Kitchen extension schedule - confused

[WhatWillSantaBring]

The builder has just dropped the bombshell that the screed in the extension needs three months to dry before you can lay flooring on top. Google has confirmed this (1mm per day, it's a "standard" 75mm depth). We can't install the kitchen before the floor has been laid...

So how the jeff do people get extensions completed in less than say, four months? It's taken three months to get to this stage (ready for the screed to go in) already! Am I supposed to wave goodbye to the builders for three months while my floor dries and sit there with an empty room?

My kitchen is currently sitting in a damp garage getting slowly ruined

Help? Anyone?

Yes this is true (as we also found out) but we ended up using a quick dry screed from a company called CSC. There are various options but we used the one that sets it in 2 weeks. It was absolutely great and the guys from CSC did a great job. Initially our builder wouldn't touch it with a barge pole as he thought it was some sort of new-fangled notion that wouldn't work. In the end he was quite impressed. HTH.

Is it just that you can't lay the floor - or us there a reason you can't install kitchen? We installed our kitchen, and then had to wait for floor. Jut didn't install kick boards until floor was put down.

Found this in good time. OP I hope you get a better answer than 3 months!

We're about to start an kitchen extension with a new living room being built and I've just researched screed drying times etc and have a load of questions for the builder before he starts digging the foundations in 3 weeks.

We want to lay the floor before any units go in as we're planning to put down travertine tiles and a square room will be easier to cut the tiles into. I hope you get your solution sorted soon.

Thanks leia - that sounds like a really good solution. Just hope that the builder can get his screeder to agree or find a different one.

The style of kitchen had a recessed plinth/kickboard, which I don't think can go on afterwards.

elfy - glad to have found the problem on your behalf!!

This happened to us. In the end we ditched screed and did a traditional timber floor like the rest of the house. Our builder has been a fool though. Organised builders take this into account and lay poor the floor relatively early on as it dries enough for site traffic fairly quickly. The issue is it will still be releasing large amounts of water during the drying period which will warp wood floors. You might be able to lay tiles though-check with the manufacturer of your tiles to see what's feasible.