If I didn't really compact my screed - how in trouble am I....?

Right, hopefully not a DIY disaster incoming. Long story short - readymix screed arrived along with torrential rain. In my rush to keep it dry and get it indoors and sorted, I didn't really do a huge amount of compaction looking back.

On a scale of "You're Fine" to "That's gonna need to come out" how much of a problem will this be? Is it just gonna settle a little?

It seemed to firm up nicely and I was able to keep it mostly dry

What did you actually do with it? Put a blinding layer down first which you walk all over, then put level screeds round the perimeter and rule off to them?
You don’t actively compact a screed really, only rule and tamp it level

23vc said:

What did you actually do with it? Put a blinding layer down first which you walk all over, then put level screeds round the perimeter and rule off to them?
You don’t actively compact a screed really, only rule and tamp it level

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Not sure what you mean by binding layer? Bearing in mind this is on polythene vapour barrier

So I put down a couple of battens from side to side of the room (so I could work back towards the door). Because it's a small room that was enough for me to screed the entire width while touching both battens.

I basically the just barrowed it in, fairly high and pulled my straight edge back and forwards until there were no dips or anything.

Then floated and troweled.

Enough that I could lean my weight on the polythene float without indenting

blinding layer is where you put maybe 30mm down initially and walk over it while you do the rest. It’s how I was originally taught.
What do you think you’ve done wrong? Can’t see any major issue with what you’ve done.
As someone who’s done several extensions and done literally everything that I can legally do myself, traditional floor screeding’s at the top of the ”hard to do” list so fair play for giving it a go. How level is it?

23vc said:

blinding layer is where you put maybe 30mm down initially and walk over it while you do the rest. It’s how I was originally taught.
What do you think you’ve done wrong? Can’t see any major issue with what you’ve done.
As someone who’s done several extensions and done literally everything that I can legally do myself, traditional floor screeding’s at the top of the ”hard to do” list so fair play for giving it a go. How level is it?

Click to expand...

Yeah, to be honest I really really debated whether or not to do it. Normally it's definitely a trade to hand off, but it marked the last of the big stuff to learn/try on this build before I get back into my comfort zone of running wires and building stud walls! So I figured I'd give it a shot and see what happens.

It seemed level enough before I got everything watertight - bubble in the middle of the spirit level and looks okay, but realistically I'll be putting some latex on top. Which is fine, I never intended to get a perfectly flat screed on my first go so I deliberately came slightly low compared to the existing floor.

I guess it's that binding layer step I missed really - I dunno, I read a lot of stuff that said it should be 'compacted', which I took to mean similar ish to what you described but for the whole thing.

I guess now I've done it my fear is coming up against issues a couple of years down the line, so now I'm having a bit of a crisis of confidence!

I remember being told you can test it by dropping a hammer down onto it after a couple of days and it shouldn’t make an indentation.
If you’re saying you can lay a level at any angle all over it and the bubble’s roughly in the middle, you’ve done well and won’t need much SLC

23vc said:

I remember being told you can test it by dropping a hammer down onto it after a couple of days and it shouldn’t make an indentation.
If you’re saying you can lay a level at any angle all over it and the bubble’s roughly in the middle, you’ve done well and won’t need much SLC

Click to expand...

Maybe I'll give the hammer test a shot next week! I'll have to wait to check the level properly, but that's how it mostly looked!

Well, fears above aside, not gonna lie - I'm damn pleased about the end result. A bit lower than I wanted in the cold light of day - could've done with an extra 5mm but while it's not particularly flat it is pretty level. Couldn't find anywhere where my long spirit level was out of the middle, and I reckon at most the undulations were 2 mm. I reckon people have paid for worse and nothing a smidge of latex won't fix.

Now, whether it all falls apart in a couple of years that's a different conversation

Just wish it had been a nicer day for it.

Two more questions for the thread:

When can I self level it? I'm guessing when it's dry and ready for tiling in a few months time?

When can I start work again, building stud walls etc? Was hoping for this week, but should I give it 14 days?

Couple of days you can walk/build stud walls on it, SLC Check what it says on the bag