When you are engaged in any sort of construction job, one of the (many) important things to consider is that you want the floors to be as flat and level as possible. This applies no matter what the building is or what it is going to be used for, and it also applies to outside areas such as playgrounds and car parks.
Of course, the final flooring in any building which is what people walk on can be of a variety of different materials. You might use tile or stone, and these are particularly good when used in conjunction with underfloor heating. You might have a wooden floor, or it could be of laminate or vinyl, carpet, or even decorative concrete. If it is a multi-storey car park, or a warehouse which may have forklift trucks running on it, then it will be of plain concrete, although it can be coloured if you wish. Whatever it is, you want it to be as level as it can be, and in the case of most buildings that is achieved by adding a layer of screed on top of the substrate.
There is a way of measuring how level and flat a floor is, and it is referred to as surface regularity. According to the British Standards Code of Practice, the surface regularity of screeds for normal accuracy floors is measured based on the deviation from a straightedge laid flat on the surface. The surface may look flat, but when you lay a straightedge on it there may very well be points at which it is not in touch with the floor surface.
These can be measured by the use of a slip gauge between the points at which it is in touch with the surface, and these are divided into three classifications. SR1 is high standard, SR2 is normal standard, and SR3 is utility standard. The measurement criteria are as follows:
Maximum gap measured with a slip gauge
SR1 3mm
SR2 5mm
SR3 10mm
If you use a conventional screed such as sand and cement, then the surface will not usually be better than SR3. This is because the screed is mixed and barrowed into position and then levelled out by a worker using a hand trowel.
However, at UK Screeds we provide a liquid anhydrite screed which is poured into position and is virtually self-levelling for the simple reason that it is a liquid. We use levelling gauges called tripods and set them to the correct depth of screed using a laser. In fact, all we then need to do once the screed has been poured is to remove the tripods and run over the screed with a dappling bar just to remove any air bubbles, after which it can be left to cure.
Never Less Than SR2
We always aim to achieve SR1, but the level will never be less than SR2 with our liquid screeds. There are many other advantages of liquid screeds, not the least of which is the speed at which we can lay them. Instead of barrowing a sand and cement mix on to the floor and levelling by hand, we deliver the screed ready mixed to site and then pour it into position with a pump and long hose. This is far faster than doing it by hand. Furthermore, our screeds will be dry enough to walk on within 48 hours or less.
Of course, if you are laying a warehouse floor or something such as a car park, then this will be a concrete surface, and in order to achieve a flat surface you can use our power screed services in London.
In the past, levelling something such as the concrete on a car park or playground involved the use of a standard wooden screed which can be very tiring for the workers and can lead to back injuries. Rather than using multiple workers to push a regular screed along freshly poured concrete, power screeds allow the job to get done with only one person.
A vibratory power screed is highly efficient for levelling off a concrete surface and is obviously more professional than dragging a wooden slab across wet concrete. It is also far faster. In fact, using our power screeds will get the job finished in as little as a quarter of the time spent doing it manually.
