Guides
Flooring terms, in plain words
Every word that turns up on a flooring quote, defined the way we would explain it standing in your living room.
- Acclimation
- Letting flooring sit inside your home before installation so it reaches the temperature and humidity of the room it will live in. Skipping it is a common cause of gapping and buckling later.
- Boxed stairs
- A staircase closed in on both sides by walls. Carpet or plank runs wall to wall on each tread, which is simpler than an open-side stair.
- Core
- The rigid middle layer of a vinyl plank. SPC cores are stone based, denser and harder underfoot. WPC cores are lighter and a little softer and warmer.
- Face weight
- How much fiber is in a carpet, measured in ounces per square yard. Higher face weight generally means a denser carpet, though fiber type matters just as much.
- Floating floor
- A floor whose planks lock to each other rather than being glued or nailed to the subfloor. Most luxury vinyl plank is installed this way.
- Nosing
- The front lip of a stair tread. On a plank stair it is a shaped piece that wraps the edge, and it is the part that takes the most wear.
- Open-side stair
- A staircase open on one or both sides, usually with a railing. The exposed edge has to be finished, which makes it more labor than a boxed stair.
- Pad
- The cushion installed under carpet. It affects how the carpet feels, how quiet the room is, and how long the carpet lasts. It is listed separately on a written estimate.
- Quarter round
- The small rounded trim installed where the floor meets the baseboard, covering the expansion gap a floating floor needs.
- Runner
- A strip of carpet installed down the middle of a staircase, leaving the wood on either side exposed.
- Subfloor
- The structural surface under your finished floor, usually plywood or OSB over joists, or concrete in a basement. Its condition drives more of a flooring job than the product does.
- Tear-out
- Removing the existing floor and any staples, tack strip, or adhesive under it. Included in our written estimates along with haul-away.
- Transition
- The strip that joins two floors of different type or height, typically in a doorway. T-molding, reducers, and thresholds are all transitions.
- Underlayment
- A thin layer between the subfloor and a floating floor. It helps with sound, minor smoothing, and in some products moisture. Some planks have it attached already.
- Wear layer
- The clear protective top layer on vinyl plank, measured in mils. It is what stands between your floor and daily traffic, so it matters more than plank thickness.
- Waterproof vs water resistant
- A waterproof wear surface will not be damaged by spills sitting on it. It does not make the whole floor system a moisture barrier, and standing water or subfloor moisture still has to be dealt with.