Resin and Poured Floor Questions Checklist

Ask the applicator to describe the system as a set of layers, from what touches the base to what you walk on, and write the description down.

Two floors that look identical can be built entirely differently, and the written description is what you will compare later.

Ask whether the surface you will walk on is the material itself or a separate coating over it, and what shows where that coating wears.

A worn coating and a worn body of material behave very differently, and only one of them can usually be refreshed.

Ask what depth the finished floor adds over the existing base and where that extra depth causes trouble at doors, thresholds and fitted units.

Poured floors are thin compared with tiles, and owners are often surprised by which fixed elements are still affected.

Ask whether the material is poured and finds its own level or applied by hand, since the two produce noticeably different surfaces.

Hand-applied finishes carry the mark of the person applying them, which some owners want and some are dismayed by.

Ask to see and touch a piece made by the person who would do your floor, rather than only a manufacturer sample panel.

A factory panel shows the material while a real piece shows the workmanship, and the second is what you will live with.

Ask what this system is usually used for, and where the applicator would not use it, then note the reasons given.

Many poured systems come from settings quite unlike a home, and the reasons they are avoided somewhere are instructive.

Say what the existing floor is if you know, and mention any cracks, soft spots or areas that sound different when you walk on them.

Owners can describe what they hear and feel long before anybody investigates, and that description is genuinely useful.

Whether an existing base is suitable to receive a poured finish is established by a qualified professional, not from what can be seen or heard.

Ask what happens to the finished surface if the base beneath ever moves or cracks, and what the applicator does about that risk.

A crack in a base can appear in a seamless finish above it, and there is no joint to hide it in.

If the floor beneath is timber, ask specifically what the applicator says about laying this system over a timber base.

Timber floors flex under load in a way solid bases do not, and every poured system has a position on this.

Whether a timber floor can receive a rigid finish is a question for a qualified professional to answer for your particular floor.

Ask what preparation the base needs before the system goes on, and whether that work is included in what you have been told.

Preparation is often the larger part of the job and the part most easily left out of an early conversation.

Note where the floor crosses from one part of the building to another, such as into an extension, and raise it before the work is planned.

Two structures meeting under one continuous finish is a classic place for a line to appear later.

Say what you know about moisture below this floor, including any area that has ever felt damp or smelt musty.

Seasonal observations from an owner often point to exactly where a professional should measure.

Moisture in a base is measured by a qualified professional; ask what that measurement means for this particular system before anything is applied.

Ask whether this floor needs any movement joint at all, where such a line would fall, and whether it could be placed somewhere you would accept looking at.

A joint you agreed to in advance reads as a design line, while the same joint discovered on the day reads as a defect.

Ask how the floor is finished where it meets a wall, and whether a coved upstand is proposed or a straight edge against skirting.

The junction at the wall changes both the look of the room and how easily the floor can be cleaned along its edges.

Ask what happens at every doorway where this floor stops, and whether the change is made with a strip, a recess or a butt join.

Doorway details are settled last on site unless somebody decides them first, and they are seen every day.

Note every fixed thing the floor must run around, such as a stair base, a hearth, pipes or a kitchen plinth, and ask how each is finished.

Awkward returns are what make a poured floor look either resolved or improvised, and they are all foreseeable.

Ask how the edge behaves against skirting that is already in place, and decide whether skirting comes off for the work.

Taking skirting off gives a cleaner edge and adds decorating work, and the choice is usually made by whoever is quickest.

If this floor extends into a wet area, ask how any fall towards a drain is formed and who is responsible for forming it.

A fall is created in the base rather than in the finish, so the person quoting for the surface may not be the person forming it.

Ask in writing who is responsible for forming the fall before the finish is agreed, since that responsibility sits with a qualified trade rather than with you.

Look at a sample lying on the floor in the room itself, at the time of day when the room is most used.

Poured floors pick up the colour of daylight and of your lamps far more than a textured covering does.

Ask what variation in tone the applicator expects across a large area, and whether that variation is intended or accidental.

Mottling is deliberate in some systems and a defect in others, and only the applicator can say which this is.

Whether a variation is a characteristic or a fault is for the applicator and manufacturer to state in writing before work begins.

Ask what a trowel mark, a roller line or a faint cloudiness looks like in this material, and whether they form part of the finish.

Knowing what the normal marks look like is what allows you to tell an intended texture from poor application.

