Install flooring

Most homes and businesses around Jackson are built on concrete slabs. Before any new floor goes down, that slab has to be clean, dry enough and flat. Skip any of the three and the new floor shows it: seams that open, edges that lift, hollow spots underfoot, or moisture damage that shows up after the first wet season.

Our part of the job starts long before installation day. We measure the space, test the slab for moisture, find and fix the low spots, and plan the layout and the doorways so the finished floor meets every room cleanly.

Prefer a seamless floor with nothing to lay over the slab? Ask us about epoxy floor coating or concrete floor polishing. Both turn the slab itself into the finished floor.

What is included

What every job includesTap to collapse

• On-site measurement and layout planning
• Slab moisture check
• Written estimate
• Removal and disposal of old flooring, if requested
• Cleaning, grinding and crack repair
• Leveling of low spots
• Installation with doorways and transitions fitted
• Cleanup and a final walk-through

Why slab prep matters for any new floor

Whatever goes on top, the slab underneath controls how it performs. Every flooring product has limits for how flat the surface must be and how much moisture it can tolerate.

Prep is also where most of the hidden work lives. Old adhesive, paint, sealer, grease and high spots all have to come off. Cracks need filling. Dips need leveling. None of it shows when the job is done, which is why it gets rushed so often.

Moisture testing on Mississippi slabs

Moisture vapor rises through concrete slabs, and in the Jackson metro there is plenty of it. Much of the area sits on Yazoo clay, which holds water and swells after heavy rain, and summer humidity keeps the air damp for months. A slab can look dry on top and still push vapor up into whatever covers it.

We check slab moisture before any installation and tell you what we found. If readings are high, we explain the options before work starts, such as more drying time or a moisture-control step under the new floor. Finding it at the estimate is much cheaper than finding it as a cupped, stained or loose floor a few months later.

Leveling low spots and fixing the slab

Few slabs are perfectly flat. Soil movement on clay, settling and old repairs leave dips, humps and ridges. A long straightedge shows them quickly. High spots are ground down. Low spots are filled with a leveling compound and allowed to set before installation.

Cracks are cleaned out and filled. Where a crack is still moving with the soil, we will tell you, because no floor covering can stop the slab underneath from shifting. Leveling adds time to the schedule, and we include that time in the plan instead of rushing it.

How a flooring installation runs

Every job follows the same order, so nothing gets skipped.

• Site visit: measure each room, check the slab and note doorways and transitions
• Moisture check and a look at slab flatness
• Written estimate covering prep, installation and any removal you ask for
• Removal and disposal of the old flooring, if requested
• Clean, grind high spots, fill cracks and level low spots
• Lay out the floor from the main sightline and the doorways
• Install, fit the edges and set transitions
• Final cleanup and a walk-through with you

Layout, doorways and transitions

Good layout is what makes a floor look right. We plan from the main entrance and the longest sightline so lines run straight where you will notice them, and so narrow cut pieces end up against walls and under cabinets instead of in the middle of a doorway.

Transitions are where floors meet: room to room, floor to garage step, new floor to existing floor of a different height. We plan each one at the estimate, check the heights so doors still swing and nothing becomes a trip edge, and fit the transition after the floor is down.

Removal, cleanup and scheduling

If there is old flooring to pull up, tell us when you request your estimate. We will include removal and disposal, along with scraping off old adhesive so the slab is ready for prep.

We keep dust contained as far as the job allows and clean up at the end of the work. For homes, we plan the order of rooms so you keep a path through the house. For offices and retail spaces, we can schedule around business hours. If you would rather keep the floor you have and only restore it, see floor refinishing.

Seamless alternatives to a new floor covering

Sometimes the best floor is the slab itself. An epoxy coating bonds to the concrete, has no seams to open and handles spills and humidity well. Polishing grinds and densifies the slab into a hard, glossy surface with nothing on top to wear off. Concrete staining adds color to the concrete directly. All three skip the moisture-sensitive layer that many floor coverings need, which suits slab homes in a humid climate.

Every floor carries our workmanship guarantee. Where the coating product carries manufacturer coverage, we pass that along too.