Latex for kitchen and bathroom refits in Southampton
Latex screed is a cement based powder mixed with a latex liquid in place of water. The latex gives the cured layer some flexibility and a strong bond, which is why it is the usual choice over bases that a plain compound might let go of. It is laid thin, normally a few millimetres, so door heights stay as they are and skirtings do not have to move.
Kitchens and bathrooms are where it earns its keep in older housing, because those rooms take thin, water resistant finishes such as sheet vinyl and LVT. Lift an old covering in a house built before the First World War and the base could be almost anything: boards, a sheet of hardboard, quarry tiles, or a concrete patch where a range once stood. Each needs its own preparation.
Boards are never latexed directly. They are fixed down, then overboarded with flooring grade plywood screwed at close centres, and the latex goes over the plywood. Quarry and ceramic tiles can stay if they are firmly bonded; we test for hollow ones, clean and key the surface and prime it. Old adhesive can stay too, provided it is thin, hard and sound and the right primer goes over it. Thick or soft glue comes off first, using our concrete floor grinding service in Southampton.
Converted flats, 6% of Southampton's homes, need particular care, because a floor carved out of a larger house may have been altered many times and often sits over another flat. A thin latex layer adds very little weight, which suits upper floors, but the base still has to be solid before we start.
Portswood and Highfield lets: when latex is not enough
Student lets around Portswood and Highfield are refitted in the short gap between one tenancy and the next, and a thin latex layer can look like the easy answer because it adds so little depth. Speed only helps if the base is right, though, and three faults rule latex out.
Damp is the first. Latex does not stop moisture rising through a ground floor; it simply traps it under the new vinyl until the adhesive gives up. We check a ground floor for damp before quoting.
Movement is the second. If boards bounce when you walk across them, overboarding and latex will crack along the joints within weeks. The fix is at the joists. In a suspended timber ground floor, such as those found in the older terraces of Shirley, Freemantle and Bevois Valley, replacing the timber with a solid screeded floor can be the sounder route, as our Southampton sand and cement screed page explains.
Level is the third. Latex smooths texture; it will not lift a corner that has sagged well below the rest of the room. A floor that far out needs screed repairs or a new screed, with latex used, if at all, as the final skim. On a calcium sulphate screed in a newer block, the laitance has to be sanded off and the surface primed before any latex goes on. Flatness classes and general compound work are covered under levelling in Southampton.
How we price latex screed in Southampton
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 Southampton
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 Southampton
Southampton is about 54.4 miles south-west of our Slough base as the crow flies, with postcodes including SO14, SO16, SO15 and SO17. The nearest towns to it are Totton (3.8 miles), Hedge End (4.4 miles), Eastleigh (5 miles) and Romsey (7.2 miles).
More on latex screed, part of our screeding services.