Ipswich Hospital

Several of Flowcrete UK’s specialist flooring solutions were applied in a new addition to Ipswich Hospital’s oncology department to ensure that the floor would be at the necessary level and standard to provide a functional, long lasting surface.

The resin-flooring specialist was called in as discrepancies in the level of the new concrete slab had led to several issues with the initial flooring project. This problem meant that some parts of the floor were as low as 55mm below on a floating floor construction the level at which the doors and electrical sockets had been installed. 

This caused a knock-on effect with the traditional fibre sand and cement screed that was laid, as in order to meet the set datum levels it could not be laid to its nominal thickness of 75mm. This meant that when the screed was tested using BRE (ISCR) test, 37% of the results met the standard required of a Category A screed, which was below the specification requirements. 

To make the overall screed achieve a Category A standard, while ensuring that it met the necessary level, it was decided that the screed would be overlaid with a thin coating. To achieve this the existing screed was first lightly abraded to provide an appropriate surface for the new coating to adhere to.

Next, Flowcrete UK’s Penetrated Hardening System (PHS) was applied to repair any cracks, damaged areas and cracked joints and then the approximately 600m² area was coated with Flowscreed Industrial Top at a thickness of 7mm. The new coating incorporated the Hydraseal epoxy damp proof membrane due to the screed’s Relative Humidity being above 75%.

The overlaying project, which took five days to complete, successfully brought the screed up to a Category A standard and the client was provided with a ten year warranty by Flowcrete UK.