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Flooring Installation FAQs


Flooring Contractor FAQs in Austin

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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 Austin 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 in Austin 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 in Austin 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

Kris has been great to work with. He is responsive, very reasonably priced and knows the market and products well. We received a quote initially, but decided to go with someone else for more of a one stop shop (Kris does not sell the flooring, but has referrals). In all honesty, we wish we had gone with Footprints and had him quote some repairs on items the other contractor got wrong.
Daniel Maine 01/8/24 — google
Kris is awesome! Highly recommend! Amazing attitude, energy, care, attention and honesty!
Mahesh Bahuleyan 12/7/23 — google
Kris was great to work with and extremely helpful in explaining everything that was going to be done. Sean did a fantastic job with the installation, was on time, and very friendly. Thanks for making the process so easy!
Katherine Care 08/20/23 — google
I had been living with some worn-down carpeting on my entry stairs for years and finally decided to replace it with wood-look vinyl flooring to prepare my home for sale. Kris came out quickly to give me a quote and let me know how much to order from a supplier—the total materials and installation cost ended up being significantly more affordable than a quote I got from another company! Once the materials came in, it was quick to get on the schedule for installation, and the workers were prompt and quick to get it done. There was a small hiccup with not ordering quite enough material because of the weird shape of the landing stairs at the top, but we were able to order more and schedule guys to come back to finish that within a week. The stairs look and feel great with LVP! Don’t hesitate to reach out to Footprints Floors for your next project.
E K 08/18/23 — google
Kris and Shawn were both amazing throughout the process of redoing our shower floors to a stone pebble tile finish, and a new kitchen backsplash. Incredible attention to detail, care around other finishes, and general kindness when working through the job. 10/10 would recommend.
Ben Serbiak 08/10/23 — google
Can't say enough about how good our experience was. Chris was professional and responsive. Intaller Sean has mastered his profession. I'm particular and his work is top notch. We ran out of tile and he came back to install the last four pieces. I will never lay tile myself again.
Tim Evans 07/4/23 — google
Installed new tile on pool fountain. It was a pleasure dealing with Kris, knowledgeable & highly professional. Sean did a fantastic job on the tile. He had several suggestions that improved the project. Sean even came back on Saturday morning to finish the work, after having to stop early on Friday afternoon due to a thunder & rain storm. I plan to use Footprints Flooring on a second project in the near future.
Eric Wilson 06/14/23 — google
Kris was very knowledgeable and helpful when coming out to give us our estimate. His team lead by Oscar was amazing great communicators, professional, polite, and did great work. I recommend Footprints.
csaum 06/6/23 — google
Great Job! Hired them to install laminate floors in one bedroom and it is seemless. Looks as if the original home builder had done it themselves. Great management and employees!
William Anderson 06/5/23 — google
I had Kris and his crew install some floating flooring while I was preparing my home for sale. They showed up on time and worked efficiently to get the job completed. My one dig would be that they chose to glue down the transition trim rather than use the tracks that come with it. I don't have a problem with the gluing down, but they were kinda' sloppy about it. I spent some very precious time cleaning up the excess glue, when I spoke with Kris he was very receptive to the feedback and said he would address the issue with his crew. A few days later a springy spot appeared, and another a few days after that. Kris was very consistent in taking my calls, listening to my complaints, and taking steps to correct them. Ultimately, Kris took very good care of me and saw the job through the difficulties to a very satisfactory conclusion. I would definitely hire them again in the future.
Steven Holloway 05/22/23 — google
Professional, cooperative, responsive & great attitude
Fr. Benjamin Abouelkheir 04/18/23 — google
Effortless to give these guys 5 stars. Communication was top notch, as was the details in the corners. No brainer to use these guys again. Recommending them to everyone I know.
D. S. 04/3/23 — google
Footprints removed my carpets and installed my vinyl floor seamlessly aligning it with existing vinyl flooring in the attached kitchen area. Thanks for a great installation job!
Charlene Baskerville 03/24/23 — google
We used Footprints Floors to replace some sections of tile that were hollow and cracked after a bad installation (original install not done by Footprints). They were thorough, professional, and responsive, and the finished product is perfect. Highly recommend.
Tanya Streit 03/13/23 — google
Kris and his team were great to work with. The communication was top notch and the craftsmanship was excellent. The install crew was very respectful to my home. And I feel like the cost was very reasonable for what we got. They installed my LVP and baseboards. I would easily call them back for other work and recommend to others.
Dan 03/12/23 — google
The did an amazing job!! Ordered wood and they managed to complete the job really quick at a very affordable price. Shopped around for 2 months before deciding and super happy I chose them
Deivit Salazar 03/3/23 — google
We hired Footprint Floors to replace our engineered wood floors with composite. Our previous floor was installed only 4 years ago by previous owner, but the quality of the installation was so poor the flooring had multiple issues. Khris, the owner was extremely responsive from the first moment until the the project was finished. He explained the whole process, answered our questions and promptly provided us a quote. Previous companies I tried to get a quote from didn’t even show up. Footprint Floors are not the cheapest but the quality of their work and their trustworthiness is definitely worth the money. They started the job when they promised and fixed all the issues that were discovered (uneven subfloor). Mario our floor guy was very polite and always made sure to ask our opinion about any small detail or decision and explain issues he found. I would highly recommend working with them. We are already planning to bring them back for another small project we have.
Tímea Fekete-Zán 03/2/23 — google
Customer service and workmanship are unmatched, comparing to any large project I have done in the past. We had a BIG job. Our wood floor buckled throughout 2 weeks after we thought a leak was resolved. The surprise was that the prior owner of the house did not like their original wood floor so they laid another on top of it creating double demo work. We decided to move forward with wood inspired tile. The outcome is gorgeous. Every piece was laid perfectly. Communication and responsiveness were quick and professional . I highly recommend Kris and Foot prints Flooring team for any floor installation.
P. Galbraith 02/14/23 — google
Hi, I had 8 Travertine tiles replaced in my kitchen. I had original tiles for replacement. I did some grout prep work. The tiles were removed and replaced in 4 hours. I'm very satisfied. Thanks!
Joseph Aaron 02/14/23 — google
Kris and his crew did a great job repairing our floors. Would definitely use them again!
jill bradshaw 02/14/23 — 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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