Screed Technical

No. We focus on supplying screed and being a partner to our installer and builder clients. We will work with hand-in-hand your installers to ensure the job is a success. If you need an installer, we can normally recommend a number of quality contractors who we have experience working with that would be right for your job.

For sand cement screeds we recommend that the installers use a good quality adhesive, but we don’t have a specific requirement. For Mapei screeds we supply a two-part Mapei adhesive system which forms part of your system warranty for the screed. Clients can of course also use this adhesive system for sand cements screeds as it is an excellent product.

Drying times for screeds depend on a range of factors including thickness of the screed and weather conditions. Clients are recommended to use a moisture meter to test screed curing before installing topping products. The Mapei screeds are fast drying and depending on which product is used can be ready for tiles between 3 – 24 hours and vinyl within 1-4 days. If you have a specific time frame you need to work within let us know and we will advise you on the most appropriate screed product.

In hot weather conditions you need to protect your sand cement screeds from drying too quickly or they risk not reaching full strength or going dusty. Protecting your screed and re-hydrating is often a good idea. We don’t recommend screeding in conditions over 35 degrees or if the screed is exposed to high temperature or dry winds and if so, clients should take extra precautions to protect the screed to ensure quality is not affected by the environmental conditions. However, for our Mapei screeds, because of their unique design, rehydrating is not necessary (in fact should not be done). The screeds are designed to dry quickly and should not be re-hydrated. Consult the TDS for more information

The subsurface should always be clean and free of chemicals and dust and should be course. Typically CSP level III is recommended. If the substrate is smooth or polished it should be ground back to ensure the adhesive can make a good bond and to reduce the risk of delamination.

There are circumstances where Australian Standards recommend the use of mesh. Especially for thick screeds, unbonded or floating screeds and when screeding over underfloor heating in some circumstances. We can assist you with this and also bring in expert advice from Mapei and other manufacturers. We also offer ScreedMax Fibre which is our automatic fibre dosing system. Mapei has approved this to replace the requirement for mesh in their screeds.

Expansion joints help control the natural cracking of screeds and we always recommend that clients follow Australian Standard recommendations and the engineer’s specifications for the installation of expansion joints.