Rebuilding floors in Letchworth's early garden city houses
An original solid floor in an early cottage was often laid without a membrane, so damp can rise through it and spoil new flooring. Putting it right means digging down far enough, laying a membrane against the damp with insulation over it, and floating a new screed on top. In a home that floating screed is about 65mm of sand and cement.
The finished height is fixed by everything around it. Thresholds, the hallway and any original joinery limit how deep the new build-up can be, so the insulation thickness and the screed depth are worked out together before digging starts. Our screed thickness guide explains the minimum depths for each method.
Hand laying suits a floor rebuilt in stages. A traditional screed is mixed on site, placed room by room, compacted by hand and finished to a level, dense surface. It also works in bathrooms and utility rooms, where calcium sulphate screed is not suitable, and it can be laid to falls toward the drain in a wet room.
Where the existing slab is sound and only the top has failed, a thinner bonded screed of 25 to 40mm may do the job instead, fixed directly to the cleaned concrete. That is a job for our bonded screed work, at £12 to £18 per m² (trade2base, June 2026) on 2026 published prices.
Garages, wet rooms and drying times in Letchworth
Sand and cement is also the practical choice for garages. A garage converted into a room needs its floor raised, insulated and screeded to meet the house, while a garage kept for a car needs a hard-wearing cement surface. Our guide to garage floor screed goes through the steps and the usual pitfalls.
The drawback is time. Each millimetre takes roughly a day to dry up to 40mm, and longer after that, so a 65mm cottage floor can leave the flooring fitter idle for weeks. A quick drying screed mix shortens that, and fibres can be added to help control cracking, at £1 to £3 per m² extra on published figures. A hygrometer test at the end confirms the floor is ready.
Cost is the other side. Published 2026 UK figures put sand and cement at £18 to £25 per m², and on a small refurbishment the absence of pump costs often makes it the cheaper route. On a bigger, open extension, a flowing screed is usually faster, and our liquid screed service in Letchworth explains when that makes more sense.
Sand and Cement Screed prices in Letchworth
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 Letchworth
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 Letchworth
On the map, Letchworth sits north-north-east of Slough, about 35.5 miles from our base in a straight line (postcodes including SG6), next to Baldock (2 miles), Stotfold (2.7 miles), Hitchin (2.9 miles) and Stevenage (5.3 miles).
More on sand & cement screed, part of our screeding services.