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DESCRIPTION

Liquid Screed is a cement based self-levelling flood coat for levelling floors. Liquid Screed can receive light foot traffic 24 hours after application and can receive floor coverings after a curing period of 7-14 days.

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The compressive strength of liquid screed at 7 days exceeds most toppings and can be used in bonded, unbonded or floating applications. 

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Due to the strength of liquid screed it can be used as a thin bonded overlay to create a polished concrete floor finish.

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Liquid Screed is designed as a flood coat over concrete slabs, beam & block floors, in-situ concrete floors, precast concrete floors and engineered timber floors.  

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Liquid screed is a pre-mixed, self-levelling, Pump applied, fibre reinforced liquid screed, delivered to site in a ready-mix concrete truck and pumped into place using specialized Liquid Screed pumps at a typical rate of 20m3 p/h.

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TYPICAL TECHNICAL INFORMATION            

Type of Product - Liquid Screed

Strength Grade 24 hrs - 5 MPa Test AS1012.2, AS1012.1 (Sect 6c), AS1012.8.1 (7.6), AS1012.3.5, AS1012.9, AS1012.12.1

Strength Grade 7 Days - 49 MPa Test AS1012.2, AS1012.1 (Sect 6c), AS1012.8.1 (7.6), AS1012.3.5, AS1012.9, AS1012.12.1

Strength Grade 28 Days - 69 MP Test AS1012.2, AS1012.1 (Sect 6c), AS1012.8.1 (7.6), AS1012.3.5, AS1012.9, AS1012.12.1

Tensile Strength 7 MPa at 28 days Test AS1012.1, AS1012.1 (Sect 6b), AS1012.8.1 (7.6), AS1012.3.5, AS1012.10, AS1012.12.1

Flexural Strength 7 MPa at 28 days Test AS1012.2, AS1012.8.2 (7.3), AS1012.3.5, AS1012.11, AS1012.12.1

Density - 2240 kg/m3

Drying Shrinkage - 610us at 28 days 

Plastic shrinkage control - Yes

Reinforcing fibres - Yes

Curing time 7-14 days

Light foot traffic - 24hrs

Delivery - Reay-mix concrete truck

Instillation Method - Pump applied

Flooring compatibility - 99% of flooring adhesives, sealers and paint

Silica dust exposure - Very Minimal ( delivered as a wet ready mix )

Complies with AS3958.1 (thickness requirements) 

Complies with AS1884-2012 (moisture content)

Complies with AS1884 (compressive & flexural strength) 

 

BONDED CONCRETE PREPARATION ​

Bonded Liquid Screed application to concrete floors must be solid, clean and free of wax, grease, asphalt, latex compounds, curing and sealing compounds and any other surface contaminants must be removed. Mechanically clean the floor using recommended preparation methods such as shot-blasting, scarifying, diamond grinding, shaving or other suitable methods to provide a roughened, clean, sound, solid and open porous surface. Acid etching is not an acceptable method of cleaning the subfloor. Do not use solvents or sweeping compounds. Subfloors must be dry (AS 1884) and properly primed for successful installation. Subfloor temperatures must be a minimum of 10°C. 

Expansion strips are applied around the perimeter of the installation space and any columns within to provide a gap for liquid screed expansion.

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UNBONDED AND FLOATING APPLICATIONS

Unbonded, a polyethylene cleavage membrane installed over the existing floor, expansion strips are applied around the perimeter of the installation space and any columns within to provide a gap for liquid screed expansion and movement.

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Floating, the screed layer is applied on top of acoustic insulation to create acoustic thermal-insulated floor. This is mostly used in residential properties and in flooring with underfloor heating systems.

Insulation is used to prevent thermal (heat) and acoustic (noise) loss. Approximately 20% of all household heat loss occurs through the floor.

Increasingly people in Australia are now living in high rise buildings where noise and privacy between units is an important issue. People are now also moving away from traditional carpet flooring to hard floor covers such as tile, timber and vinyl. A change from a soft floor covering (carpet) to hard flooring often creates an adverse noise impact to adjacent and lower residences, this can be overcome using liquid screed in acoustic floor applications for multilevel residential buildings, hospitals, universities, schools etc.

Liquid screed has excellent acoustic properties.

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TYPICAL KEY FEATURES AND BENIFITS 

• Reduced slab section thickness

• Thinner screed sections compared to traditional screeds.

