If you’re busy building a new home or considering renovating your current property, you may have come across something known as screed. This is a layer applied to your floors to provide you with a smooth, solid foundation. It comes with a wide range of benefits, from heat and sound insulation to level floors, but how exactly does it work?
Today, we’re going to dive into the scientific principles behind floor screeding and explain how it can benefit your home. Keep reading to find out everything you need to know about screed and how you can ensure the most quality and seamless installation of it in your home.
What is Floor Screed?
Screed is a thin layer, often made out of concrete, placed on top of the subfloor in your home. There are a few different versions you can choose from, whether you’re looking for a more residential or commercial installation. It comes with a wide range of benefits for your floors, the main being that it provides them with a smooth and level surface, ultimately providing your home with a strong foundation.
You often don’t see the screed once it is applied, as most homeowners opt to cover it with their chosen type of flooring, whether it’s wood, tile, or carpet. However, you can choose to leave it if you want it to act as the finish itself.
It’s also a perfect addition to underfloor heating systems due to its insulating properties, helping keep the property warm.
Materials used in Floor Screeding
While the most common types of screed are made from a cement and sand mixture, the materials can vary depending on the home’s project requirements. Here are some of the main materials you can find used in floor screeding:
Cement
The most common material used in traditional floor screeding is cement, often combined with sand and water to make the perfect mixture. These work together to provide a workable, strong screed with a fast curing time. Cement offers binding properties, and the sand acts as a filler. Sometimes, additives, such as plasticizers and accelerators, are included in this mixture to make the combination more desirable for construction products.
Gypsum
You can also choose from a type of flooring screed that uses gypsum as the main material. These gypsum-based screeds are an alternative to cement mixes and are used when a product requires a much faster drying time. You’ll often find that these mixtures contain a gypsum binder, sand, and water. They are best used in residential and commercial projects where the interior needs to be accessed much more quickly after completion.
Polymer-Modifie
Polymer-modified screeds are exactly how they sound. They incorporate a range of synthetic polymers into the mixture to create a screed with desirable properties such as flexibility, adhesion, and resistance to cracking. The polymers are known to give the floor screeding a better performance, making it more durable. These types of materials are best used in areas with heavy foot traffic or thermal fluctuations, as they have greater flexibility.
The Science Behind the Process
So, what are the underlying scientific processes behind floor screeding? We have all the information for you here, focusing on cement-based screeds:
Hydration and Chemical Reactions
As we’ve already mentioned, cement screeds are made of a mixture of cement, sand, and water. One of the main chemical processes in this combination is hydration, where the water reacts with the cement to create a calcium silicate hydrate gel and calcium hydroxide. This is an exothermic process, which means it releases heat as it occurs. This heat generation helps accelerate the reaction, helping with the setting and hardening of the screed.
Setting and Curing Processes
When you install screed over your floors, it also kicks off various setting and curing processes. Setting is when the screed transforms from a more liquid mixture into a solid state. This is when the initial chemical reactions appear. Following this is the curing process, where the screed goes through hydration and starts to gain its strength. Curing is essential to prevent premature drying, which could lead to cracking and reduced durability.
Water-Cement Ratio
The water-cement ratio in the mixture of screeds is also a very important scientific aspect of how well your flooring screed will adapt. You must ensure you have the right ratio to guarantee a strong and durable mixture. The water guarantees the hydration of the cement, but if there is excess water, it might weaken the final structure. The optimal ratio can vary according to several factors, but it is usually best to stick with one of around 0.4 to 0.5.
Factors that Affect Floor Screed Quality
The science behind screed is actually quite interesting and good to keep in mind. However, there are also some other factors that can affect the quality of the floor screed that you must consider during installation:
Substrate Preparation and Moisture Content
You need to prepare your substrate properly to ensure a strong bond and uniform surface. It is also important to assess the moisture content in the substrate to prevent a loss of adhesion.
Ambient Conditions
Ambient temperature and humidity levels need to be watched as they can affect the rate of hydration and drying, as well as the moisture evaporation rate.
Thickness and Reinforcement Considerations
How thick your screed layer is is a critical consideration before you install your mixture. It should be determined based on factors like load requirements and substrate conditions. Similarly, you might want to add reinforcements such as wire mesh to improve the strength and reduce the chance of cracking.
Final Thoughts
Floor screeding can offer a wide range of benefits to both you and your home, but that’s only if it’s installed correctly. Using a professional who properly understands the science behind screed and knows the correct installation processes is essential. If you do so, you can enjoy a strong and durable screed that will last you for decades.
