What lies under a Royston refit floor
Houses built in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s are now reaching their second or third kitchen and bathroom, and every refit leaves something behind on the floor. Under the old vinyl there may be ceramic tiles, a smear of bitumen adhesive, a plywood layer upstairs, or a concrete floor with a chase cut for new pipework. Latex can cover most of these, provided each one is sound.
Ceramic and quarry tiles have to be firmly bonded. Any that sound hollow when tapped are lifted and the holes filled before priming. Old adhesive can stay only if it is thin, hard and well stuck; anything soft or crumbly is removed first. On upper floors, timber is made firm and then overboarded with flooring grade plywood, because latex spread on bare boards cracks along the joints as they move.
Council tax bands A to C cover 55% of Royston homes. Whatever the size or value of the house, sheet vinyl and LVT copy whatever sits under them, so a grout line or a board edge shows up as a ridge within weeks. A few millimetres of latex hides those.
Priming comes before any compound, and the product changes with the base: plywood, tiles and concrete each take their own. A newer Royston floor poured in calcium sulphate must have its laitance taken off and be primed before latex goes near it. Our floor levelling page for Royston covers flatness classes and deeper compound, which is a different job from this thin smoothing coat.
Royston floors where latex is the wrong answer
A latex coat is thin and slightly flexible, and that is all it is. It will not cure a floor with a deeper fault.
Springy timber is the first trap. If the boards in an upstairs bathroom deflect as you walk, the plywood and latex above them will follow, and vinyl seams or tiles will crack or open. The joists and boards are put right first.
Moisture comes next. Latex does not hold back damp, so a floor that fails a moisture test needs a membrane or a rebuild before any compound.
Then there is level. Over a slab that has dropped at one side, or an extension floor sitting well below the house, a few millimetres of latex cannot bridge the gap. A screed repair for damaged floors or a full new screed comes first, and only then the smoothing coat.
We check all three before quoting: a walk over the boards, a moisture reading and a straightedge across the room. If the surface carries paint or stubborn glue, we take it back to sound concrete by grinding the Royston floor before any primer. Baldock, roughly 8.3 miles off, has its own page on Baldock latex screed.
How we price latex screed in Royston
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 Royston
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 Royston
On the map, Royston sits north-east of Slough, about 44.6 miles from our base in a straight line (postcodes including SG8), next to Baldock (8.3 miles), Stotfold (9.3 miles), Letchworth (10.2 miles) and Biggleswade (10.7 miles).
More on latex screed, part of our screeding services.
