ᐅ Screed with drying accelerator

Hello dear forum,

I have a question.

Due to delays caused by the pandemic, our builder now wants to use a screed with a drying accelerator. This would supposedly be ready for the floor covering after 5 days.

Of course, we are happy that we don’t have to wait 6 weeks for the heating phase.

However, we are also wondering if this type of screed has any disadvantages. I did some research online but couldn’t really find much, and many reports are quite old.

That’s why I thought I’d ask what you think about it.

For floor coverings, glued hardwood flooring is planned for the ground floor, floating hardwood flooring on the upper floor, and tiles in the upper-floor bathroom. In the basement, all rooms will have tiles except for the office, where we are installing laminate.

I would really appreciate your opinions.

Regards,
Ivonne

neutri80 schrieb:

ready for the floor covering after 5 days

Seriously, is that possible? I would definitely have the actual readiness for covering confirmed by a proper residual moisture measurement before installing the floor covering.

We also had accelerated screed – although there are many different types of additives/accelerators – but the flooring was only installed after several weeks. The construction moisture in both screed and plaster is enormous. Even with dehumidifiers.

And there were also more cracks than expected or desired. Whether it was caused by the accelerator, I do not know.

Depending on the accelerator used, the screed can be ready for covering after just 3 days. However, heating is still necessary. This is not about drying, but about releasing the tension and verifying the function of the heating system (known as functional heating). The standard program runs for 21 days but can be shorter. Please do not ventilate when using an accelerator! Keep everything closed, otherwise the screed may cup.

And learned something new again.

We decided to use a screed accelerator due to time constraints. This reduced the curing period to about 10 days. Fourteen days after installation, the screed was ready for covering. In our case, applying the accelerator automatically included the moisture measurement (CM measurement) by the screed accelerator manufacturer. Therefore, we did not have to arrange this separately. This was important for us, as we had excluded the wooden flooring from the contract and outsourced it.

dab_dab schrieb:

And learned something new again.

Haha, you’re welcome. I just happen to build a house now and then.