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Flooring Installation FAQs


Flooring Contractor FAQs

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There’s no better way to freshen up your space and add value to your home. But before you update your flooring, there are many choices to make. We’ve rounded up some flooring contractor FAQs in to help you with your decision-making process. If you want more information, check out our web pages dedicated to different kinds of flooring.

No matter the flooring you choose, you can trust the qualified contractors hired by Footprints Floors to do the job right.

FAQs

The first thing to figure out when updating your flooring is what flooring is right for the space. For a bathroom or kitchen where there will be lots of moisture and potentially water on the floor, something like tile or vinyl flooring is ideal because it’s durable and water-resistant. Hardwood flooring is a classic choice for other areas of your home, but you still need to choose between solid or engineered hardwood. Consider the upkeep of different flooring and the wear — do you have young kids or pets? Does the room receive much sun? Answer these questions first to help you decide the kind of flooring that will suit your needs.

It depends! Laminate and vinyl flooring can be installed directly over existing flooring, and solid hardwood can be glued directly onto concrete. Consider factors like the age and condition of your existing flooring and whether it will serve as a sturdy base for new flooring.

Contrary to popular belief, it is not difficult to care for wood flooring. You can simply vacuum hardwood floors to remove grit and debris and use a damp cloth or mop to wipe away dust. To reduce potential scratches, ensure footwear (i.e., heels) has proper plastic caps to prevent scratches, or ask guests to remove their shoes. As a bonus, you can switch up the look of your hardwood floors at any time through staining or refinishing.

You probably bumped into three terms when looking up hardwood flooring online: "painting," "staining," and "refinishing." "Painting" is obvious, but what about the others? A wood stain, usually applied by hand, is used to darken the color of the wood. The "finishing" process involves applying varnish and a coating of sealant, which adds gloss and protects the wood. "Refinishing" is the process of redoing your current flooring finish, revitalizing, and rejuvenating it.

Refinishing or restoring existing wood floors can save you tons of money! If you have old wood flooring that doesn’t look great, it can be tempting to rip it out and start over. But wood flooring is resilient and made to last. Most damage can be repaired, and refinishing or restoring can make wood floors look new. If you’re unsure whether your wood flooring can be saved, the experts at Footprints Floors can assess it.

This is another “it depends” situation. Solid hardwood flooring is more expensive than engineered hardwood. However, solid hardwood can be sanded and refinished more than engineered hardwood, so it may last longer. Engineered hardwood is more affordable and is more resistant to moisture and humidity. If you live in a place with high humidity or greatly varying temperatures, engineered hardwood flooring may be the right choice. Both look beautiful and are easy to take care of.

Laminate flooring is a budget-friendly type of layered flooring that can be made to look like pretty much anything. It’s typically made up of wood fibers compressed into a board or a plywood board. The board is then covered in an “image” layer — basically, a photo of whatever you want the flooring to look like (stone, wood, etc), and a “wear” layer, or protective layer. Some laminate may also have a backing layer made of cork or felt. Laminate is an affordable way to get the look of more expensive wood or stone flooring. It’s pretty durable, making it a great choice for homes with pets or kids, and it’s easy to clean. However, prolonged exposure to water can cause the wood part of the laminate to warp, making it unsuitable for rooms like bathrooms.

Laminate’s wood component makes it susceptible to water damage. Vinyl is an entirely synthetic material, which means it’s waterproof. As long as laminate is installed correctly, it’s fairly water-resistant, but still probably not a suitable choice for bathrooms or mudrooms where water might linger. Vinyl is extremely durable and comes in various of colors, textures, and styles. Both laminate and vinyl are great choices for homes with high traffic from kids and pets, and they’re easy to take care of — but whereas vinyl can go in any room in your home, remember to keep laminate out of the bathroom.

There is a much wider variety of colors, textures, and designs in tile flooring than in hardwood. Tile floors have a lifespan of over a century. Whether you're looking for a traditional or modern look, there is a tile pattern to suit you. Regarding durability, aesthetics, maintenance, and cost, tile is an excellent choice. It's also considered one of the most eco-friendly options for flooring in your home.

Ceramic tiles are made up of clay or other minerals that have been tightly compressed and heated in an oven. They can be glazed or unglazed and come in a variety of colors, shapes and sizes. Porcelain tiles are ceramic tiles that have been heated at an even greater temperature, making them more durable and less porous. Porcelain tiles are better suited for rooms with high moisture content like bathrooms, but their durability makes them an excellent choice for any room. However, ceramic tile is more affordable and still offers great durability.

We hope these flooring contractor FAQs have been helpful to you as your start your flooring journey. Contact Footprints Floors for a free estimate when you've found flooring you love. You can feel confident in a job well done with our licensed and certified contractors.

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Footprints Floors provides flooring installation services for both old and new homes. We handle the demolition and removal of the old flooring, as well as the necessary prep work for new flooring. We will even remove baseboards and reinstall them after completing the flooring installation.

Covering everything from design and installation to clean up, our team helps increase the value of your property with brand new hardwood floors. Contact us today to request a free estimate!

