Level and clearance issues
Screed Finish Height Causing Doors to Bind
Doors that used to clear the floor and now drag or won't close usually mean the finished screed level ended up higher, or lower, than the level everything else in the room was set to.
Coordinate your finish floor level with us
Name, phone, email — we'll reply the same working day with a fixed price.
A liquid screed pour is set to a laser-checked datum, and that datum is agreed before the pour based on the finished floor level the design calls for — accounting for whatever floor covering is going over it. When a door binds against the finished floor afterwards, it's a sign that somewhere between design and site, the numbers didn't line up.
This is very rarely about the screed being poorly poured — a Cemfloor pour will genuinely be within its SR1 tolerance across the room. The mismatch is usually in the finish floor level that was agreed, or in a change to the floor covering thickness after the screed level was already set.
This page covers how the finish level is set correctly, the common reasons it ends up wrong, and how doors and thresholds are corrected once it happens.
Where the mismatch usually comes from
| Cause | Effect on doors |
|---|---|
| Floor covering thickness changed after screed level agreed | Finished floor higher or lower than planned |
| Door undercut to old floor level before the screed pour | Door too low once new floor covering added |
| Datum set without allowing for smoothing compound | Extra height added after screed already at target level |
| Different rooms poured to inconsistent datums | Doors between rooms bind at the threshold |
How the correct finish level is set
- 1
Confirm the full build-up
Screed depth plus every layer above it — adhesive, covering, underlay — is added up before the datum is set.
- 2
Agree the datum with all trades
Door and joinery contractors are told the finish floor level before doors are hung or undercut.
- 3
Laser-check the pour
The screed is poured and checked to that agreed datum, not just to a flat surface.
- 4
Confirm before doors are finalised
Door undercutting or hanging happens only once the finish level is confirmed on site.
Coordinate your finish floor level with us
Send us the full build-up — screed, adhesive, covering — and we'll confirm the datum before anyone pours or hangs a door.
Fixing doors after the fact
- Planing or trimming the door base where the floor has ended up higher than planned
- Adjusting hinges to lift a door slightly within its frame tolerance
- Locally correcting the screed level with a levelling compound if it's genuinely low
- Coordinating with joinery before flooring goes down to avoid two separate visits
Screed Height & Doors — questions we get asked
Keep reading across the site
Coordinate your finish floor level with us
Send us the full build-up — screed, adhesive, covering — and we'll confirm the datum before anyone pours or hangs a door.