Screed laying Vienna the floor on which everything else stands.

Screed laying Vienna: costs 2026

Prices for Vienna, as of 2026, net, including material, installation, edge insulation strips and screeding off. Not included are demolition of the old screed and the floor covering.

Additional items that must be in the quote

If the issue is not a new screed in a residential building but broken areas in a commercial or warehouse floor, the route is structural repair: Industrial floor renovation.

Which screed for what

The choice determines construction time, build-up height, weight and suitability for wet rooms. There is no best screed, only the right one. Before the floor covering is laid, the CM test applies as proof in every case – with moisture in a new building or after damage, accompanying building drying helps.

The build-up, layer by layer

Drying and readiness for flooring: the point where construction schedules fail

Placing screed takes one day. Drying takes weeks. Anyone who does not reflect this difference in the construction schedule produces either a delay or damage.

The rule of thumb and why it is dangerous

A common rule is: one centimetre per week up to 4 cm, considerably longer after that. That is true under good conditions – 20 °C, 50 % humidity, ventilated. In a Viennese old-building apartment in November without heating it is not. That is why the rule is: measure, don't calculate.

CM test

The calcium carbide method is the recognised procedure in Austria. A sample is taken from the lower half of the screed, crushed and sealed with calcium carbide in a pressure vessel; the resulting gas pressure shows the residual moisture. Measurements are taken at at least one point per room or per 200 m². You receive the report with date, measuring point and value – that is the basis to which floor layers and tilers refer.

Electronic meters that are only held against the surface are not sufficient for readiness for flooring. They show surface moisture, not the core.

What happens if flooring is laid too early

• Parquet absorbs the residual moisture, swells and cups. In the worst case the bond comes loose.
• Vinyl and design flooring are vapour-tight. The moisture builds up underneath, the adhesive saponifies, it smells.
• Tiles crack because the screed underneath is still shrinking.
• Carpet goes mouldy, mould forms in the backing.

In these cases the warranty lies with the floor layer who laid without a measurement report. For the client it still means: covering out, dry the screed, new covering. Four to eight weeks' delay and double the cost.

Screed and underfloor heating

With underfloor heating, the screed is not just a substrate but part of the heating system. It transfers the heat from the pipe into the room.

• Cover at least 45 mm above the pipe with cement screed, 40 mm with anhydrite. Less means striping: you can feel the pipes in the floor.
• Anhydrite has the advantage because, as a flowing screed, it completely encloses the pipe. With cement screed, air pockets remain under the pipe more easily.
• Functional heating is mandatory, not optional. Under the ÖNORM, the screed is heated up in stages and cooled down again, every step recorded. Without a heating-up report, no floor layer accepts the warranty.
• Measure readiness for flooring despite heating. Functional heating proves that the system works, not that the screed is dry. Both are necessary.
• Joints according to heating circuits: every heating circuit expands differently. Movement joints follow the circuit layout, not the floor plan.
• Retrofit milling is possible: grooves are milled into an existing screed and heating pipes laid in. €90–160/m², saves build-up height, responds quickly – but only with a sufficiently thick, crack-free existing screed.

Screed in Vienna's old buildings

Timber beam ceilings do not carry everything

A typical Gründerzeit ceiling carries 150 to 250 kg/m². A 70 mm cement screed alone weighs around 140 kg/m². Add furniture, people, screed insulation. That is why in old buildings dry screed is often the only permissible solution: 25 to 50 kg/m² instead of 140. For larger areas, the load-bearing capacity must be assessed by a structural engineer – via a licensed partner company.

The old sub-floor

Under the parquet in a Gründerzeit building there is usually a sub-floor on sleepers, and below it a fill of sand, slag or rubble. This fill provides sound insulation and load distribution at the same time. Anyone who removes it has to replace it – usually with bound expanded glass fill, which is lighter and insulates similarly.

Crooked ceilings

Level differences of 3 to 6 cm over six metres are normal. That determines the screed thickness: it is based on the highest point, so that the minimum thickness is maintained everywhere. A levelling survey before the quote is prepared prevents the nasty surprise that 11 cm instead of 7 cm is needed in one corner.

Moisture from below

On the ground floor and in the souterrain, moisture comes from the soil. Without a vapour barrier or waterproofing it migrates into screed and floor covering. Where rising damp is visible in the masonry, wall damp-proofing must be done first, then the floor.

Noise and neighbours

Demolishing the old screed is the loudest work in an apartment renovation. In Vienna it is permitted on working days from 7 am to 8 pm, but it is announced anyway. The rubble goes down the rubble chute into the skip, which needs a parking lane permit from the MA 46.

The ten mistakes we find most often

• No edge insulation strip or cut off too early. The screed touches the wall, impact sound travels unhindered into the neighbouring room.
• Covered without a CM test. The most common reason for damage to parquet and vinyl.
• Missing movement joints. With 90 m² of continuous screed without a joint, cracks form that show through the covering.
• Too little cover above heating pipes. You can feel the pipes, and the screed cracks along the lines.
• Anhydrite in the bathroom without waterproofing. Calcium sulphate is not water-resistant; when soaked it loses its strength.
• Dried too quickly. Draughts and construction heating in the first days lead to shrinkage cracks.
• Insulation butted instead of tight-jointed. Screed runs through the joints and forms sound bridges.
• Placed on a dirty bare slab. There is no bond, hollow spots form that sound hollow when walked on.
• Screed thickness measured at the lowest point. Then it is too thin elsewhere and breaks under load.
• No heating-up report. The floor layer will not lay or will not accept the warranty – rightly so.

