Kitchen and bathroom flooring installation in Plano

Luxury vinyl plank, or LVP, is a layered floor made to look like wood or stone. Most LVP has a waterproof core, so the plank itself won't swell. It feels softer underfoot than tile and goes in faster. Heavy point loads and sharp objects can dent or cut it. Water can still get under the floor through seams and edges, so the edges near tubs and sinks get sealed.

Tile comes as ceramic or porcelain. Both are fired clay. Porcelain is denser and takes in less water, which makes it a strong pick for bathroom floors. Tile lasts a long time. It also feels hard and cold, and a dropped dish will probably break. Grout lines need sealing, or you can use epoxy grout. For wet floors, ask about the tile's slip rating. Smaller tiles and textured finishes give more grip.

Engineered hardwood has a real wood top layer over layers of plywood. It handles swings in humidity better than solid wood, and it can work in a kitchen if spills get wiped up quickly. It's not a good fit for a full bathroom with a tub or shower. Solid hardwood isn't recommended for full bathrooms either, because it can swell and cup when it gets wet.

The subfloor is the layer under your new floor. In many North Texas homes, that's a concrete slab. Our clay soil swells and shrinks with the weather, so slabs can move over time. Small cracks and slight dips are common. Larger movement is less common, and we don't diagnose foundation problems.

What we do is check the surface before anything is ordered. The installer lays a straightedge on the floor to find high and low spots. High spots can be ground down, and low spots are filled with a leveling compound. Flooring makers set limits on how flat the floor has to be, and the installer works to those limits.

Tile needs a flatter, stiffer base than LVP, and a crack that's still moving can show through tile over time. A crack isolation membrane helps in some cases. If we see a wide or changing crack, or a large dip, we'll tell you before you order, and we may suggest having a structural professional look at it first.

A transition is the strip where two floors meet, such as kitchen tile and hallway wood. Different floors have different thicknesses. A reducer or threshold covers the height change and the gap. We plan these spots with you so they fall in doorways instead of the middle of a room.

Floating floors, like most LVP and some engineered wood, need room to expand and shrink. They usually stop at the cabinets and don't run underneath. Tile usually stops there too. Baseboard or shoe molding then covers the edge. We confirm the plan for each room before work starts.

In a bathroom, the floor is only one part of keeping water where it belongs. The shower needs its own waterproofing. The floor edges at the tub, vanity and toilet are sealed and caulked. The plumber pulls and resets the toilet so the new floor runs cleanly underneath it.