Latex over existing floors in Wantage homes
Flooring fitters use the name latex screed for a levelling compound supplied in two parts. One is a cement based powder; the other is a latex liquid that takes the place of water. Mixed together they give a smooth coat with a little flexibility, laid a few millimetres thick, that bonds well to surfaces an ordinary compound finds hard work.
A refit in an older Wantage house can turn up several of those surfaces on one ground floor. The kitchen may carry ceramic tiles from an earlier makeover, the hall a concrete floor worn uneven, and the bathroom timber boards. Each can take latex with the right preparation.
Quarry or ceramic tiles that are still stuck fast can stay put. They are cleaned of grease and sealer, primed, then coated. Bare concrete is swept, cleaned back and primed. Old adhesive may stay if it is thin and holding fast, but soft or lumpy residue comes off.
Floorboards are where people get caught out. Latex is never spread on bare boards, because they flex and the coat breaks up. The boards are screwed down, any damaged lengths replaced, and the floor overboarded with flooring grade plywood. The latex goes over that.
Purpose-built flats make up 16% of Wantage homes. A flat's kitchen or bathroom being redone for vinyl or safety flooring usually sits on a solid base, sometimes with layers of old covering stuck to it, and once those are dealt with and the base primed, that is the kind of floor latex is made for.
Damp, bounce and big dips in Wantage floors
Three things stop a latex job before the mixer comes out.
The first is moisture. Latex does not cure damp, and a coat laid over a wet slab can lose its bond and lift the new covering with it. We take a reading before work starts. If the floor is wet, the cause is found and fixed before any coating is planned.
The second is movement. A timber floor that springs when you walk on it will crack the latex above it. Secure joists and boards, then overboard; adding more compound does nothing for a bouncy floor.
The third is how far the floor is out. Latex smooths a surface but will not correct a room that falls away noticeably from one side to the other. That floor needs levelling to a proper flatness in Wantage or a new screed. If local ridges and lips are the problem, diamond grinding of the slab takes them down first.
New homes need care of another kind. Many of the newer homes are at Grove, and where a recent floor was poured in calcium sulphate, its laitance has to be sanded away and a primer made for that material applied before latex goes on. Damaged patches are cut out and made good through our screed repairs service. The same latex work is offered as latex screed in Didcot.
How we price latex screed in Wantage
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 Wantage
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 Wantage
Wantage is about 33.9 miles west of our Slough base as the crow flies, with postcodes including OX12. The nearest towns to it are Didcot (8 miles), Abingdon-on-Thames (8.4 miles), Oxford (13.4 miles) and Newbury (13.7 miles).
More on latex screed, part of our screeding services.
