Hull Minster Lime Screed Floor

Being the largest parish church in England.  Hull Minster was originally built around 700 years ago in the heart of the city.  The church achieved Minster status in 2014.

William Wilberforce, who was famous for his campaign against the slave trade, was baptised in the Church.

As part of a £2.1 million redevelopment under the main contractor Geo Houlton & Sons Ltd, the screeding package was made up of around 1,000m2 of lime screed floor.    Using lime rather than cement based screeds was a part of the grade 1 listing requirements, to ensure that traditional materials were being used.

City centre location, and large open pedestrian areas mean’t the site wasn’t as typical as most “new” construction sites are.  Houlton’s secured the area from the public, and the 1,000m2 broken down into manageable phases for site.

Secured area was quite tight and there was a requirement for strict materials management.

To get over the tight material restrictions the screeding sand had to be supplied in 1 tonne bulk bags by MKM Building Supplies, which gave a higher degree of flexibility rather than loose tip sand.

Hydraulic lime was supplied in 25 kgs bags by the award winning Ty-Mawr Lime Ltd

Mixing ratio was that of a 1:3 using the state of the art Putzmeister M760 four generation screed pump with skip and scrapper.  Pumping the perfectly mixed lime screed floor to exactly place of work.   With little or no impact to other trades working in the area.

This substrate was prepared by others, and included a new water underfloor heating system

The lime screed floor was completed on time and to the exact requirements of Geo Houlton.

“A new heating system beneath a beautiful limestone floor and the thorough reconditioning of Victorian radiators has also created a warm and comfortable environment within the church for the first time in decades.”

Houlton handed over the project at a ceremonial reopening of the great west doors.  Click here for more information.