ᐅ Filling Gaps in the Screed – What Would You Recommend?

Hello everyone,

We have been living in our new build (semi-detached house) for about 10 months now. From the very beginning, all rooms have had floor coverings (tiles, laminate) except for the utility room, which still has the bare cement screed (a room without heating). Since dust sticks to our shoes or socks every time we enter this room, we now want to take measures to address this issue.

We mainly use this room for hanging laundry and storing beverages. Since we don’t really use the room much, we want to solve the dust problem as cheaply as possible and were thinking about a single-component garage floor coating from the company Will… (I’m not sure if I’m allowed to mention brand names).

The problem I noticed (see attached picture) is that in our utility room, there are some empty conduits with various cables coming out of the screed, and the screed is definitely missing around these conduits. So my question is: how would you solve this? Should we shorten the conduits, install cable ducts, and then fill the screed gaps with screed? Or do you have another suggestion or idea?

Also, the screed was poured in two parts, so there is a transition gap about 2–3mm (0.08–0.12 inches) deep in the middle of the room. I suppose I could simply seal this with acrylic, right?

Before painting, of course, a primer for cement screed will be applied.

Thank you very much,
Best regards

You could start by trimming the blue edge insulation strip flush with the screed using a knife. I would leave the empty conduits in place. Do the cables only run along the wall? Then simply attach a larger cable duct over them there; no need to fill the gap with screed or repair mortar or similar. If it bothers you a lot or there are large air gaps, fill those areas slightly with repair mortar, but do not fully embed the conduit in mortar.

For the floor coating, you can use garage floor coating; this makes the surface easier to clean in case of spills from your oil supply or other chemicals. Don’t have that? Floor paint for cement floors will also work if you don’t plan to drive a car through the utility room.

At the screed transition: if there is only a 2–3 mm (0.08–0.12 inch) recess but the screed is otherwise continuous, there will be no movement here, so you don’t need to apply acrylic sealant. You can either leave it as is or smooth it over with repair mortar. Of course, this is a designed breaking point over time, but acrylic won’t help with that either. Additionally, floor paint may peel off from the acrylic due to its flexibility if you regularly walk over it.

I would install a large cable conduit along the wall to manage the cables. The gaps there are really so small that it’s not worth the effort.

Otherwise, are you sure you don’t want to use an inexpensive tile around $10? That would also permanently cover the trowel marks between the screed sections. Any acrylic solution is not long-lasting, and leveling with patching compound will probably look really bad.

Thank you both. I will now buy larger cable ducts and solve the issue that way. How would you close the expansion joint once the edge insulation strip is cut off, considering we want to paint including a small baseboard? Use acrylic all around and shape it into a cove?

Regarding the screed preparation, our screed is really quite flat, I must say, and it will only be painted. Do you think it is absolutely necessary to sand the floor before applying the primer, then treat it with a screed hardener, and finally fill it? It just sounds like a lot of work for the individual steps.

I have attached two pictures showing the screed and the areas that concern me: the lighter one is really smooth, but the darker one is quite rough. I’m not sure if the primer alone will be enough to bind it.

In our utility room, I just swept the screed clean with a broom, then applied primer and afterwards painted it twice with floor paint. Now it’s a clean, smooth surface that is easy to maintain.
Quick and cost-effective 🙂