What Are Levelling Screeds

Levelling Screeds are used to form a flat and level surface, with adequate strength and resistance to indentation, on which other flooring is laid.

Levelling screeds can provide sufficient depth to incorporate ducts to contain services such as eletrical power and telephone cables. Increasingly levelling screeds are being installed on Underfloor Heating Systems as they provide a thermal mass for the heating to dissipate into giving a consistent temperature across an area with a gradual rise and fall over time.

The thickness of the screed also allows it to take up normal variations in flatness and levelness of the base on which it is laid. The common types of flooring laid over levelling screeds include carpet and carpet tiles, linoleum, vinyl flooring and tiles, wooden blocks, and ceramic and terrazo tiles.

Levelling screeds are not intended to act as a wearing surface and should always be covered with a final floor finish.

The type of floor screeding construction should be selected depending on the type of base slab, the need to incorporate acoustic or thermal insulation and the final floor finish. These types of build up are defined as ‘bonded’, ‘unbonded’, ‘floating’ and ‘underfloor heating’.