Laminate for Hurst's Established Single-Family Homes
Detached single-family houses account for about 10,500 of Hurst's roughly 16,800 housing units, and the typical one is decades old (American Community Survey, 2020 to 2024). Very little new construction happens here, since the city reports it is about 99 percent developed, so owners tend to update the house they have rather than move to a new build. Laminate is one of the most common ways to do that on a budget.
An older slab needs more attention than a new one before a floating floor goes down. Once the carpet is out, we pull every tack strip and staple, scrape off old pad adhesive and look for ridges, dips and cracks. Laminate is less forgiving than carpet: a dip under a plank flexes the locking joint with every step until it starts to click or separate. We grind high spots, fill low ones, lay a vapor barrier over the concrete and keep an expansion gap at every wall. Where planks run from the living room down a long hallway, we add transitions where the maker calls for them. If some rooms already have oak under the carpet, ask us whether refinishing that wood makes more sense than covering it.