Specialty Flooring

Specialty Flooring — Concrete, epoxy, bamboo, cork, terrazzo, and rubber — surfaces beyond the mainstream. It sits inside flooring; choosing well means matching its strengths to your room, moisture, and budget.

What Defines Specialty Flooring

These are the characteristics that set Specialty apart:

Key characteristics

• Spans the hardest (polished concrete) to the softest (cork)
• Several are highly sustainable (bamboo, cork, recycled rubber)
• Often double as the finished and structural layer

Types of Specialty Flooring

Compare the main types — each links to its full specs, uses, and trade-offs.

• Concrete Flooring

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  Polished, stained, or sealed concrete as a finished floor.

• Epoxy Flooring

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  A seamless resin coating for garages, basements, and shops.

• Bamboo Flooring

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  A fast-renewing grass milled like wood; strand-woven types are very hard.

• Cork Flooring

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  Soft, warm, antimicrobial flooring made from cork-oak bark.

• Terrazzo Flooring

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  Marble or glass chips set in cement or epoxy, ground to a polish.

• Rubber Flooring

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  Resilient, slip-resistant flooring for gyms, play areas, and utility rooms.

Specialty Flooring Specifications & Ratings

The spec, not the sticker, decides how Specialty performs. The specs that predict how long a floor survives traffic, pets, and moisture.

Wear rating & hardness

Wear layer & abrasion

How much surface a floor can lose before it shows.

Hardness (Janka)

Resistance to denting, on the Janka scale for wood.

Installing & Caring for Specialty

Installation basics

Specialty is installed by a vetted crew to manufacturer and industry standards — correct prep, method, and acclimation. See flooring installation.

Care & maintenance

Match cleaning and any sealing to the material so Specialty keeps performing; our team can advise the routine.

What Specialty Costs

We never quote sight-unseen. Cost depends on a few factors:

The factors that move the price

Material grade

The product tier — wear layer, thickness, species, or core — is the biggest single driver of cost and lifespan.

Project size & layout

Square footage, room count, transitions, and pattern complexity all change labor.

Substrate condition & prep

Leveling, moisture mitigation, or removing the old surface add scope where the base is not ready.

Access & site conditions

Stairs, tight access, furniture, and occupied spaces affect time on site.

A Representative Decision

How the specs above translate into a real recommendation — a representative, spec-driven scenario (not a specific customer).

How to Choose Specialty Flooring

Weigh durability, maintenance, moisture tolerance, and budget together — the right choice matches how the room is used.

Match the spec to the room

Moisture, traffic, and use decide suitability — not the showroom sample.

Written, itemized quote

Material, prep, and labor separated.

Proper installation

The best material installed wrong still fails — confirm method and prep.

Specialty Flooring Installation Standards

However good the material, the install decides whether it lasts. Every specialty flooring job we match you to meets these:

Spec in writing

The exact specialty flooring product, grade, and rating documented before work starts.

Installed to standard

Substrate prep, correct method, and any acclimation or cure time to manufacturer and Wear rating & hardness guidance.

Accountable, vetted crew

A vetted installer who stands behind the scope and the schedule.

Brands & Material Authority

Quality and construction drive long-term performance more than the label. These are widely respected names in this category:

• Shaw
• Mohawk
• COREtec
• Armstrong
• Pergo
• Mannington
• Bruce
• Karndean