Choosing a screed for Rochester's mix of homes
Start with the age of the building, because that tells you what is under the floor.
A Rochester house from before 1919 may well have a ground floor that was put down with no damp proof membrane under it. On those, preparation and a membrane come before anything else, and the new floor is usually a traditional sand and cement screed laid in layers over insulation. It suits small rooms, tight stairs and the odd angles of an old house.
Post-war houses form the biggest group in the town. In these, floor work usually comes with change: a rear extension, a kitchen opened into a dining room, a garage turned into a bedroom. Big open rooms like those suit a pumped liquid screed, which flows level across the whole floor and can be walked on within 24 to 48 hours.
Then there is new building. Rochester Riverside, the brownfield strip running from Rochester Bridge to Doust Way, is being built out with around 1,400 homes, a primary school, Station Square and Cory's Wharf. The houses and apartments going up along that brownfield strip are specified with liquid screed laid over heating pipes, plus acoustic floors separating one flat from the next. How deep the pipes sit and how the system is first warmed are covered under screeding over heating in Rochester, while the CA grades a developer might write into the drawings are explained under anhydrite and calcium sulphate flow screed.
Some Rochester floors are solid underneath and merely wavy on top, and those can often be put right with a thin pour of compound before the new flooring, for a fraction of what a replacement would cost.
Homes in Rochester at a glance
Of the 26,761 households in Rochester, 36% live in terraced houses and 33% in semi-detached houses. By age, 34% of properties date from 1945 and 1972, the biggest single group, with 19% built before 1919.
| Homes in Rochester | Share |
|---|---|
| Detached houses | 12% |
| Semi-detached houses | 33% |
| Terraced houses | 36% |
| Flats | 18% |
| Built before 1919 | 19% |
| Built 1919 to 1944 | 18% |
| Built 1945 to 1972 | 34% |
| Built 1973 to 1999 | 13% |
| Built since 2000 | 15% |
House types from Census 2021 (table TS044); building age from the Valuation Office Agency council tax stock of properties, 31 March 2026 (table CTSOP 4.1). Figures cover the Rochester built-up area (E63005132).
Screeding services in Rochester
- Liquid ScreedPumped liquid screed for Rochester Riverside apartments, Strood extensions and open-plan floors, walkable in 24 to 48 hours.
- Sand and Cement ScreedOlder Rochester houses can have ground floors with no damp proof membrane. We rebuild them in hand-laid sand and cement screed.
- Underfloor Heating ScreedUnderfloor heating screed for Rochester Riverside homes, Wainscott extensions and garden rooms, with the right pipe cover and heat-up plan.
- Anhydrite & Flow ScreedAnhydrite screed in CA-C25-F5 and other grades for Rochester apartments and new-build plots, laitance sanded and moisture checked.
- Floor LevellingFloor levelling to SR1 or SR2 for office, trade unit and shop refits on Medway City Estate and uneven Rochester homes, ready for LVT.
- Latex ScreedRochester terrace kitchen refits: thin latex screed over plywood, stuck-fast tiles or patched concrete, ready for vinyl and lino.
- Concrete Floor GrindingConcrete floor grinding for Medway City Estate unit refits and Rochester garages, paint, glue and high spots removed under extraction.
We also offer fibre reinforced screed, quick drying screed, high strength screed, bonded screed, floor preparation, screed repairs, concrete floor repair, screed pumping, insulation & membranes, commercial screeding and residential screeding in Rochester.
Pour dates, access and Rochester's commercial floors
Census 2021 counted 67,279 people in the Rochester built-up area, and on any of its residential streets the mixer truck needs a sensible place to park. Before pricing, we ask where the pump can stand, how far the hose must run and whether there are permit bays, a shared drive or stairs to climb. With that settled, the day itself goes to plan.
Getting the date right is the other half. We pour into a room sealed from the rain, its glazing and doors in and the wet plastering finished, with any heating pipes already down and pressure tested. After the pour, allow for drying before any finish goes down, and book the fitters after that point, not before.
Commercial floors are a separate scale of job. Medway City Estate, on the Frindsbury Peninsula in Strood, covers about 106 hectares with around two million sq ft of space and some 600 businesses, including Lakeside Park and Neptune Business Park. Warehouses, trade units and offices there, along with the non-residential space at Rochester Riverside, need durable screeds, floor preparation and repairs. Floors on that scale are handled through our screeding for commercial buildings.
Screeding prices for Rochester floors
Sand and cement £18 to £25 per m², liquid £24 to £31 per m², supplied and laid (MyJobQuote, August 2026). MyJobQuote does not say whether these figures include VAT. See our floor screeding cost guide.
Who lays your floor screed in Rochester
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.
Reaching Rochester
As the crow flies, our yard in Slough is about 50.6 miles from Rochester, which lies to the east. Postcodes here include ME1, ME2 and ME3, and Chatham (1 miles), Gillingham (3.5 miles), Snodland (4.9 miles) and Gravesend (6.9 miles) are close by. Neighbourhoods we cover in Rochester include Borstal, Frindsbury, Strood, Troy Town and Wainscott.
See our screeding services for every screed type we lay.