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What Our Customers Say

Communicative. Professional. Competitive Pricing. We highly recommend Footprints Floors of Northeast Ohio. Mike and the team did a phenomenal job installing LVP flooring throughout our entire first floor. The results are fantastic—the team clearly has experience and knows how to do what they do. Best of all: Mike was communicative through the process, answered all our (many, many) questions, and offered competitive pricing. We highly recommend them!
Zack Navabi 12/1/24 — google
Oliver was great. Everything went smoothly and timely!
Lynne Michaelson 11/30/24 — google
Sean and his crew took great care of us with a beautiful new porcelain tile floor! They were so good to fulfill our request of a picture frame style landing at the end of the hallway, bottom of the staircase. My husband and I could not be happier! IWe highly recommend Footprints Floors. Thank you, Sean, for your courtesy in keeping us in the loop all of the way!
Kathy O'Reilly 11/29/24 — google
Peter and Chris were amazing. The new tile floors match EXACTLY to areas installed by the previous owner. (Foyer was existing tile; living room is new). The work was done in a professional manner with extra care not to damage the freshly painted walls. The work was done to meet our schedule, even when we added a 2nd room. Great customer service and extremely friendly to work with.
Rebecca Fontaine 11/28/24 — google
Best in class service and craftsmanship! Don't look around elsewhere. Amanda and the whole crew at Footprints were a pleasure to work with. Flexible and very professional. Absolutely would recommend them!
Alex Kern 11/28/24 — google
They did a wonderful job on the flooring throughout our home. Peter was easy to communicate with, open to changes and transparent with costs and up front with the timeline of things. Made planning for the rest of the renovation process much easier.
Lindsey Page 11/28/24 — google
If you are looking for professionalism, good communication, reasonable pricing and timeliness on your project, look no further. Footprints Floors is the place!
Scott Varwig 11/27/24 — google
Very satisfied of the job that was done in restoring my floors….,
trinity Gilliam 11/27/24 — google
Very appreciative that they took on my project. I had water damage in my kitchen, needed the engineered planks replaced and they did a great job. Very professional, showed up on time and went above and beyond to do the job correctly. Thank you!
kandi roeser 11/27/24 — google
This company was amazing. Crew was great, polite, professional and worked hard to complete the job in the time requested. Highly recommend this company.
Ryan Redlawsk 11/27/24 — google
I can’t find enough good words to adequately describe how great an experience I had with Footprints Floors. Oliver and his crew checked every box when it comes to delivering customer satisfaction. They were above all professional, knowledgeable , helpful, flexible, courteous, respectful and all around great to do business with. The floor came out beautiful!!!
Bob Cummiskey 11/27/24 — google
Jeff and his team were amazing!!! Their customer service from the first phone call was fabulous, attentive, he always arrived on schedule, communicated often, worked on a Sunday to install a new hardwood floor in my family room, and saved my Thanksgiving dinner!!! The quality of his team’s work was simply outstanding! This is the only company I will call for all of my future flooring needs!!!
Debbie Miller 11/26/24 — google
Carson was great to work with. His installation team is very detail oriented. Great service, great quality. 100% recommend.
William Perkins 11/26/24 — google
The owner, Marc is amazing. Easy to talk with, work with and always willing to go the extra mile to make sure everything is done well!
Josh Funke 11/26/24 — google
Multiple jobs completed, 100% satisfaction!!!
Garrett Warmker 11/26/24 — google
Andrew did an excellent job on our shower. We enjoyed having him here and are very happy with the work. We will be contracting with Footprint Floors for future projects. Thank you!
Leeora & Steven Morse 11/26/24 — google
I would recommend Marc and his team for your flooring needs. These folks are incredibly knowledgeable and helpful. If you are looking for industry leading service, professional advice, and competitive pricing... look no further. I am grateful for Footprints Floors Northern STL for going above and beyond!
John Keever 11/26/24 — google
Our project was new tile in several rooms. Rebecca was clearly committed to the success of this project from start to finish. She was very prompt to reply to any questions, had her team on site when she said they would be there, and had no surprises on price or timing. She was clearly very personally engaged and cared about our satisfaction. I liked that she also allowed us to manage the job and save some money by doing some of the work ourselves - some contractors did not allow this. Overall, we were very satisfied with Rebecca and the outcome of this job and would recommend her to others.
Glenn 11/26/24 — google
The crew was hard working, on-time, consistent and professional. The work turned out wonderfully! I couldn’t be happier with the outcome. We removed and replaced tile and used Vinyl planks as well. Great company!
Stephanie Walker 11/26/24 — google
Mike and his team at Footprints did an excellent job repairing our hardwood floor after some water damage. Mike is extremely knowledgeable, and kept us up to date throughout the entire repair process. I can tell he is a perfectionist with a passion for his work, and our floor reflects that. I would gladly hire Footprints again for any subsequent flooring needs!
Kellen Coon 11/26/24 — google

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Customer Satisfaction


Footprints Floors is a one-of-a-kind residential flooring installation and restoration business. We offer high quality flooring installations and, with over a decade of dedication, we have quickly become the largest flooring contractor by striving to bring a higher level of customer service and sophistication to an industry where it was severely lacking. Our family-owned business is focused on customer satisfaction and quality results, all while passing savings on to you and yours through our low overhead model.

Footprints Floors is a one-of-a-kind residential flooring installation and restoration business. We offer high quality flooring installations and, with over a decade of dedication, we have quickly become the largest flooring contractor by striving to bring a higher level of customer service and sophistication to an industry where it was severely lacking. Our family-owned business is focused on customer satisfaction and quality results, all while passing savings on to you and yours through our low overhead model.

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