ᐅ The screed in four rooms is 1.5 to 2 cm too high.

Hello everyone,

I need some advice. We recently built a new house, and in the upper floor, all rooms except the bathroom were supposed to have a screed that is 0.5cm (0.2 inches) higher than the hallway. The hallway and stairs have real wood flooring, the rooms have laminate...

Everything was ordered through the architect and was documented by email.

For whatever reason, the screed in the four rooms (about 60sqm (645 sq ft) total) is 2–2.5cm (0.8–1 inch) higher than the hallway.

The screed company denies any responsibility and literally says they “won’t do a single move in the house” again. If I withhold part of the final payment (4,000€), they might take legal action.

We currently have the following options:

- Leave everything as is and accept a threshold of 1.5–2cm (0.6–0.8 inches).
- Use leveling compound in the hallway, but then the last step of the stairs would be 1.5cm (0.6 inches) higher, which is not acceptable. The height would need to be distributed exactly across all steps. The extra work plus leveling compound would cost me about 500€.
- Grind down/sand the floors in all rooms (60sqm (645 sq ft)) by 1.5–2cm (0.6–0.8 inches) and then apply leveling compound on top. Would this be precise enough? Completely removing the screed is not an option due to underfloor heating.

With the last option, the ceiling height, window sill height, and switch height would be as originally planned.

Would this be a reasonable position in court if they sue for the money? For your information, I have legal protection insurance for construction law that I arranged before the build...

Ideally, our move-in date should not be delayed too much.

What would you do in our situation?

Thanks in advance...

Thanks to our legal system, you’re now stuck. You have to meet many deadlines and hire experts, which will delay your construction by months.

I would withhold the payment and let him threaten if he wants. Choose the solution you can live with and that won’t stall your build. I believe this concerns leveling compound and then adjusting the staircase.

500 euros is nothing in comparison.

First of all, the question is who identified the deviation and in what way? If they intend to take legal action, it should, of course, be properly and securely documented.

Otherwise, I can only agree with Bookstar: choose the option that best allows continuing construction. I would also consider adjusting the hallway height and staircase. You can definitely keep the additional costs, but first, request a correction accordingly before taking any action. If necessary, offer this solution to them and see if they are willing to accept it in exchange for deducting amount x.

Sanding or milling will probably not be proportionate, just like tearing out the screed. Therefore, leveling the surface is certainly a better option than having to live with the thresholds.

Since it fortunately doesn’t involve a large amount of money, I would also document the condition, withhold payment, and carry out the personally preferred solution.
You can probably accept the 2cm (1 inch) difference in ceiling height, and the only unsightly transition is at the stairs, where the stair builder might be able to work some magic (last step with increased thickness or a molding).

Be careful, as the doors may no longer fit in terms of height.

Fortunately, most doors can be shortened quite easily. In interior rooms, there will probably be no glass or metal fire-rated doors.