Thin toppings for Royal Tunbridge Wells period rooms
The trade calls it latex screed, but it is really a levelling compound in two parts. One is a cement based powder; the other is a latex liquid that is used in its place where water would normally go. The result is a thin layer with some give in it and a strong grip on surfaces like glazed tile or plywood, where ordinary compound can struggle.
Its value in older houses is how little height it uses. Typically it is laid a few millimetres thick. Where an original door has to keep swinging, a stair nosing sets the landing level or a hearth sits flush with the floor, a few millimetres may be all there is. A full screed would not fit, but latex can still give a smooth base.
In conversions and flats, the floors are often a mix of materials put down at different times. One room may have old tiles, another timber, another concrete with patched service runs. As long as each part is firm, latex can bring them to one even face. Timber is never covered directly: the boards are secured and overboarded with flooring grade plywood first.
The finishes that need this are the thin ones. Sheet vinyl, LVT, lino, rubber and safety flooring in a kitchen or utility room show every edge and hollow beneath them. If there are coatings or residues to remove first, our concrete floor grinding page for Royal Tunbridge Wells explains how that is done.
Testing the base in Royal Tunbridge Wells homes
Whether the floor is in Nevill Park, Lower Green, Broadwater Down, Sandown Park or Denny Bottom, a latex topping only works over a base that is dry, firm and close to level. We check each of those before mixing anything.
Dryness first. Pre-1919 ground floors in the town may have no damp proof membrane, and latex will not stop moisture rising through them. A thin finish laid over a damp floor lifts or blisters. Where that is the case, the honest answer is to rebuild with a membrane, set out under relaying an older floor in sand and cement.
Firmness next. Boards that spring underfoot crack the topping along every joint, so they are screwed down and overboarded first. Tiles are tapped, and any that sound hollow come up.
Then level. Latex hides roughness, not a fall across a room. If a floor is well out, it needs a levelling pour or a new screed, and the Royal Tunbridge Wells floor levelling page covers how that is judged.
Each surface takes its own primer, and calcium sulphate screed must have its laitance sanded off and be primed before latex goes on. Homes built from 1945 to 1972 make up 22% of the town, and a kitchen in a house of that age may have been refitted more than once, leaving layers of old adhesive to assess. We also lay latex screed in Tonbridge.
How we price latex screed in Royal Tunbridge Wells
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 Royal Tunbridge Wells
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 Royal Tunbridge Wells
As the crow flies, our yard in Slough is about 48 miles from Royal Tunbridge Wells, which lies to the east-south-east. Postcodes here include TN1, TN2 and TN4, and Tonbridge (4.1 miles), Crowborough (6.7 miles), Sevenoaks (10 miles) and East Grinstead (11.8 miles) are close by.
More on latex screed, part of our screeding services.
