Office refurbishments in Reigate: levelling before new finishes
When an office is stripped back to the slab, the floor that emerges is rarely ready for a new finish. Old adhesive, patched screed, cable trenches and years of wear leave dips and ridges that show straight through thin flooring.
Flatness is judged against BS 8204, using a 2m straightedge. SR1 permits a gap of no more than 3mm, SR2 permits 5mm and SR3 permits 10mm. SR1 is the class many thin sheet finishes call for, and large format tiles need a similar standard, so a floor that carried carpet happily can fail the new specification.
Levelling compound closes that gap. Most of it goes down at 2mm to 10mm or so, and some products are made for more. The base is cleaned first and primed to suit what it is, whether concrete, sand and cement, calcium sulphate or residue from old flooring. Compound that lifts has often been laid over the wrong primer.
Where a raised access floor is being installed, the slab beneath still needs to be sound, clean and within the system's tolerance, and preparation comes first. If an office slab is badly worn, grinding the concrete comes before any compound. On a large floor, the work can be phased zone by zone, and fast drying compounds keep the fit-out moving, so the flooring contractor can usually follow within a day or so rather than waiting weeks as they would after a full new screed. Each zone must be empty and closed while it cures.
Evening out Woodhatch knock-throughs before new flooring
Knocking through at the back of a 1930s or 1950s house creates one large room from spaces that were floored at different times. The extension floor is new and flat; the old kitchen and dining room floors may have settled or were never quite level. Where they meet, a ridge or step appears, and LVT or engineered wood will show it.
A thin pour of compound blends the old and new floors and fills the shallow hollows, letting the new LVT or wood run straight across where the rear wall used to stand. It is a finishing layer, though, not a structural one. Pile it on thick to save a floor that is past saving and it will crack or come unstuck. So if the old kitchen floor rings hollow, is breaking up or is further out than compound can cope with, replace it with a new hand-laid screed in Reigate. Where the base is solid and only a thin build-up will fit, latex screed is worth considering.
The programme is short. A levelled floor is normally ready for the flooring fitter far sooner than a new screed would be.
How we price floor levelling in Reigate
A fixed written price within 24 hours, once we know the area and the base. See our floor screeding cost guide.
Who levels your floor in Reigate
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.
Floor Levelling from Slough to Reigate
As the crow flies, our yard in Slough is about 27.8 miles from Reigate, which lies to the south-east. Postcodes here include RH2, KT20 and RH1, and Redhill (1.5 miles), Horley (4.9 miles), Dorking (5.4 miles) and Caterham (6.3 miles) are close by.
More on floor levelling, part of our screeding services. Not sure whether you need a thin compound or a full flowing screed? See self levelling screed explained.
