a conversion worth planning around the floor from the start.
Garages being turned into rooms are another. The old slab is usually lower than the house floor, so the screed makes up the difference over insulation. Our guide to screeding a garage conversion goes through the levels and the build-up.
The trade-off is time. Expect around one day per mm up to 40mm and slower beyond, which leaves a 65mm floor drying long after a thin liquid pour would be ready. Short on time? A rapid drying screed at £20 to £28 per m² cuts the wait, and fibres for better crack resistance add £1 to £3 per m².
Sand and Cement Screed prices in Herne Bay
Sand and cement screed: £18 to £25 per m² supplied and laid (MyJobQuote, August 2026), so £450 to £630 for 25 m². MyJobQuote does not say whether these figures include VAT. See our floor screeding cost guide or screed calculator.
Who lays your sand and cement screed in Herne Bay
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.
Sand and Cement Screed from Slough to Herne Bay
As the crow flies, our yard in Slough is about 77.3 miles from Herne Bay, which lies to the east. Postcodes here include CT6, and Whitstable (4.5 miles), Canterbury (6.7 miles), Faversham (10.9 miles) and Sittingbourne (17 miles) are close by.
More on sand & cement screed, part of our screeding services.
