when is a screed ry enough for flooring?

[saveasteading]

I'm just sharing today's annoyance. Perhaps it will help someone else.

 

We will be using engineered timber over a large area and have it in storage because it was a bargain.

We recently got a reference to a contractor to lay it. The price was ok so we said go.

 

Now they are saying that we need to prove that the screed is dry enough.

It is, and will be beyond dry come September when it is to be done.

 

Even when we use the ludicrously conservative 1mm/ day we have double that time since it was laid, and the wind has been whistling through at 25 to 30 C.

Having told them that, they now say (without reference) that it must be 19C all the time and actually 0.5mm/ day is correct.

Even that means that it is dry.

 

So they are either charlatans, or ignorant.

 

From long experience I know floorers always try this because they want to sell an upgrade of sealing and even over-screeding,  and/or lose any liability in case of any future problem.

 

so

1. we explain why it is dry. Very civilly quoting the material used and the time it's been down.

2. we then emphasise  that their sudden doubling of the time required isn't relevant.

3. Now they say that if they turn up and test the screed in September and it isn't to their dryness satisfaction then they will refuse to do it and charge £500 aborted visit. I'm thinking this is perhaps all they do... turn up, charge £500 and go away.

 

It would appear that they are used to getting this extra pay, and are somewhat annoyed that we are daring to answer back.

 

Obv I don't trust them at all and would like to tell them to go cheat elsewhere.  But maybe they are just ignorant.

They only do one thing, so they should not be ignorant and thus I suspect the other option. If you cheat in one way, you are cheats generally, so who knows if they are any good.

 

That they were recommended by a well known supplier bothers me. Maybe it's all too easy for them.

 

In the past I've presumably convinced the floorers that there is no issue and just  to get on with it. I may have signed papers to that effect.

But this is on a different level. 

It's about 250m2 of flooring , so a nice job  for someone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 1 hour ago by saveasteading
clicked send too early

[JohnMo]

They should be using a floor moisture tester.

[saveasteading]

5 minutes ago, JohnMo said:

They should be using a floor moisture tester.

I clicked 'send' too early and have now said much more. I don't trust them to use a meter properly.