Awkward subfloors in older Tonbridge kitchens and bathrooms
Latex screed is not a screed in the usual sense. It arrives as two parts: a cement based powder and a container of latex liquid, which is stirred in where water would normally go. The latex helps the mix grip and gives it a little flexibility, so it can be spread thin, typically a few millimetres, over surfaces that a plain cement topping would not stick to.
That is why it suits refits. Lift the old lino in a kitchen of an older house and you may find a patchwork: quarry tiles by the back door, a concrete patch where a wall once stood, and old adhesive across the rest. If the tiles are firmly bonded and the adhesive is sound and thin, latex can usually go over the lot once each part has its own primer.
Timber floors are the other common case. Bare floorboards move, and latex spread straight onto them will crack. The route is to fix the boards down, screw flooring grade plywood over them, then lay the latex on the ply. An upstairs bathroom getting sheet vinyl is the classic example.
The finishes that depend on it are the thin, soft ones: sheet vinyl, LVT, lino, rubber, slip-resistant safety flooring in a utility or cloakroom, and even carpet, where lumps underneath slowly wear through the pile. Anything only a few millimetres thick takes on the shape of whatever lies under it, so the latex surface becomes the face of the finished floor.
When latex is the wrong fix in Tonbridge
Latex smooths a floor. It does not repair one, and three problems send the job elsewhere.
Springy boards come first. If a floor bounces underfoot, a thin layer on top will crack along the joints within weeks. The boards need screwing down, packing or replacing, and the plywood fixing properly, before any compound goes on.
Damp is the second. The Victorian railway terraces south of the River Medway, around Douglas Road and Barden Park, usually have solid floors with no damp proof membrane, and latex laid over a wet slab simply lets go. We test before agreeing to a thin finish, and where moisture is rising the answer is to break out and relay the floor in sand and cement over a membrane.
The third is a floor that is badly out of level. Latex is measured in millimetres; a slope or hollow measured in centimetres needs a new screed or, where the floor is sound and only moderately out, the deeper compounds described on our Tonbridge floor levelling page.
Calcium sulphate screeds also need care before latex touches them. Their soft laitance must be sanded off and the surface primed with a compatible product, or the bond fails at that weak top layer.
How we price latex screed in Tonbridge
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 Tonbridge
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 Tonbridge
As the crow flies, our yard in Slough is about 46.1 miles from Tonbridge, which lies to the east-south-east. Postcodes here include TN9 and TN10, and Royal Tunbridge Wells (4.1 miles), Sevenoaks (6.4 miles), Crowborough (10.3 miles) and Snodland (12 miles) are close by.
More on latex screed, part of our screeding services.
