Stairs, transitions and trim are the details that decide whether a new floor looks installed or looks finished. They are also the most common reason a flooring quote moves after the fact, so we measure them at the appointment and price them with the job.
A staircase is a series of changes of plane in a structure that is almost never plumb, level or consistent. Treads vary in depth from top to bottom, stringers bow, risers are rarely identical, and every one of those variations has to be scribed to rather than assumed.
That is why we measure stairs individually instead of multiplying the number of steps by a rule of thumb. Winders, open sides, a landing halfway up, a bullnose at the bottom — each one changes both the material and the hours, and pricing them properly at the appointment is what stops the number moving later.
Traffic on a staircase concentrates on the nose of each tread, in a strip a few inches wide. It is the most heavily worn surface in most houses by a wide margin, which is why a carpet chosen purely for softness will look tired on the stairs long before it looks tired anywhere else.
We take that into account when specifying. It is common for the right answer to be a slightly denser, tighter carpet on the stairs than in the bedrooms they lead to, and there is nothing wrong with a house where those two are not identical.
Carpet on stairs can be fitted waterfall, where the carpet runs straight over the nose, or upholstered, where it is wrapped tight to the profile of each tread and riser. Upholstered takes longer, uses more material and looks considerably better on an open staircase.
Either way the cushion and the fastening matter more than on a flat floor, because a stair carpet that is not held properly will creep down the flight over a few years and show as a ripple on every tread.
Hard-surface stairs need matching treads, risers and nosings, and the nosing profile is what makes the flight read as part of the floor rather than an approximation of it. Where the stair material has to match a floor from a different product line, we tell you honestly how close the match will be.
Open sides and returns need mitered ends worked on site. It is slow and it is the difference between a staircase that looks built and one that looks covered.
Every doorway where one floor meets another needs a transition sized for the height difference and the movement of both floors. Getting that wrong is what produces the strip that lifts at one end within a year.
Trim covers the expansion gap a floating floor needs without pinning it down, and door casings get undercut so the new floor runs beneath them. Scribing a plank around a casing is faster and it always looks like what it is.
Hard-surface stairs need matching treads, risers and nosings, and the nosing profile is what makes the flight read as part of the floor rather than an approximation of it.
We measure every tread, every riser and every landing at the in-home appointment. It takes longer than counting steps and it is the only way to price a staircase accurately.
The same visit covers the transitions: which doorways change material, what the height difference is at each one, and whether anything has to be undercut or made up.
Stairs, transitions and trim are part of the project rather than a follow-up visit. That matters practically — a house with a finished floor and unfinished stairs is a house you cannot properly use — and it matters for the result, because the two get set out together.
Everything is cut and scribed on site. There is no version of this work that comes pre-made to fit your house.
We clean up, and then we walk the finished job with you, stairs included, because they are the part people look at hardest.
Installed products carry a lifetime warranty, and since we service only the jobs we installed, the responsibility for how it holds up stays with us.
Stairs, transitions and trim are part of the project rather than a follow-up visit.
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Soft, pet-friendly and stain-resistant carpet chosen with you at home, then measured, prepared and installed by experienced flooring contractors.
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The look of natural wood with the durability busy households need — water-resistant options, easy care, installed by experienced flooring contractors.
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Genuine hardwood — solid and engineered — selected for grain, tone and finish, then measured and installed to last.
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Hard-wearing laminate flooring for rooms that take a beating, supplied and installed with the same preparation and cleanup as every Highmark job.
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Old flooring lifted, hauled away and the subfloor left clean, dry and ready — included in the project price on most jobs.
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Flooring for offices, suites and light commercial spaces around Licking and Franklin County, on a schedule that works around your business.
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