Dry screed and raised floors

Dry Screed

Dry screed is a flooring system made from special gypsum fibreboards made for that purpose. It is assembled by laying panels on a substrate made from fine granules which serve for levelling the substrate and as a heat and shock sound insulator. Panels are laid with mutual overlaying and interconnecting, thus forming a whole. Joints are filled with gypsum-based mass, thus making the surface of the screed uniformly smooth and straight. Identical systems have been developed for uses in wet areas, but with cement-based panels in order to avoid swelling of the gypsum.

Advantages of this type of screed in regards to the classic glazing are as follows:

• Dry screed is a flooring system made of gypsum fiberboards specially fabricated for that purpose. It is assembled by laying boards on the surface which is composed
  of small granules.
• The advantages of these floors are: quick assembling, no drying process, high level of compressive strength and bearing capacity, low
  weight.
• Dry screed floors are moist proof, waterproof and fire-resistant up to 120 minutes what can be used as floor structure fire protection.
• Increased system strength – no ruptures or expensive repair work on cracks with epoxy resins.
• More accurate fabrication – panels are level, there are no “peaks and troughs” on the surface of the glazing and therefore no need for sanding or levelling.
• Speed – dry screed can be laid much more quickly than classic glazing, and finishing linings may be glued the next day, while the glazing must be left to dry until an acceptable level of moisture is reached, thus allowing the laying of the finishing floor linings. Due to the glazing composition and weather conditions, glazing often cannot dry naturally and must be dried by specialised equipment, which is quite expensive to rent. Also, the expenditure of electrical energy is not negligible. During the colder days, glazing even needs to be heated in order to evaporate the moisture, which causes the heating costs to multiply.
• Smooth surface – unlike with classic glazing, the surface is smooth and does not need to be levelled by floor levelling compounds prior to the gluing of the thin floor linings.
• Lighter construction – less weight per unit of surface area enables it to be used in statically limited structures (e.g. structures with wooden interfloor structure etc.) and, due to its inclusion in the calculations of static load for new buildings, it enables simpler and less expensive dimensioning of the structural elements of the object.
• Simple fitting of the installations underneath the floor surface.

Raised floorings are modular floors assembled by placing panels on metal legs. Due to the great variability in the leg height, the necessary flooring and structure height can be achieved with modular panels which can be subsequently opened. They represent a sort of a revolution in the flooring construction. Such systems enable the routing of a large number of services underneath the floor, as well as subsequent modifications on said services. Due to these features, they are especially suitable for office spaces with many desks and electrical and networking installations, since all installations must be routed to each workplace underneath the floor surface. Due to this, they are commonly known as raised access computer floors. If such floor is combined with some sort of modular finish lining (e.g. carpet in panels), all subsequent modifications to the installations, which are made when offices are rearranged, require only minimal investments to route all the necessary services to the desired location. As an alternative variant, there are modular floors made from calcium-sulphate panels. They are glued to each other to form a strong, interconnected unit with a smooth and straight surface ready for laying any final lining, taking into account that floor panels are mounted on special metal legs, thus forming an elevated floor structure that also enables passage of different installations underneath the floor surface. They are exceptionally suitable for installation in kitchens, toilets and bathrooms.

Partners:
LINDNER | KINGSPAN | KNAUF | FARMACELL