Floor Layers, Except Carpet, Wood, and Hard Tiles
Apply blocks, strips, or sheets of shock-absorbing, sound-deadening, or decorative coverings to floors.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Critical Thinking
- Monitoring
- Social Perceptiveness
- Coordination
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Time Management
Key knowledge
- Building and Construction
- Customer and Personal Service
- Mathematics
- Mechanical
- Production and Processing
- Design
- English Language
- Education and Training
What the work involves
- 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.
- 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.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Artistic.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (89.5% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (51.8%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 2 years, up to and including 4 years (65.3%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Floor Layers, Except Carpet, Wood, and Hard Tiles is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | High | Higher on contact with others than 73% of occupations compared | — |
| Dealing with the public | Moderate | Lower on dealing with the public than 54% of occupations compared | 40% of surveyed respondents chose “Important” |
| Teamwork | Very low | Lower on teamwork than 88% of occupations compared | 42% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | High | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 73% of occupations compared | — |
| Time pressure | Very low | Lower on time pressure than 85% of occupations compared | 53% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very low | Lower on conflict situations than 98% of occupations compared | — |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very low | Lower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 82% of occupations compared | 86% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Consequence of error | Very low | Lower on consequence of error than 91% of occupations compared | — |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very low
- Conflict situations: very low
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very low
- Consequence of error: very low
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0.52%
- Contact with others most of the time: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Constant contact with others: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 15, Incumbent 12/2005
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 1.17%
- Fairly important: 27.75%
- Important: 39.57%
- Very important: 0.52%
- Extremely important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 15, Incumbent 12/2005
Teamwork
- Not important at all: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Fairly important: 1.69%
- Important: 6.64%
- Very important: 26.58%
- Extremely important: 41.59%
n = 15, Incumbent 12/2005
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 0%
- Limited freedom: 15.93%
- Some freedom: 29.44%
- A lot of freedom: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 15, Incumbent 12/2005
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 38.34%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 0%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 53.46%
- Every day: 8.2%
n = 15, Incumbent 12/2005
Conflict situations
- Never: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a year or more but not every month: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a month or more but not every week: 5.42%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 1.17%
- Every day: 0%
n = 15, Incumbent 12/2005
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 86.49%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 1.69%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 11.82%
- Every day: 0%
n = 15, Incumbent 12/2005
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Fairly serious: 31.92%
- Serious: 3.3%
- Very serious: 16.65%
- Extremely serious: 2.77%
n = 14, Incumbent 12/2005
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O*NET-SOC 47-2042.00 · SOC 47-2042 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8