Floor Screeding in Ipswich: Levelling, Preparation and Repairs

Why preparation affects the finished floor

A new floor copies whatever is beneath it. Thin floors such as sheet vinyl and glue-down LVT show every ridge. Click floors flex over hollows until the joints break. Wood reacts to moisture in the base. Adhesives fail on dusty, damp or contaminated surfaces. Manufacturers’ guarantees assume the subfloor was prepared to their instructions. Preparation is the part of the job you never see, and the part that decides how long the floor lasts.

Removing existing flooring

We uplift and dispose of carpet, underlay and gripper, laminate, vinyl, LVT, carpet tiles, and ceramic tiles where practical. Removal is normally part of a new flooring job and can also be booked alone, for example ahead of another trade.

Adhesive and residue removal

Old adhesive, bitumen and paint stop new adhesives and smoothing compounds from bonding. Residues are scraped or ground back to a sound surface, or sealed with a suitable primer where removal is not practical.

A caution on older floors

Thermoplastic tiles, some sheet vinyl backings and black bitumen adhesives fitted before 2000 can contain asbestos. If we suspect it, work stops until a sample is tested. Often these floors can be safely left in place and covered. We do not remove asbestos-containing materials.

Levelling with smoothing compound

Uneven concrete and screed are corrected with a smoothing compound, often called self-levelling compound or latex. The floor is cleaned and primed, then the compound is poured and trowelled to fill hollows and leave a smooth surface. It is a few millimetres thick in most rooms, with deeper fills where needed. It must cure before flooring goes down, from a few hours to a day or more depending on product and depth.

Smoothing compound makes a floor smooth and flat. It does not correct a floor that slopes significantly from one side to the other. That is a larger job, discussed after a survey.

Floor screeding

Screed is the sand-and-cement or liquid layer laid over a concrete slab or insulation to form the floor base, common in extensions, renovations and over underfloor heating pipes.

New screed holds a lot of water. A traditional sand-and-cement screed dries at roughly a millimetre a day in good conditions, and slower beyond 40 mm depth. Floors fitted too early fail. We test moisture before fitting, and can apply a surface damp-proof membrane where the programme cannot wait and the product allows it.

Moisture testing and damp-proof membranes

Every concrete or screed subfloor is tested before a moisture-sensitive floor goes down. Ground floors in older Suffolk houses often have no damp-proof membrane at all. Where readings are high, a liquid surface membrane is applied before the smoothing compound. Severe or rising damp needs its cause fixed first, and we will tell you if that is the case.

Preparing timber subfloors

• Floorboards: loose boards are screwed down, damaged boards replaced and protruding fixings removed.
• Plywood overlay: flooring-grade plywood, fixed at close centres, gives a smooth, stable base for LVT, vinyl and glued wood.
• Chipboard: squeaks are fixed, swollen or water-damaged panels are cut out and replaced, and joints are sanded flush.
• Ventilation: suspended timber floors need airflow beneath. We never seal them in a way that traps moisture.

Floor repairs

We repair floors as well as replace them: damaged or squeaking floorboards, failed chipboard panels, cracked or hollow patches of screed, lifting LVT planks, damaged laminate boards, split vinyl seams, loose thresholds and carpet that needs re-stretching. Whether a repair is sensible depends on matching the existing floor. If it will show, we say so before starting.

What each floor needs underneath

Subfloor questions