• Min 20mm Bonded  

• Min 30mm Unbonded

• Min 40mm Floating 

• Delivered by pre-mixed concrete truck

• Typical Compressive Strength 49 Mpa at 7 days & 69 Mpa at 28 days

• Typical Flexural strength of 5Mpa at 7 days and 7Mpa at 28 days

• Typical Curing time 7-14 days 

• Fibre reinforced (no steel required)

• Typical Minimal Drying Shrinkage 610us at 28 days 

• Typical Density 2240kgm3 

• Achieves a typical 1 -4mm flatness over 2m

• Achieves a typical smoothness of 2 mm over 150mm

• Light Foot traffic 24 hrs 

• Applications - Bonded / Unbonded / Floating 

• Complies with AS 3958.1 (thickness requirements) 

• Complies with AS 1884-2012 (moisture content)

• Complies with AS1884 (compressive & tensile strength)  

 

TYPICAL ADVANTAGES OF LIQUID SCREED USED IN ACOUSTIC FLOOR APPLICATIONS 

• Thinner structural slab section, reducing building height requirements 

• Ready-mix, pump applied, zero to minimal silica exposure

• Thinner topping sections, reducing building height requirements

• increased acoustic performance.

• Fully encapsulating providing great thermal and acoustic performance 

• Receive light foot traffic after 24hrs

• High strength 49Mpa at 7 days and 69pma at 28 days

• Application of 20m3 p/h / 1000m2 per day at 20mm, allowing for fast installation

• 10 x faster than sand cement screed applications

• Approximately 50% cheaper than engineered sand/cement screeds

• On average achieves levels of approximately 1 -2mm over 2m

• Zero danger of whipping pipes, Liquid screed pumps operate as a worm pump system at a max 40 psi whilst still being able to pump 200m.

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THICKNESS OF APPLICATION

TYPE                                  MIN          MAX 

Bonded                         20mm     150mm

Unbonded                    30mm     150mm

Floating Residential     35mm     150mm

Floating Commercial  40mm     150mm

 

CURING 

After placing the liquid screed, it should not be subjected to windy conditions for the first 48 hours, Curing will take 14 days before flooring can be glued down. Typical floating floors can be installed after 7 days. A moisture test must be carried out before any flooring is installed.

 

JOINTS AND CRACKS

Liquid Screed should not be installed over any moving joints or moving cracks. All existing expansion joints, isolation joints and construction joints, as well as all moving cracks, must be honoured up through the underlayment and flooring. 

Crack inducement have to be incorporated in Liquid screed, the distance between crack inducer shall not exceed 5m in either direction as per AS 3958.1 tiling standards.

Dormant induced cracks in Liquid Screed greater than a hairline (1/32’’ 0.79 mm) must be pre-filled with a crack or joint filler prior to the installation of the floor coverings. 

Please be advised that while dormant induced cracks must be filled prior to installing finish flooring, this filling is not intended to act as a repair method that will eliminate the possibility of joints and cracks telegraphing as with all topping products.

Liquid Screed is a non-structural material and is, therefore, unable to restrain movement within the structural substrate

This means that while some dormant induced cracks may never telegraph up into the finish flooring, cracks will always telegraph in any area that exhibits movement in the substrate, such as an active crack, an expansion or isolation joint, or an area where dissimilar substrates meet.

We know of no method in the construction industry to prevent this telegraphing from occurring.

 

FLOOR COVERINGS

Liquid screed is compatible with all floor coverings, and 99% cementitious adhesives, vinyl and carpet glues. The screed's moisture content must be measured before placing floor coverings, for glued vinyl and glued carpet tile installation a skim coat may be necessary. A simple preparation of light sanding or rotary pad is recommended to remove and laitance, effloresce or any purged contamination off the surface to prepare the substrate for any coatings, sealers or flooring systems.

Always follow the coatings, adhesive or covering manufactures recommendations and requirements. For glued vinyl and glued carpet tiles a skim coat may be necessary.

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DISLAIMER

The aforementioned information is base on our knowledge and experience. We recommend you carry out your own tests in every case to insure the suitability of the coatings, sealers and flooring systems for the intended purpose and process. We are unable to test all the different materials and working conditions which lie beyond our area of influence. No liability can be derived from this or from verbal advice, we reserve the right to update information without prior notice to reflect our ongoing research and development.

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