Floor Levelling & Screeding - Car Showroom Renovation In Derby

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We were recently brought in to carry out specialist floor preparation and screeding works as part of a commercial renovation at a new car showroom in Derby.

The customer required a full tiled floor finish throughout the ground floor of the showroom, but before any tiling could begin, the existing floor presented a significant challenge.

Multiple level variations across the slab meant that the surface was far from ready to receive tiles directly, and a thorough programme of preparation and levelling was needed to bring the entire floor up to a consistent, accurate level across the full area.

The Challenge: Multiple Floor Levels

In a commercial renovation of this nature, inconsistent floor levels are one of the most common obstacles a specialist flooring contractor will encounter. Older concrete slabs, construction joints and previous finishes all contribute to a floor surface that rises and falls across its area, sometimes significantly.

On this project in Derby, the variation across the showroom floor was sufficient to require a structured, multi-stage approach before the tiler could begin, combining mechanical preparation with primer application and a flowing levelling compound applied at depths ranging from 0 to 25mm across the full floor.

Getting this preparation stage right is critical. Even small variations in floor level that might seem minor to the eye but can result in lippage between tiles, cracked grout joints and in more extreme cases, cracked tiles.

The time and expertise invested at the preparation stage pays for itself many times over in the quality and longevity of the finished floor.

Stage One: Mechanical Grinding & Surface Preparation

The first stage of our work was a thorough mechanical grinding of the entire floor surface. Using specialist grinding equipment, we worked across the full 300 square metre area to remove high spots, surface imperfections and any contaminants present on the slab.

Contaminants such as paint, adhesive residue, laitance and surface dust all prevent levelling compounds and primers from bonding correctly to the substrate, so removing them completely at this stage is not optional. It is the foundation on which everything else depends.

The grinding process also addressed the high spots within the slab, reducing them to a level where the subsequent screeding compound could bring the entire surface up to a consistent level without requiring excessive depth in some areas or leaving high points protruding through in others.

Two Coats Of Floor Primer

With the surface ground, clean and free of contaminants, we applied two coats of specialist floor primer across the entire area. Priming a concrete slab before the application of a levelling compound serves two important purposes.

First, it reduces the porosity of the substrate, so that the moisture within the levelling compound is not drawn out too rapidly during curing, which can cause cracking or debonding.

Second, it provides a chemically receptive surface to which the levelling compound can bond securely and reliably. On a project of this scale, skipping or cutting corners on the priming stage is simply not an option.

Stage Two: Liquid Levelling Compound

With the surface fully prepared and primed, we returned on day two to lay the levelling compound across the full floor area. The compound was applied at varying depths across the showroom, ranging from a feather edge at 0mm where the slab was already at the correct level through to 25mm in the deepest areas.

The self-levelling properties of the compound allow it to flow and find its own level across the floor, so that a consistent, flat surface is achieved across the entire area without the need for hand screeding and trowelling to a level in the traditional sense.

300 Square Metres in Two Days

The full scope of works across approximately 300 square metres of commercial showroom floor was completed across just two days.

Day one covered all of the mechanical grinding, surface preparation and double primer application.

Day two was dedicated to the levelling compound pour across the entire floor area.

By the morning of day three, the compound had cured sufficiently for the tiler to begin work directly on the new surface, with no further preparation required.

For a commercial client operating to a renovation programme with multiple trades to co-ordinate, that kind of fast, reliable turnaround makes a significant difference to the overall project timeline.