Do I Need To Screed A Concrete Floor

This provides a strong smooth surface to install flooring over.

Do i need to screed a concrete floor. New concrete floors or screeded floors are a different matter. Another common use is to cover underfloor heating pipes. Additionally screed is also used to colour flooring. Once the concrete or screed has been down for a while and you are satisfied that it is fully dry the surface will be dusty from the effluence left on it after the concrete cured or there will be general building dust from builders and plasterers walking all over the floors as they carry out other building work.

Screed flooring is typically used to top the concrete slabs so that carpet tiles wood flooring or resin top coatings can be applied. Check out my page about vibrating concrete screeds for more information. However there is an easier way and this is where the word screed comes from. Yet in general the main reasons why you would want to lay screed on a concrete base is for aesthetical improvement and its durability as it protects the concrete from strong impacts.

It is the first step in the concrete finishing process. Screed us commonly applied on top of concrete slabs adding a finishing later to commercial and residential flooring. Laying a level floor screed over a large area is difficult and to do so by eye requires years of experience. Applying leveling screed to a concrete base is a popular building practice in the uk.

A self levelling screeding compound contain latex because they are laid in a very thin layer helping give concrete floors the flexibility they need to move without cracking. Although the vibra screed is quite easy to operate you need at least 1 preferably 2 good rakers behind you pulling and pushing the concrete in order to get a really flat floor. Screed is usually applied on top of the concrete slab and is most commonly used as a finishing layer on internal floors or to level the floor prior to final floor coverings carpet tiles natural stone linoleum wood flooring resin coatings etc. Screeding is the art of skimming freshly poured concrete floors and other surfaces.

Once self levelling compounds are mixed and poured they will flatten across the uneven floor and use gravity to self level. 1 tonne of flooring grit or sharp sand mixed at 4 sand to 1 cement will cover approximately 15 square metres of floor when laid at 40mm thick. A good screeding job should leave a surface uniformly flat between two guides without any low spots or holes.