Flooring FAQs
December 23rd, 2025 | by Nick Kayser | Posted in
Flooring, Baseboard & Door Casing FAQs
Below are answers to common questions homeowners ask when planning new flooring installation. These FAQs cover flooring options, timelines, baseboards, door casing, costs, and what to expect during installation.
If you’re considering a project and want a full overview of what’s included, you can learn more about our flooring installation services throughout the East Valley.
What types of flooring do you install?
We install a wide range of flooring options, including Luxury Vinyl Plank (LVP), porcelain and ceramic tile, large-format tile, wood-look tile, and specialty flooring products.
We help you select the right material based on durability, moisture exposure, maintenance needs, lifestyle, and overall design goals as part of our flooring installation process.
What flooring works best in Arizona homes?
In the East Valley, tile and LVP are the most popular flooring choices due to their durability, heat resistance, and low maintenance.
Tile offers exceptional long-term durability and stays cool, while LVP provides a comfortable underfoot feel, modern design options, and quicker installation.
How long does flooring installation usually take?
Most flooring projects take 2–5 days, depending on square footage, material type, layout complexity, and preparation work.
Larger homes, tile installations, or projects requiring leveling, demolition, or custom layouts may take longer. We provide a clear schedule before work begins.
Do you remove and dispose of existing flooring?
Yes. We handle full demolition and disposal of existing flooring, including tile, carpet, laminate, or hardwood, as part of our flooring services.
This ensures a clean, properly prepared surface before new flooring is installed.
Do you install flooring throughout the entire home?
Yes. We install flooring in kitchens, bathrooms, living areas, bedrooms, hallways, and closets. Many homeowners choose a continuous flooring design throughout the home for a cleaner, more modern look.
We’ll help you determine the best approach based on layout, transitions, and budget.
Can we live in the home during flooring installation?
In some cases, yes. When possible, we plan projects in phases and clearly communicate which areas will be inaccessible during installation.
For whole-home flooring projects, living in the home can be challenging, and we’ll discuss options and expectations during planning.
Do you replace baseboards when installing new flooring?
Yes — and we strongly recommend it. New flooring paired with new baseboards creates a clean, finished appearance and avoids gaps or damage left from previous flooring.
Baseboard replacement is commonly included as part of our flooring installation services.
What type of baseboards do you install?
We install modern square-edge baseboards, taller baseboards (typically 4”–7”), and traditional profiles depending on your home’s style.
We help you choose a baseboard profile that complements your flooring and overall design.
Do you caulk, fill, and paint baseboards?
Yes. All baseboards are professionally installed, caulked, filled, and painted to create a smooth, finished appearance.
This attention to detail is what gives the final project a high-end, complete look.
Do you replace door casing when flooring is installed?
If needed, yes. When flooring height changes or existing trim is damaged during removal, replacing door casing ensures a clean and consistent finish.
If you upgrade baseboards, door casing is often updated to match the new trim style.
Can you match existing trim styles?
Yes. We can match existing door casing and trim profiles or upgrade everything to a new, cohesive style when refreshing the entire space.
Do you adjust doors for new flooring height?
Yes. We trim and adjust doors as needed to ensure proper clearance and smooth operation after new flooring is installed.
How much does new flooring cost?
Most East Valley flooring projects range from $25,000–$50,000+, depending on square footage, material selection, preparation work, baseboards, and trim upgrades.
Pricing typically includes removal of old flooring, new materials, and professional installation.
Do you help with flooring selection and design?
Absolutely. We provide design guidance, samples, and access to a virtual showroom to help you select flooring, baseboards, and trim that fit your style and budget.
Which flooring type is the best choice for most homes?
The honest answer is that it depends on your lifestyle, budget, and where the floor is going — but for most East Valley homeowners, tile and LVP are the two best options and the ones we install most.
LVP is 100% waterproof, comfortable underfoot, warmer than tile, and installs faster. It works beautifully in bedrooms, living areas, and whole-home installations where comfort matters. Premium LVP with a rigid core and 20mil+ wear layer holds up for decades with minimal maintenance.
Tile is the more durable long-term investment. It handles Arizona heat better than any other material, stays cooler underfoot, and the right installation literally lasts a lifetime. For kitchens, bathrooms, and high-traffic areas, tile is hard to beat. You can see how we approach it on our tile flooring installation page.
Hardwood is beautiful but requires extra care in Arizona’s dry climate. Laminate looks similar to LVP on the surface but isn’t waterproof — we rarely recommend it here.
If you’re not sure which direction to go, we’ll walk you through the tradeoffs during your consultation. You can also explore all the options we offer on our flooring installation page.
Should you use LVP or tile in front of a fireplace?
Laminate is not a good choice near a fireplace — it’s not waterproof and the wood-fiber core can swell or warp with temperature swings. LVP or tile are both far better options here.
Tile is the strongest choice directly in front of a hearth. Porcelain handles heat without issue, won’t fade, and looks sharp with most fireplace designs. It’s also easy to clean when ash or debris ends up on the floor. See how we install it on our tile flooring installation page.
LVP performs well in rooms with fireplaces too, but we recommend keeping it a reasonable distance from the firebox itself — most quality LVP products have heat tolerance limits, and direct, sustained radiant heat from a hearth can affect the planks over time.
Bottom line: tile around the hearth, LVP or tile throughout the rest of the room. If you’re also updating the fireplace itself, visit our fireplace remodeling page — we can coordinate both so the transition looks intentional and clean.
How does LVP compare to hardwood flooring?
Both are solid choices, but they’re solving different problems — and in Arizona, the comparison leans heavily toward LVP for most homeowners.
Arizona’s low humidity (often below 20%) is rough on solid hardwood. Wood shrinks, gaps open between planks, and the constant cycle of air conditioning and heating accelerates that movement. You can make solid hardwood work here, but it requires ongoing humidity management that most people don’t want to deal with.
LVP gives you a wood appearance without the climate sensitivity. It’s 100% waterproof, dimensionally stable in Arizona heat, scratch resistant, and requires no refinishing. Premium LVP is also less expensive than hardwood and installs faster.
Where hardwood wins: authentic feel underfoot, the ability to sand and refinish multiple times, and a perceived value that some buyers associate with solid wood.
Engineered hardwood is a middle ground worth discussing — real wood top layer, more stable core. It performs better in Arizona than solid hardwood and still has that genuine wood feel.
We’ll talk through all three options during consultation so you can make the call that fits your home and how you actually live in it. Visit our flooring installation page for a full breakdown, or use our Virtual Showroom to see how the tiling options look in your home.
Is it okay to place a refrigerator on LVP flooring?
Yes — with a couple of things to keep in mind.
Quality rigid core LVP handles the weight of a refrigerator without issue under normal circumstances. The bigger concern isn’t the weight itself, it’s point pressure and moisture. Refrigerator feet are small, so they concentrate a lot of weight in a small area. Over time, that can cause indentations in softer or thinner LVP products. This is one of the reasons we only install premium LVP with rigid core construction — it’s far more resistant to compression than budget vinyl with a flexible core.
A few things we recommend:
- Place appliance floor protectors or a thin rubber-free mat under the refrigerator feet to distribute the load
- Avoid rubber-backed mats directly on LVP — rubber can discolor and permanently stain vinyl over time
- If the refrigerator ever leaks, clean it up promptly — the planks themselves are waterproof, but standing water sitting under an appliance for extended periods can work its way into seams
If you’re doing a full kitchen flooring project as part of a larger kitchen refresh, we’ll talk through appliance placement during planning so the layout works with your new floors from day one. You can also browse our kitchen remodeling page if a full kitchen refresh is on your radar.
