Pipe cover and floor height in Nuneaton extensions
A heated screed has two jobs. It spreads heat evenly from the pipes, and it carries the floor covering without cracking. Both depend on cover, the depth of screed above the top of the pipes.
With liquid screed the minimum cover is 25mm, which usually makes a total depth of 45 to 50mm. Sand and cement, laid by hand, wants about 45mm over the pipe tops. Because it runs in under and around every pipe, a liquid mix leaves no pockets of air, so warmth reaches the room sooner. It is the usual choice over heating on Nuneaton's newer estates.
In an extension the depth is not chosen in isolation. The finished floor has to line up with the house, so insulation thickness, pipe clips, screed and floor covering all have to fit the same height. Detached houses make up 27% of the town's homes, and a large open-plan extension on one of those can run to a wide floor area, which suits a pumped liquid screed over Nuneaton heating.
Newer homes are also a growing share: 14% of the stock has been built since 2015. A floor laid by a developer will have a known build-up, so ask for the drawings before planning an extension next to it. Depths for every type of screed are listed in our guide to screed thickness. On pour day we need the loops clipped down and pressure tested, with the membrane and perimeter strip already fitted.
Switching the heating on in a Nuneaton home
Most heated floors that fail do so at the first warm-up. Running a new screed straight to full temperature pulls the water out too fast, and the result can be cracks, or tiles that let go months later.
With calcium sulphate, heating can usually start around 7 days after pouring. Sand and cement is the slower case, with no heat at all until day 21. Either way, the flow temperature begins low, climbs a little at a time over several days, holds, and then comes back down. That plan goes to you on paper, so the heating engineer and the household are working from one schedule.
A calcium sulphate floor also has a surface laitance that must be sanded away before adhesive or tiles go on, and our guide to anhydrite screed explains the reason.
Putting heating into an older Nuneaton house is harder, because there is rarely spare height to play with. Taking out an old solid floor makes space for insulation, pipes and screed, and the layers below the screed are covered by our insulation and membrane work. Fitting the pipes themselves is not something we do.
Underfloor Heating Screed prices in Nuneaton
Liquid screed over underfloor heating: £20 to £35 per m² supplied and laid (trade2base, June 2026), so £700 to £1,230 for 35 m². trade2base gives these figures excluding VAT. See our floor screeding cost guide or screed calculator.
Who lays your underfloor heating screed in Nuneaton
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.
Underfloor Heating Screed from Slough to Nuneaton
Nuneaton is about 76.9 miles north-north-west of our Slough base as the crow flies, with postcodes including CV11 and CV10. The nearest towns to it are Bedworth (3 miles), Hinckley (4.2 miles), Earl Shilton (7.4 miles) and Coventry (8.1 miles).
More on underfloor heating screed, part of our screeding services.
