What sits under a Kingston upon Thames kitchen refit
Strip out a fitted kitchen or bathroom and the floor underneath is rarely ready for a thin finish. Sheet vinyl, LVT, lino, rubber safety flooring and carpet all copy the surface below, so grout lines, board joints and patched holes show through within weeks. Latex fills those marks and leaves one smooth, closed skin.
It suits four kinds of base. Suspended timber floors are the first, but only after the boards have been screwed down and overboarded with flooring grade plywood; latex on bare boards cracks as they move. Old quarry or ceramic tiles are the second, as long as each tile is firmly bonded, which saves breaking them out in a lived-in house, with all the dust and noise that brings. Uneven older concrete is the third, scraped clean of loose material and dust, then primed to suit its surface. Sound old adhesive, left after a carpet or vinyl is lifted, is the fourth, provided it is thin and firmly stuck.
Priming is matched to the base. Tiles, plywood, concrete and old adhesive each take a different primer, and a calcium sulphate screed must always be sanded free of laitance and primed before latex goes on.
For a deeper correction than a thin skim can give, our Kingston floor levelling page covers the flatness classes and thicker compounds.
Three checks before latex in Kingston upon Thames
Latex smooths a floor, but it does not repair one. Before any is mixed, whether the house is in Old Malden, Coombe, Berrylands or Surbiton, three questions are answered.
Does the floor move? Press down near the middle of the room and along the walls. If boards spring, latex will crack above them, so loose boards are fixed and the floor is overboarded first.
Is it damp? Norbiton's large Victorian and Edwardian houses have older solid floors that may need a membrane, and the same can apply to other old solid floors. Latex does nothing to stop moisture, so a damp floor is dug out and relaid with a membrane, insulation and a traditional sand and cement screed.
How far out of level is it? Latex goes down a few millimetres thick. A kitchen that dips well beyond that, or a slab that is cracked and hollow in places, needs a bigger fix first. Broken patches are cut out and reinstated through our concrete floor repair work, and a floor that is badly out across the room may need a new screed.
In flats, which make up 37% of homes in the borough, the same checks apply, with one more: the acoustic layer between flats is left intact. For the same service in a neighbouring town, see latex screed in Ewell.
How we price latex screed in Kingston upon Thames
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 Kingston upon Thames
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 Kingston upon Thames
As the crow flies, our yard in Slough is about 18.4 miles from Kingston upon Thames, which lies to the east-south-east. Postcodes here include KT5, KT9, KT3 and KT2, and Ewell (3.2 miles), Merton (3.4 miles), Richmond upon Thames (4 miles) and Epsom (4.1 miles) are close by.
More on latex screed, part of our screeding services.
