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Flooring & Design in Reno, Sparks & Northern Nevada

Two cities, one valley, and a straight answer on whether we can come.

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Where we work

Where does Step With Trish work?

Reno and Sparks share one valley floor, the Truckee Meadows: a semi-arid plateau in the lee of the Sierra Nevada, with Reno at its western edge and Sparks alongside. We treat the whole valley as one working area: same consult, same samples, same plan, either side of the city line.

We start in your rooms, in the light as it falls at the hours you use them, with samples chosen for that light rather than for a catalogue. Then one plan for the whole floor, every doorway and threshold decided before anything is ordered, by the same people who lead the design consultation and install it.

By Northern Nevada we mean the metro first and the communities around it by arrangement. If you are outside the valley, tell us where you are. We will say plainly whether we can come, before you spend an afternoon on it.

Reno and Sparks

Same valley, different houses.

When a street was built tells us what is probably under the carpet.

Reno, from Old Southwest brick to South Reno slab

In the Old Southwest the homes are century-old brick and craftsman houses under mature trees, among the highest home values in Reno. Houses of that age often have original wood under later carpet and subfloors rarely level by today's standards, so the first job is finding out what is there and what to keep. Midtown, walkable and amenity-dense, breweries and boutiques within blocks, asks a floor to take a lot of coming and going.

Elsewhere the houses are younger. Caughlin Ranch's core dates from the 1990s and early 2000s, alongside newer luxury infill; Somersett is golf, private clubs, trail systems and thousands of acres of adjoining open space. South Reno, from Damonte Ranch, South Meadows and Galena to the gated, staffed entries of ArrowCreek and Montrêux, is newer construction near I-580 and McCarran, South Meadows master-planned on smaller lots. Homes from those decades are often slab-on-grade concrete under the builder's carpet: flat and sound, but still needing a moisture test before installation. In Reno, the age of the street tells us the first question to ask.

  • Old Southwest
  • Midtown
  • Caughlin Ranch
  • Somersett
  • Damonte Ranch
  • South Meadows
  • Galena
  • ArrowCreek
  • Montrêux

We come to you.

Sparks, from Spanish Springs lots to Kiley Ranch's newest streets

Sparks asks different questions. Spanish Springs is known for more generous single-family lot sizes, and with the lots often come larger rooms and longer runs of floor, where plank direction and transitions matter more. Wingfield Springs sits next door to Red Hawk Golf and Resort, two miles from Golden Eagle Regional Park. Kiley Ranch, on the city's northern edge, began building in earnest around 2015 and carried on into the early 2020s around a nine-hole golf club, so most of those houses still wear the floor they were sold with.

That usually means builder-grade carpet over a concrete slab, flat and sound; the work is the moisture test, an underlayment that keeps a hard floor from sounding hollow, and deciding where carpet still earns its place. At Sparks Marina, the city park with a two-mile path, two beaches and a dog park, we plan for wet dogs and sandy feet: a rigid-core plank inside the door, wool carpet kept for the bedrooms. In Sparks the floor we replace is usually the one the builder chose, and the slab decides what can go over it.

  • Spanish Springs
  • Wingfield Springs
  • Kiley Ranch
  • Sparks Marina
  • D'Andrea
  • Victorian Square

Same in Sparks: samples in your rooms, in your light.

High desert

What does the high desert do to a floor?

The valley sits a little over 4,400 feet up. A normal year brings 7.40 inches of precipitation; humidity runs very low through summer and moderately low in winter; and with the first freeze arriving in mid-September on average and the last not until the start of June, furnaces run most of the year and push indoor air drier still. Wood moves with that. The National Wood Flooring Association's target is 30 to 50 percent relative humidity at 60 to 80 degrees, so we acclimate hardwood only once the house holds that range, keep boards within four percent moisture of a wood subfloor, and lean engineered where a house runs driest.

The days swing hard: the normal gap between the daily high and low is 27.6 degrees and often exceeds 45. Then the sun: 251 days a year with sunshine, 79 percent of what is possible, and ultraviolet roughly ten percent stronger for every 1,000 meters of elevation. Wood changes color in that light and vinyl can too, so we check which way a room faces before settling on a tone and keep luxury vinyl plank with a UV-stable wear layer for south- and west-facing rooms.

Snow is real but brief: 21.8 inches in a normal year, on 13.9 days, seldom on the ground more than three or four days. More than half the year's precipitation falls between December and March as mixed rain and snow, and snow reflects up to 80 percent of the ultraviolet that reaches it: a glass-doored entry takes sun from above and below in January. We treat entries as wet rooms and save carpet for the bedrooms, where wool is warmer underfoot in winter. Dry, bright and swinging hard between afternoon and dawn: every floor here is chosen with that in mind.

Beyond the metro

Do we work outside Reno and Sparks?

By arrangement, and we would rather say so than draw a circle on a map. If you are outside the valley — Carson City, Verdi, up at Tahoe — ask; Tahoe in particular is its own climate and its own conversation.

Whether we take a project outside the metro depends on the rooms, the material, the timeline, and whether consult, measure and install can all be done properly at that distance. Send the town and a few photos through our contact page and we will answer plainly. We would rather say no to a town than do a worse job in it.

Questions

Question by question

Where can I see flooring samples in Reno or Sparks?

In your own rooms. We bring samples chosen for the space and look at them on your floor, in your light.

Do you work in both Reno and Sparks?

Yes. We treat the Truckee Meadows as one working area: a consult in Kiley Ranch runs like one in Caughlin Ranch, same samples, same plan, same team.

Can you install new flooring in an older Old Southwest home?

Yes; the subfloor is the first thing we look at. Homes of that age often hide original wood under later layers, and floors out of level by today's standards, so we start with what is there and what to keep.

What flooring works best in a newer Sparks build like Kiley Ranch?

Usually the question is the builder's carpet and the slab under it. A moisture test decides whether hardwood is on the table; luxury vinyl plank fits concrete most easily, and carpet belongs back in the bedrooms.

Do you take projects in Carson City, Fernley or at Lake Tahoe?

By arrangement. The metro comes first; beyond it we decide job by job. Tell us the town when you write and we will say plainly whether we can come.

Next step

Where in Northern Nevada are your rooms?

Tell us the town and the rooms. We will come back with a short call, samples chosen for your light, and a plain answer on whether we can come.

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