Luxury vinyl plank
The default for basements and anywhere water is plausible. Dimensionally stable, forgiving of temperature swings, and it does not mind a damp slab the way wood does.
The floor is only as good as what is under it.
Vinyl plank, laminate, engineered hardwood, tile and carpet — plus the levelling, moisture control and subfloor repair that decide whether any of them are still flat in three years.
Preparation
Flat, dry, solid — in that order
Nearly every flooring complaint traces back to the substrate rather than the material. Bounce, telegraphing seams, cracked grout and cupping planks are what a bad subfloor looks like after a year of living on it.
- Levelling where the deflection or the dips are outside what the material tolerates.
- Moisture assessment on slabs and below-grade floors before a material is chosen.
- Fastening and repair of loose or damaged sheathing, so the squeak does not survive the renovation.
- The right underlay for the material and the location, not whichever roll is on the truck.
- Acclimatisation of wood products in the room they are going into, before they are laid.
Materials
What goes where
Most of the choice is decided by the room rather than the catalogue: how much water it sees, how much it moves, and how cold the floor under it gets.
Laminate
Hard-wearing and economical for bedrooms and living areas. Sensitive to standing water at the seams, so it goes where spills get wiped up rather than where they pool.
Engineered hardwood
Real wood over a stable core, which is why it copes with the humidity swing of a Canadian winter better than solid strip does.
Tile
Bathrooms, entries and mudrooms. The substrate matters more than the tile: movement in the floor becomes a crack in the grout, then a crack in the tile.
Carpet
Still the right answer for bedrooms and basement rec rooms where quiet and warmth beat wipe-clean.
Transitions & trim
Thresholds, reducers, stair nosings and baseboard. The details that decide whether the job looks finished or nearly finished.
Sequencing
Flooring is rarely a job on its own
It touches baseboard, door bottoms, appliance heights and stair nosings, which is why it sits near the end of a renovation and why doing it out of order creates work for everybody who comes after.
If flooring is part of a larger project, it gets scheduled with the rest of it — seerenovation services or, below grade,basement development.
FAQ
Flooring questions we get asked
Can you put new flooring over the old?
Sometimes, and it is genuinely cheaper when it works. It stops working when the existing floor is loose, uneven or holding moisture, or when the extra height fouls door swings and appliance clearances. Those are all things a site visit settles in ten minutes.
Why does the subfloor keep coming up in the quote?
Because it is the part that fails. Flat, dry and solid is the whole specification, and a floor laid over a subfloor that is none of those will telegraph every flaw within a season. Levelling and repair get priced honestly rather than absorbed and then rushed.
Do we have to move out?
No — flooring is usually done room by room or floor by floor. Furniture moves ahead of the crew and comes back behind it. Whole-house installs are faster if the house is empty, but nobody has to live in a hotel for a hallway.
What about a basement slab?
Below grade, moisture is the deciding factor. Concrete can look dry and still be passing vapour, which is why a moisture check and the right underlay come before choosing a material. This is one reason vinyl plank dominates basements.
Renovation
The rest of this side of the business
Next step
Tell us the rooms and the square footage.
With a look at the existing floor and what is under it, we can put real numbers against two or three material options rather than one vague range.
Or reach us directly
(780) 297-3888newergyindustries@gmail.comMonday to Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM MT
Working across Canada