Screed options in a timberframe house.

PJMCKE

Hi,
I am finalizing options with my timber frame company and had already spec'd the first floor for web joists to be engineered to take a screed. I am now not going with underfloor but would like to keep a screed.

I have a few question.

Q) Will a dry screed suffice and what would be the preferred thickness.One reason for a dry screed is to reduce the drying out time of the house.? Any thoughts>

Q)What thickness and material are people using. I need to sepcify this for my frame company as they need to work out loading of the web joists?.

Q) will I really benifit from a screed. I had hoped that it would give a more firm feeling to the floor underfoot and also provide some more sound insulation?.

I had tried easy screed, but the costs were high due to transportation costs so now I am looking at other options.

Any comments or information on suppliers would be appreciated.

Regards,

holdfast

Q) Will a dry screed suffice and what would be the preferred thickness.One reason for a dry screed is to reduce the drying out time of the house.? Any thoughts>I used wet screed >35mm only too a couple of days to dry. It had no affect on drying time. if you are worred get in dehidifiers

Q)What thickness and material are people using. I need to sepcify this for my frame company as they need to work out loading of the web joists?. Around 35mm will vary depending on how level floor is

Q) will I really benifit from a screed. I had hoped that it would give a more firm feeling to the floor underfoot and also provide some more sound insulation?. sound insulation can be be improved by placing a insulated board or plaster board below membrane

I used easy screed and was very happy with them.

bmm

We used a screed upstairs on a block built dormer with underfloor heating. It was a dry sand/cement mix (5:1 as afaik) . It was very crumbly when finished and started breaking up at the surface and ended up not being even enough to put a laminate floor on. We had to get it leveled with leveling cement but this sorted it and it was perfect. Can't remember the thickness but must have been 54mm for the ufh. It makes a huge difference to sound when people are upstairs, takes away impact noise even with hard flooring upstairs. Well worth the hassle, especially as you get older and grumpier and the world gets noisier.;)

RKQ

IMO any sceed thickness less than 50mm will crack.
Putting a cement screed on timber/ web joist is wasteful if not using UFH. It can be expensive to get a screed to 1st floor - pumps or manual labour!

IMO One would be better to look at a number of sound insulating products, fitted between & over timber joists - better "certified" sound insulation on their IAB or BBA certs. They usually involves a insulation layer / board of approx 50mm, on top of ply floor plus a floating timber floor as a finish.

Finally, IMO web joist are economical over abnormally wide spans. Otherwise standard timber joist are usually more economical. (Web joists may make life easier for your Electrician & Plumber first fix - will they pass on the time / labour saving to you?)

Discuss same with your Certifier / Professional. Good luck.

PJMCKE

Thanks RKQ,
On the plumber/electrician queries it is clear that they by no means take into account the easy routing of cables and piping. So you are right there.

50mm is quite a bit . I would have thought 35 may have been enough of the newer products provided by easiscreed. But fair point there. And again it does seem over the top considering there will be not underfloor heating.
What other sound insulating products would you refer to.RKQ

RKQ wrote: »

IMO any sceed thickness less than 50mm will crack.
Putting a cement screed on timber/ web joist is wasteful if not using UFH. It can be expensive to get a screed to 1st floor - pumps or manual labour!

IMO One would be better to look at a number of sound insulating products, fitted between & over timber joists - better "certified" sound insulation on their IAB or BBA certs. They usually involves a insulation layer / board of approx 50mm, on top of ply floor plus a floating timber floor as a finish.

Finally, IMO web joist are economical over abnormally wide spans. Otherwise standard timber joist are usually more economical. (Web joists may make life easier for your Electrician & Plumber first fix - will they pass on the time / labour saving to you?)

Discuss same with your Certifier / Professional. Good luck.