How to check a screed quote

Standards we work to

The designation of the screed is in our quote, so that it is clear what is being installed. “CT-C25-F4, 70 mm on insulation” can be checked, “screed according to the state of the art” cannot.

Screed: cost per m² incl. installation – what is in the price per square metre

Anyone searching for the price “incl. installation” wants to know which figure will really be on the invoice in the end. A price per square metre for placed screed is made up of four components: the material (cement-sand mix or calcium sulphate ready mix), the crew's working time for placing and screeding off, the machine – mixing pump or silo with hose line – and the journey including setting up and dismantling. In an 80 m² apartment, the fixed share for pump and journey is spread over many square metres. With 15 m² of bathroom and hallway, on the other hand, it carries full weight, which is why small areas per square metre are often noticeably above the table values.

The range of €45 to €80/m² (net reference values) for cement or flowing screed on insulation applies to usual apartment sizes and includes edge insulation strips and installation. Not included are demolition of the old floor, a levelling fill, functional heating and the skim coat before the covering. So always clarify whether “incl. installation” means only placing or the entire build-up until ready for flooring.

What a square metre of screed costs in Austria – and why Vienna is often above it

Nationwide average prices from comparison portals rarely fit a Viennese building site. The reason is not the material and hardly the hourly rate, but the logistics. At a detached house in the Weinviertel, the mixer drives right up to the door, the area is done in one go, the hose is short. At a Gründerzeit building, the pump stands in the lane, often only with a temporary no-stopping zone that has to be applied for at the MA 46 in good time. The line runs through the entrance, courtyard and stairwell up to the fourth floor, and the stairwell has to be protected against it.

Added to this are noise considerations in an occupied building and ceilings that cannot take every weight. When you compare prices, ask about the area, build-up and access behind a figure. An “Austria price” without this information says little about your apartment.

Flowing screed: when the higher price pays off

At €55 to €80/m² net, anhydrite flowing screed costs more than classic cement screed. It pays off where its properties save money elsewhere: it flows closely around the pipes of underfloor heating, is placed quickly and lies so flat that the skim coat before vinyl or parquet is often thinner. However, calcium sulphate cannot tolerate permanent wetness – in the bathroom it needs careful waterproofing, and before the covering the surface must be sanded.

Screed repair: what prices depend on

Not every damaged floor has to come out. What matters is the damage pattern: individual shrinkage cracks can be resin-filled and stapled, smaller hollow spots injected through drill holes, sunken edge areas partly repaired. For such repairs there is no serious lump-sum price per square metre – they are invoiced by running metre of crack or number of drill holes, and only after the entire area has been tapped. If a large part sounds hollow, the patchwork quickly becomes more expensive than a new screed. Then the new build-up comes with demolition at €18 to €38/m² net plus disposal. If the substrate is damp, no repair helps before the cause has been eliminated – see Building drying in Vienna.

Screed layer in Vienna or a general contractor?

For an empty new-build area, a good screed layer is enough. In a renovation, on the other hand, the order of the trades decides the result. Before the screed, electrical and water pipes must lie on the bare slab and be covered with insulation, the underfloor heating needs its pressure test, and the floor layer only takes over when the residual moisture has been proven. If there is nobody to accept these handovers, the parties later blame each other. We plan the sequence, coordinate the dates with the installer for the underfloor heating and hand over a substrate ready for covering to the tiler or floor layer.

Laying screed in Korneuburg and the northern area around Vienna

We also take on screed work in the area around Vienna; for us, Korneuburg belongs to the near zone with daily travel. The sites there usually look different from a Gründerzeit building: detached houses, extensions and semi-detached houses with access right up to the door. The mixer or silo stands on the client's own land, the hose line stays short, and large areas can be placed in one operation. There is almost always underfloor heating in the build-up, often with a heat pump. Then what counts is tight enclosure of the pipes, the right cover and recorded heating-up before the covering – more on this under underfloor heating.

In older building stock, for example in estate houses near the Danube, moisture from below must be clarified first before rebuilding. For the journey to Korneuburg we charge a small surcharge; Stockerau is one zone further. Which other places we serve is on the page on the building contractor in Lower Austria.

What does 1 m² of screed cost in Austria – from unit price to budget

A single price per square metre only helps once it is clear which components have to be added. The following breakdown uses the net reference values on this page and shows how the total for a renovation is made up.

Worked example: in a 60 m² apartment with demolition and new cement screed, the result is €63 to €103 per square metre, so around €3,800 to €6,200 net in total. Skim coat, covering and disposal come on top. Anyone who only compares the screed price therefore often compares different services.

Frequently asked questions about screed in Vienna

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Enquire directly here — fixed-price quote for your screed free of charge, after site visit and measurement. Skyline Bau replies within 2 working days.