Look at a sample with light shining across it rather than down onto it, since that is what reveals texture and flatness.

Low evening light across a large floor is unforgiving, and it is worth simulating before the whole room is committed.

Ask how the sheen was achieved and what happens to it in the places where people walk most.

Sheen usually changes with traffic, and a floor that polishes up in the walking line looks quite different from one that dulls.

Ask whether the colour continues through the material or sits at the surface, and what shows if the floor is scratched deeply.

A deep scratch on a surface-coloured floor exposes a different colour, which is the sort of thing owners only ask about afterwards.

Ask what happens when grit is walked in from outside, since a fine abrasive on a smooth floor is what dulls it.

Fine grit tends to do more damage to a smooth floor over time than any single dropped object, and it arrives on shoes every day.

Note where a chair is dragged rather than lifted, and ask whether hard castors mark this surface.

Dining and desk chairs create the most repetitive wear in a home and are the easiest thing to plan pads for.

Ask what a dropped pan, a dropped tool or a hard heel does to this material, and whether the mark can be dealt with.

Impact behaviour differs sharply between systems, and it is a fair question that suppliers can answer from experience.

Ask which household cleaning products the manufacturer excludes, and what to do about the ones already under your sink.

Everyday products are the most common cause of dulled patches on a poured floor, and the exclusions are rarely passed on.

Which products may touch this surface is set by the system manufacturer, and a dulled patch is not always recoverable, so ask for their written list.

Decide where matting sits at every outside door, and ask whether it could be recessed into the floor or has to lie on top of the finished surface.

A recess has to be formed while the floor is being built up, and it is one of the few details that cannot be added once the surface is complete.

Ask how this surface behaves when it is wet underfoot, and what the applicator says about that in a room where water reaches the floor.

Smooth floors change character when wet, and the answer should be specific to the finish being proposed rather than general.

Ask the applicator and the system manufacturer to put this in writing for your room, since a dry sample panel shows nothing about it.

Ask what happens if part of this floor is damaged, and whether a repair can be confined to that area at all.

Some systems can be cut back and made good locally and some effectively require a whole area to be redone.

Ask whether a patch would be visible, and ask to see a repaired area if the applicator has one they can show you.

A patch that is honest about being a patch may be acceptable, but only if you agreed to that possibility beforehand.

Ask whether the whole floor can be recoated later without lifting it, and what that would involve for the household.

Recoating is far less disruptive than replacement, and knowing whether it is possible changes how you treat the floor.

Ask whether material from the same production batch can be set aside, and whether it would still match after time in storage.

Reserved material is only useful if it remains usable, and that varies between systems more than owners expect.

Ask what would happen to this floor if a leak reached it from a pipe beneath it or above it.

Water finds the weakest part of any floor build-up, and a continuous surface can hide where it has spread.

A continuous surface makes a hidden leak harder to trace, so ask the relevant qualified trade what access they would want before the floor is closed over.

Write down who to contact if something goes wrong with this surface, and what the applicator says their responsibility covers.

Poured floors are laid by specialists who may not be part of the main team, so the line of responsibility needs stating.

Ask what temperature and humidity the room needs while the floor is laid and while it hardens, and whether the household can actually provide it.

A house being lived in rarely holds steady conditions on its own, and this is the requirement most often agreed to and then not met.

Ask whether the material has a smell during application and afterwards, and how the room would be ventilated while that lasts.

The smell is the part households remember, and it determines whether anybody can stay in the property.

Ventilation and exposure during application are matters for the applicator and the material manufacturer, so ask them what the household should do.

Ask whether anyone can remain in the property while this work is done, including anyone who works from home or sleeps in the day.

This is a practical question that changes the whole arrangement and is often raised far too late.

Ask what has to have happened before furniture, rugs and heavy items come back onto this floor, and what the applicator says about returning them too early.

Marks made in the first use of a new floor are usually permanent and entirely avoidable.

Ask what protection goes down if other trades come back into the room, and note that taping protection to a fresh surface can itself leave a mark.

Protecting a poured floor badly is a well known way of damaging it, so the method matters as much as the intention.

If heating runs beneath this floor, ask whether it must be off or on during the work, and who is controlling it.

Heating below a curing surface changes how it behaves, and control of it often sits with somebody who has not been told.

How a heating system is operated around a new floor finish is set by the system manufacturer and the applicator, so ask both rather than deciding it yourself.