A stupid question?

[Monika]

The last job on the workschedule given to us by our Project Manager is the screeding of floors (after the plasterboarding!!). The screed will go on a new insulated concrete floor (750 Euros for 25 m2).  Is this absolutely necessary? I would be happier to have a wooden "floating" floor similar to decking but with no gaps, so pipes and cables could be buried under that and we would already have a floor ready to be varnished or painted.  Before I make a real fool of myself and ask, could this be done, or is this a stupid idea?

[sid]

I think a screeded layer is to allow you to lay tiles which is the norm as far as we have found out via this forum. It will only be a couple of centimetres thick. If you want a timber floor on joists you'll need more depth and it's probably too late now. Have a look at the positions of the door sills and also the headroom in the rooms.

 

[Poppy]

750 euros sounds very cheap for an insulated concrete floor have you any further info re how it is constructed?

Screeds can vary a lot in thickness and there maybe a height allowance to bury pipes or they may already be buried in the concrete floor. Don't think its stupid to check what has been done so far.

Did you specify your finished floor material?

Jan.

[tj]

The screed will go on a new insulated concrete floor (750 Euros for 25 m2).

Is this absolutely necessary? I would be happier to have a wooden "floating" floor similar to decking but with no gaps,

so pipes and cables could be buried under that and we would already have a floor ready to be varnished or painted.

You have not made it quite clear as to the stage you are at, or infact if work has actually started?

For a tiled floor the screed is unneccessary, unless the sub floor ( concrete ) is so badly laid it needs to be leveled.

Provision for electrics and pipes should be made prior to laying a solid floor.

good luck

Tim, Saintes

[Pumpkin]

We have just laid an insulated concrete floor similar to yourselves. It was 10cm of reinforced concrete on top of 6cm of insulation. In some areas we are having tiles and so still need to lay a screed of 5cm. We could have finished the original concrete off to a better smoother finish by floating it thus avoiding having to screed it. I think most people screed on top as it is easier once you have something down to achieve a better finish. Where we are having wooden floors we have allowed about 7.5cm for the batons to lay the wooden floor on. ( so in this area we will not screed) The importance of this is that you need to allow air underneath the wooden floor so it does not rot. You need air to flow underneath that comes in via a vent to outside. Hope this helps a little. I agree that your pipes could have gone in the original floor but will now have to go in the screed or under the floorboards. The whole process boggles the brain and hindsight is a wonderful thing. I would have thought though that a professional could have offered you these options and perhaps saved you some money! which is always nice!

[Monika]

Thank you to all of you for your very helpful advice.

Just to clarify a few points: It is just the screeding which costs 750 Euros per 25 m2 the concrete floor cost much more (I think about 2500 Euros) so I just feel if it is not absolutely needed then this money could go towards a wood or possibly tile floor. The space up to the French door jamb (is that what the thing is called were you step on?) is about 3 inches. Could the cables go behind the plasterboard? And the pipes "cased"? (It is actually going to be a bedroom, a bathroom and a separate WC)

[Pumpkin]

The pipes and cables could go behind the plasterboard. The distance you have left from the concrete to the finished floor height if 3" would be just sufficient to put cross batons on and then lay a wooden floor on top. I cannot stress enough though you must have an air flow underneath the wooden floor. To lay tiles now you would need to put the screed down as there has obviously been left the height for the screed to go down.

[Monika]

Thanks a lot to all and Pumpkin. I now feel more confident when I discuss it with Project Manager.