Salary and Outlook

According to the US Department of Labor, there are 23,700 people employed as floor layers, except carpet, wood, and hard tiles in the United States. The median annual salary is $45,500. Entry level employees earn approximately $27,260 per year and senior employees earn approximately $79,500 per year.

Estimates do not include other potential benefits such as health insurance, overtime pay, or retirement benefits that may be offered by employers.

Job Duties

• Remove excess cement to clean finished surface.
• Disconnect and remove appliances, light fixtures, and worn floor and wall covering from floors, walls, and cabinets.
• Heat and soften floor covering materials to patch cracks or fit floor coverings around irregular surfaces, using blowtorch.
• Form a smooth foundation by stapling plywood or Masonite over the floor or by brushing waterproof compound onto surface and filling cracks with plaster, putty, or grout to seal pores.
• Measure and mark guidelines on surfaces or foundations, using chalk lines and dividers.
• Cut covering and foundation materials, according to blueprints and sketches.
• Roll and press sheet wall and floor covering into cement base to smooth and finish surface, using hand roller.
• Apply adhesive cement to floor or wall material to join and adhere foundation material.
• Determine traffic areas and decide location of seams.
• Lay out, position, and apply shock-absorbing, sound-deadening, or decorative coverings to floors, walls, and cabinets, following guidelines to keep courses straight and create designs.
• Sweep, scrape, sand, or chip dirt and irregularities to clean base surfaces, correcting imperfections that may show through the covering.
• Cut flooring material to fit around obstructions.
• Inspect surface to be covered to ensure that it is firm and dry.
• Trim excess covering materials, tack edges, and join sections of covering material to form tight joint.

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