Tile Contractors

You′ve chosen new flooring for your kitchen and have decided that what you really want will require a contractor to put in correctly. You′re excited about how beautiful it will look, but are nervous about choosing a contractor. When you choose a flooring and tile contractor, make sure that you′ve got someone with experience. Many floor surfaces require specialized handling and you want a contractor who knows how to treat different materials. Are you putting in hardwood floors, ceramic tile, vinyl tile or even a cork floor?

A good contractor knows these materials and how to install them beautifully! A few considerations in selecting a tiling contractor for your kitchen tile is their installation process. You do not want to hire a contractor that proposes to install your floor tile with glue or mastic. For the last ten years that has been an incompetent practice. You want a contractor that will install your floor tile with thin-set cement. Your tile backsplash may be installed with mastic. You may either hire a tiling contractor or a kitchen remodeling contractor to install your kitchen tile. Ask potential contractors about how they would set the tile.

As with any contractor, make sure that you choose one that will offer you an estimate that specifies cost of labor, a good time estimate, how much materials will cost and a proof of liability insurance. A professional contractor will have these materials ready for both of you to sign before he begins the project.

Make sure that the contractor also specifies how many people will be working in your home at any one time. Will he be doing the work himself, or will be be sending an employee. What is the employee′s name? Is he also insured? You need to know these things since the contractor will be working in your home. Without liability insurance, if there is an accident, you could be held liable. Be ready to take your flooring and tile contractor′s advice about materials and care. If you have chosen a contractor that has been in business for over five years, he will have had experience with many types of flooring and will be glad to advise you on your flooring choice. Let him know how you use your kitchen, what kind of traffic it gets and anything else that might pertain to the kitchen′s surface. There are additional considerations in selecting a tiling contractor. What type of flooring or egress is directly contiguous to your area you wished tiled? If you have hardwoods adjacent, you may need hardwood threshholds stained to match each of the hardwoods. What about the baseboards in your home and the transitions between the tiled areas and the carpeted or hardwood areas just adjacent? Is your tiling contractor going to provide you with an incompetetent transition with gaps, poor height transition, poor installation of baseboards because they do not know how to do anything except how to set tile. How is the contractor going to finish the transition at your kitchen cabinetry? What are they going to do at egress points where the lower part of a door is in the way? Ask them about experience with these related areas and let that be part of your selection process. You should contract with an experienced tiling contractor or an experienced kitchen remodeling contractor that can deal with all the remodeling issues related to tile installation. Part of tile installation requires skills and experience the typical tile setter does not have. Sometimes only a kitchen remodeling contractor can provide all the skill sets you need.