Preparing the Floor Before Laying Flooring — Why It's Crucial

When choosing a floor, we usually focus on the look of the flooring — colour, texture, material. What's rarely seen, but crucial to how long it lasts, is the condition of the base underneath it.

An uneven or insufficiently solid base causes problems that only appear after some time — cracking grout lines on tiles, creaking laminate, or uneven wear on parquet in spots where the floor wasn't perfectly level.

Screed, as a base, needs to be the correct thickness and sufficiently dry before any type of flooring is laid on top. Laying flooring on screed that hasn't dried enough is one of the most common mistakes, and it later causes moisture problems under the floor.

That's why, before choosing the final flooring, it's worth checking the condition of the base first, especially in older buildings or after repairing a water leak. Investing in base preparation pays off, since a poorly prepared floor is difficult and expensive to fix once the flooring is already down.