East Brunswick · Central New Jersey
Floors, Entryways & Stair Landings
The front hall takes boots, salt, dogs and wet umbrellas, and it is the first thing anyone sees. Porcelain handles all of that if the floor under it is flat and the layout was planned from the door.
01 — Scope
What is included
- Carpet, vinyl, laminate or old tile removed and disposed of
- Subfloor inspected, screwed down, and levelled with a self-levelling compound where needed
- Decoupling membrane on wood subfloors so the tile does not crack when the house moves
- Layout planned from the front door so you see full tiles first
- Porcelain, wood-look plank, stone-look large format, real stone
- Transitions to wood floors, carpet and stairs sat flush — no ramp strips
- Tile scribed to hearths, door jambs and stair nosings
- Baseboards or shoe moulding reinstalled after
02 — Method
How it is done properly
The floor under the floor
Most entry floors in this area are plywood over joists, and they flex. Tile does not. Between the two goes a decoupling membrane that lets the subfloor move a little without telegraphing into the grout lines. Skip it and the first crack shows up in the second winter.
Level, not just flat
A hallway that runs into three doorways and a staircase has to land at the right height at all of them. I map the high and low spots first and level the low ones, so the finished floor meets the wood at the doorway without a lip.
Layout from where you stand
You see the entry from the front door. That is where the full tiles go, and where the veining lines up if the tile has any. Cuts go against the stairs and under the closet door. On plank tile, offsets are kept under a third so the ends do not lip.
Edges that meet something
A hearth, a stair nosing, a jamb, an existing wood floor: every edge in an entry meets something that was there first. Each one gets scribed by hand rather than hidden under a metal strip.
Want to know roughly what this costs before you call? The instant ballpark uses the same numbers I quote from. It takes a minute.
03 — Price
What moves the number
No two bathrooms cost the same. These are the things I look at on the visit.
- Square footage, and how many doorways and edges it runs into
- What is coming up — carpet is quick, old tile on a mud bed is not
- How much levelling the subfloor needs
- Tile format: 12×24 and plank need the flattest floor; small formats forgive more
- Real stone versus porcelain
- Stairs and landings — each step is its own small job
- Furniture, and whether the space is clear
FAQ
Questions people ask before they call
Will tile be cold in the entry?
Colder than wood, yes. If it bothers you, an electric heat mat goes under the tile for a few hundred dollars in materials and a licensed electrician to connect it. Ask before I set the floor — it cannot be added after.
Can you match the height of my wood floor?
Usually within a sixteenth. I measure the wood at every doorway and build the tile up or level the subfloor down to meet it. Where a difference is unavoidable, a flush reducer sits better than a ramp.
How soon can we walk on it?
Light foot traffic the day after grout. Furniture and rugs after three days. Sealer on stone needs a day of its own.
Do you tile stairs?
Landings and the risers, yes. Full staircases in tile I will look at and tell you honestly whether it is the right material for that stair.
Start with a number, not a sales visit.
Get a real range in sixty seconds, or send me a few photos and I will call you back the same day.