You might frequently see tips on how to protect a screed. But as they constantly go ignored- adding to the number of screed failures, we thought it would be more worthwhile to give a few tips on how to cause a quick screed failure easily. Here are 5 sure shot tips for guaranteed screed failure.

5 easy tips for a quick screed failure!

Laying a perfect screed might require skill, expertise, days of hard work and substantial expense. But ruining a screed doesn’t need any of these and guarantees you considerably more numbers to add on the work and expense sheet!
All you need to do is follow these easy tips:

1. Make sure traffic starts to proceed on the screeded area within 24- 48 hours of laying the screed. Allowing traffic so early on after screeding will ensure the screed does not get enough time to set and loses its quality, and if you are early enough you might even succeed in getting your foot prints immortalized on the surface!
2. Let in the water. Moisture is a sure shot winner to ensure screed failure. When the usual long waiting periods that the British Standards stipulate is to allow the screed to lose its moisture and be dry enough for taking on the final floor finish, letting in water is the best way to add more moisture and prevent any chances of the screed setting on time or delivering any quality.
3. Do not pay heed to all the hype about screeds needing 28 days to attain full strength. There is no point in wasting your time finding alternate routes for the MEWPs, and dragging all the heavy stuff through longer distances when you have the newly screeded area for a quicker route! Be at liberty to use the screeded for all activities until the final floor finishing contractor arrives.
4. Never go for any of the screed protection that is available on the market. They are an absolute waste of money and might add a little to your initial budget. After all, getting a failed screed repaired is easy if you can put in the extra expense, time and effort.
5. Steer clear of the hand-outs and maintenance sheets. You are likely to find the alarmist caution hand-outs and posters telling you all that needs to be done to protect the screed. Do not waste your time on the nonsense and just turn away if you see a poster. Now if it is a hand out that you get- just look around for the nearest bin!

Just keep these simple tips in mind, and you have the perfect recipe for a screed failure.
PS: Screed Protection is an aspect that requires utmost attention to achieve the best results from screeds. Though in a lighter vein, this article reflects on the most important causes that lead to the failure of screeds, and lists out the commonly neglected aspects that one need to be careful of while using a freshly screeded area in order to prevent screed failure. For all information regarding the protection of screeds, please visit our screed protection website which is entirely dedicated to the protection of screeds.
And, if you have more of such tongue-in-cheek tips regarding screed protection, please feel free to share it with us. The best entries will be entered in a competition, and the winners will be published on our  screed protection website!