When using a floor screed in Bracknell for your construction project, quite obviously you want the surface on which to lay your final chosen flooring to be as flat and level as possible. That is the main point of using a screed in the first place.
But did you know that some screeds cannot achieve the same level and flatness as others? In fact, the British Standards Code of Practice has recommendations for the measurement of Surface Regularity of screeds for flooring.
Measuring the flatness of the surface of a screed is carried out using a two-metre straightedge and a slip gauge to measure any gaps underneath it. The results are defined as SR1 (Surface Regularity 1), SR2, and SR3. In order to achieve SR1, the maximum gap at any point along the two metres must be no more than 3mm and is known as High Standard. SR2 (Normal Standard) allows for a maximum of 5mm, while SR3 (Utility Standard) allows for 10mm.
If you choose to use a traditional screed made of a mix of sand and cement, it is often mixed on site in a cement mixer, barrowed on to the concrete substrate, and then levelled out by a worker on hands and knees using a trowel. This has certain disadvantages because each mixer full of screed will vary somewhat, so there is no consistency. Of course, one can overcome this issue by using ready mixed screed delivered to site but laying the screed by hand is still tiring and takes a considerable amount of time. The result is that it is very unlikely that a sand and cement screed would achieve anything better than SR3.
Considerably Better Results
On the other hand, if you choose to use a liquid screed, you are going to get much better results in terms of flatness. At UK Screeds, we deliver the screed to site ready mixed and then pump it on to the substrate using a long hose. Because the screed is in liquid form, it is self-levelling in the same way that the glass of Merlot that you have with your dinner is. All that we need to do is to run over the screed with a dappling bar to remove any air bubbles and then leave it to dry. Our screeds will always achieve SR2, and in most cases SR1.
There are several other benefits to using a liquid screed instead of sand and cement. One of them is the speed of laying. When you lay a screed with a trowel, a worker is going to be hard pushed to do more than 100 square metres in a day. Our teams can often achieve 2,000 square metres in a day! The drying time is very quick as well, our screeds capable of being walked on within 24 -48 hours.
This is important, because on any contract delays can result in penalties, and also hold up other tradesmen who need to work on the site. With a liquid screed, the amount of time taken to dry is not going to cause problems or hold-ups.
