Can I Feather Out A Sand Cement Screed?

I’m Andy Parkin Managing Director of the Multi-Award Winning Speed Screed. Thank you very much for your question, Vin.

Your question is:

“Can I feather out a sand cement screed with the use of the right bonding agent and mix of sand and cement?”

Watch Andy’s video to find out his answer:

If we are just talking about sand and cement, it is a traditional mix. Something like a 1:4 or 1:3. The British standard states, if you are bonding, the minimum is 40 mm. You need 40 mm when you are bonding with a traditional screed. When you are talking about feather edging, feathering out, I understand that, as that you are wanting to get really down to around 1mm.

With a traditional screed, that is just not possible!

You have some polymer modified screeds that give an extraordinary performance.  The closest that you are going to get with a semi-dry product, would be the Ronafix pre-packed. That is a pre-mixed bag and a bottle, you mix basically the two and then lay the screed as you would normally lay the screed.

The product will allow you to bond down to 6 mm. You will need the Ronafix primer to ensure a good bond with the substrate.  Ronafix pre-packed will not feather out, but it will let you lay the screed down to 6mm.  This is the closest that you are going to get to feather edge with a semi-dry product.

If you need something that you would like to shape and mould and you have got falls etc, then Ronafix is definitely the way to go.

If you really need to feather out, then you are looking at the smoothing compounds. It is going to be a self-smoothing compound that may or may not give you the desired results. Of course, it depends on what thickness you are feathering down from.   If you are coming down from 100 mm down to nothing, then the smoothing compounds are not really going to be the answer and you need to maybe look at alternatives or maybe layer the product up. That might be another option (using multiple layers of smoothing compound).

The short answer is no. It is not possible to feather out a traditional sand and cement screed. 6 mm really is going to be an exceptional performance from the Ronafix pre-packed. I think that might be the way to go for you. I hope this has been of some help. If you have any further questions, please let me know.

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