Flooring Inspection
Tim Dubiel
We have now reached one of the most exciting part of your home. This is where all of the colours and selections you have made will come together. This stage will be all your flooring.
When we get to the flooring stage, we always make sure the subfloor is cleaned very well. We have one of the best cleaning teams in the city, and all of our cleaners are employed by Cedarglen and treat each house as if it were their own. They are scheduled to vacuum the house the day after paint, which is also the first day of tile. The tile installer will usually drop off all of his tile and materials the night before to start the next day. The installer will run chalk lines to square up the area he will be working on. If it is a small area, he may not need the chalk lines. Some installers will ‘dry’ fit all the tiles before they start installing the tiles. What this means is they fit all the tiles in place, cut all the tiles they need to cut and then start installing. This might take a bit longer but once everything is ready to be laid down it doesn’t take long to complete the job. There are two types of materials that can be used for the tiles to be installed. For floor tile or tiles in a shower, the installer will get bags of thinset that need to be mixed with water and then applied for a very strong adhesion. The other material is a pre-mixed ‘glue’ that is usually used for wall tile. Both are great products that work very well in the installation of tiles. Once all the tiles are installed the installer must wait at least one day before he can grout the tiles. The grout is a sand/cement material that will fill all the spaces between the tiles. The grout is pushed into the spaces and once all the grout is applied the installer then must wipe down all the tiles. The grout will leave a film on the tile and the installer must keep wiping down the tiles with clean water until the tiles are clean. Once the tiles are cleaned the install is complete.
If linoleum was selected, then this is the next flooring that will be installed. Linoleum is installed over the smooth K3 product. The installer will fill all the seams or imperfections with a blue/grey floor patch and once it is dry he will sand it smooth. The subfloor is then prepped and the installer will vacuum the subfloor and install the glue that will bond the linoleum to the K3. Once the glue is installed, the linoleum will soon follow and the installer will make sure everything is square and installed correctly. When the floor is placed, the installer will roll a heavy roller over the entire floor to make sure there aren’t any imperfections and the floor is completely level. Once this process is complete, the floor will be covered in cardboard to protect the floor for the rest of the build.
Up next is hardwood. The first thing the hardwood installer will do is sand down any high spots on the subfloor. These are usually minor but they want to make sure the hardwood will not have any dips or humps after it is installed. The installer will then square up the area he will be installing and run chalk lines to make sure his install will look great when he is complete. The hardwood can either be glued and nailed or just glued, and all that depends on the type of hardwood and the spec for each type. The floor can also be laid straight or at a diagonal. This will depend on the home owners selection. The installer will usually start at one end of the house and work his way to the other end. Along the walls the installer will leave a little gap to allow for any movement on the floor. The hardwood will move with the weather. When it is dry out it will shrink a little and when it is moist out it will expand a little. The floor is designed for these changes and it very normal to happen. Once the hardwood is installed the floor will be covered with a plastic material to protect the floor (for the rest of the build).
The final flooring to be installed is the carpet. The cleaners are booked the day before the install to make sure the subfloor is clean before the carpet is installed. The first thing the installer will do is make sure the subfloor is level and free of any holes. If there are any issues he will sand or fix the problem areas. The next thing he will do is install the smooth edge. This is a strange name for this product as it is a strip of nails that is installed near the walls to hold your carpet in place. The installer will then lay down all the under pad. This will be stapled down to the subfloor. The final step is to install the carpet. Most rooms will fit one full piece of carpet but in hallways or larger rooms the carpet will need to be seamed together. The way this is done is with a glue strip and a very hot iron. When the installer is complete the seam will be virtually invisible. The stairs are usually the last part of the install and once complete, your flooring stage is complete.