The Process

Getting new floors should be a smooth and straightforward process. At Desert Flooring & Design, our local team takes care of every step—from helping you choose the right materials to acclimating them for Northern Arizona’s climate and completing a clean, professional installation.

Design Consultation & Choosing Your Materials

Every project starts in our design center or right at your home. We sit down with you to look at your space, light, and how you actually live in it. Together, we go through real samples—from hardwood and tile to carpet or window coverings —so you can touch, feel, and pick the exact combinations that work best for your everyday life.

In our showroom we have a selection of our favorite manufacturers and collections, many that we have been selling and installing for years. We know these companies, their quality standards and warrantees, and are willing to stand behind them. As a small company, we are the bottom line, so we make sure that we are confident in the quality of what we sell. If you have difficulty making it into our showroom let us know and we will be happy to bring samples to you! If you are out of town there are also ways to see real samples, just ask.

Measuring Your Space & Preparing the Bid

The next step in the process is for Deb or Sylvan to come out to your home or building and measure the floor areas. This is another good opportunity to ask us questions about the process, and learn and understand what is involved. Here we will take the measurements we need, taking note of things like moving furniture, demo and removal of existing flooring, removing and replacing baseboards, and more. All these elements will go into the bid. We will also do our best to assess your subfloor and its condition. Subfloor prep is an essential part of the job.

Once you have decided on a flooring style/color and we have our measurements, then we will prepare the bid and typically email it out to you within 2-3 days. If there is any delay in getting back to you we will let you know. Once you receive and review the bid we can answer any further questions you may have, or make adjustments and changes.

Scheduling Installation

Communication is key! We will endeavor to always maintain open and clear communication with you about the flooring installation process, so you know what to expect and have all your questions answered.

Once you decide to use Desert Flooring & Design for your project, we will require a deposit to cover the cost of the materials. This is usually around 50% of the job. Once we have your deposit we will order your flooring and put you on the schedule. The installation schedule can be booked out from several weeks up to several months. As we draw closer to your scheduled date it is very common for this time to shift, so we will keep you updated. When we get several weeks away we will touch base with you to make sure that the timing works. You may also check in with us at any time and we can update you.

Delivering Materials for Acclimation

We’ll arrange in advance with you a time and date for materials to be delivered to your home or business as it could be different than the installation day. If you are getting hardwood installed, please contact us for more information about the acclimation rules.

For wood flooring jobs, we will arrange to bring out your engineered wood flooring 3 or more days ahead of installation so that the flooring can acclimate in the house. For a solid wood floor 7-10 days will be needed. For vinyl plank flooring, laminate, carpet or tile flooring acclimation is not necessary. Hardwood acclimation needs to take place inside the house where the installation is occurring, and will usually take up about a 7’ x 7’ space. Acclimation cannot be done in the garage or in a room without heat or AC. Also, if you use a humidity control system it should be running during acclimation.

Demo & The Importance of Floor Prep

After moving furniture out of the way, the job typically begins with demo, or removal of the existing flooring. Bear in mind that if we are removing wood flooring or tile that this will be fairly loud and will create some dust. We will take great care to cover furniture and cabinets with plastic, and we also have very high quality HEPA filter vacuums attached to our grinders and demo tools. This goes a long way to keep the dust down, but even so you should expect some dust from tile demo. Wood flooring removal has a little dust, and carpet removal almost none.

Once old flooring is removed we will assess the subfloor and begin floor prep. Every subfloor needs some amount of floor prep, and expecting this we will always include this in our bid. If we are aware of unusual subfloor issues ahead of time like cracking and shifting of the slab, high or low spots, etc. we will typically add this cost into your bid. However we almost always expect to have to do some grinding down of high spots, some filling of lows. This is a critical time to take the proper care before your new flooring goes down. A subfloor that has not been properly prepared and its issues remedied will cause trouble or even failures in your flooring down the road. Other aspects of floor prep include: undercutting door jambs so that the flooring can slide underneath; undercutting stone facades and fireplaces so flooring can slide underneath; and shimming the subfloor if necessary to ensure that the new floor meets up with existing flooring perfectly flush – to avoid the use of transition trims whenever possible.

Expert Installation – The Daily Schedule

When it’s time for installation, our team handles every detail with care. We focus on doing the job right so your floors look beautiful and last for years.The installation crew will generally work from 8-4 each day. We will keep you in the loop if there are any changes to this schedule. Prior to arriving for installation we will ask you to move all small breakable items, remove books and such from shelves, low hanging clothes, and bedding, etc.

We will do all the heavy lifting, and move all the large pieces of furniture. We will also replace these upon completion of the floor, and put felt pads on all the furniture feet. If we are doing several rooms or even the entire house you do not need to leave your home. Most times we can work room by room, starting at one end of the house and moving across to the other. Often large furniture can get moved to one side of a room to another as areas are completed. This is easier for us, and easier for you too when it comes time to move back in. There is no piece of furniture that we have ever been unable to move – safes, pianos, etc. Work will start with the demolition and removal of the current flooring, removing of the existing baseboards, floor prep, and then get started installing the new flooring.

Clean-Up and Completion

Most types of flooring can be walked on immediately after installation, so once a room is put back together you are free to move back in. The exception is glue-down wood flooring, which needs overnight (4-8 hours) to dry before regular traffic.

Clean-up of the work area will occur daily and trash and demo materials will be hauled off to the dump periodically. The final clean-up will include vacuuming all floors and work areas, leaving things as spotless as we found them. Glue-down wood floors also will be wiped down in the final stage. The last step will be to put your furniture back in place. During this process we will inspect the bottoms of the furniture feet and install felt stick-on furniture pads on everything. This will help protect your new floors from the dangers of scratching due to sliding furniture. We will make every effort to leave your home better than we found it, with a beautiful, durable and elegant new floor. If we’ve missed any detail, please don’t hesitate to mention it!

Collaborating with Architects, Builders, and Contractors

Managing a large-scale renovation or new build? We partner directly with trade professionals across Northern Arizona to supply materials, manage installation schedules, and deliver uncompromising quality on deadline.

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