Keep or lift? Southwick quarry tiles and boards
Older Southwick houses can still have quarry tile floors, and taking them out is a familiar part of a refit in the town. Whether they can stay depends on two things: how well they are stuck, and what lies under them. Tiles that sound hollow when tapped, or a base that shows damp, mean the floor comes out and is rebuilt. Where the tiles are firm and the floor is dry, keeping them and laying latex over the top avoids breaking out and saves height at the doors.
Getting latex to hold on old tiles takes preparation. Polish, grease and old sealers are cleaned off, loose tiles lifted and the holes filled, and a primer suited to a dense, glazed or non-porous surface goes on. The latex then fills the grout lines and gives a smooth, continuous face for sheet vinyl or LVT.
Boarded floors are handled differently. Latex is never laid straight on floorboards, because they flex and the compound would crack. Instead, flooring grade plywood is screwed down across the boards to make a stiff deck, and the latex smooths over the plywood joints and fixings. Any board that springs is secured before the plywood goes down.
Why latex rather than a standard water mixed product? Grip, and a little flexibility, on these mixed surfaces. For a plain concrete slab that is simply uneven, floor levelling in Southwick explains the compound route.
Damp floors between Brighton Road and Old Shoreham Road
Terraced houses are 18% of Southwick homes. In the older terraces lying between Brighton Road and Old Shoreham Road, the floor may have been laid with hardly any damp protection beneath it. That affects latex more than people expect. The compound is thin and bonded tight to the base, so moisture coming up through an old slab has nowhere to go except into the latex and the vinyl adhesive. Sheet floors then blister or lift.
So a moisture test comes before any price for latex in these houses. If the reading is high, the right job is a membrane and usually a rebuilt floor, which our insulation and membrane work covers, rather than a skim that hides the problem for a season.
Level is the other test. Latex smooths; it does not lift a sagging corner or fill a deep dip. Where a floor drops noticeably across a room, the low area is built up first, or the floor is rescreeded.
Converted flats are 4% of homes here, and their floors may mix materials where kitchens or walls have moved over the years. High spots of old screed or hard adhesive may need grinding back before the latex. For the same service a short way west, see latex screed in Shoreham-by-Sea.
How we price latex screed in Southwick
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 Southwick
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 Southwick
On the map, Southwick sits south-south-east of Slough, about 51.4 miles from our base in a straight line (postcodes including BN42), next to Shoreham-by-Sea (1.5 miles), Brighton and Hove (4.2 miles), Worthing (6 miles) and Burgess Hill (9.6 miles).
More on latex screed, part of our screeding services.
