Newington showroom • Serving Connecticut
Verified flooring case study • West Hartford, CT • Completed August 2026
Replace loose, cracked tile in the kitchen and bathroom and update the stairs with fitted carpet
Case study published
Residential Project · Residential Home
The problem
Loose, cracked tile was the starting point for this West Hartford kitchen and bathroom. Tile cracks when the floor beneath moves or the bond fails, and once a tile is loose or cracked it doesn't settle back into place — loose pieces keep moving underfoot, cracked pieces stay cracked, and water reaches the layers below. At that point the damaged tile has to come out.
The crew removed and disposed of the existing tile and subfloor material in the LVT work areas, then patched and leveled the floor for a floating installation. A floating rigid-core LVT doesn't get glued down — it locks together over the prepared surface — so the preparation step is what determines whether the new floor stays flat and quiet.
Rather than re-tiling two wet-adjacent rooms, the decision was a single limestone-look LVT — Karndean Knight Tile Rigid Core Natural Limestone — installed in both the kitchen and the bathroom, with fitted warm tan NRF carpet updating the stairs. Removal, preparation, flooring, appliance and plumbing-fixture coordination, and all trim and transitions were completed in one coordinated day.
Project overview
Loose, cracked tile was the starting point for this August 2026 West Hartford flooring update. Floors Now removed and disposed of the existing tile and subfloor material in the LVT work areas, then patched and leveled the floor for a floating installation. The same Karndean Knight Tile Rigid Core Natural Limestone LVT was installed in the kitchen and bathroom, while warm tan textured NRF carpet was fitted on the stairs and around the railing spindles. The scope also included appliance moving, removal and resetting of the toilet and pedestal sink, and trim and transitions at the adjoining floors. The project was completed in one day, and all six photographs show the completed work.
Project facts
Project photography
Each image and caption identifies the portion of the verified project that is actually shown.
Scope of work
Floating limestone-look LVT and fitted stair carpet completed with removal, preparation, and finishing in one day.
Common questions
We installed the same Karndean Knight Tile Rigid Core Natural Limestone LVT in both rooms so the two floors read as one continuous surface, and using one floating system in both rooms simplified the preparation and installation. Stone-look vinyl is also a practical choice for rooms that see water.
Each tread is cut and fitted individually, including around the stair turns and the railing spindles. On this project the warm tan NRF textured carpet was fitted on the main stairs, the upper flight, and the turning treads, cut closely around the white spindles.
They have to come out so the new floor can run underneath. On this project we removed and reset the toilet and pedestal sink as part of the one-day scope, along with moving appliances for flooring access in the kitchen.
Transitions and trim. This project finished the LVT edges with reducers, a threshold/end cap, a stair nose, matching and primed quarter-round, and cove base — the profiles that bridge the new floor to the adjoining surfaces.
Products and planning
Use these resources to compare the materials, preparation, and installation services involved in this project.
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