Floor layers install flooring materials in houses and other buildings. Some floor layers specialize in a particular kind of flooring, such as laying carpet or industrial tile, whereas others are more generalized and work with several different kinds of flooring.
About one third of the approximately 160,000 floor layers in the United States are self employed. The majority of floor layers learned their trade on the job by working with other floor layers. Growth rate in the industry is expected to vary considerably depending on the type of floor laid. Carpet installation, for example, is not expected to increase significantly, whereas marble tile and industrial tile floor layers are expected to have as much as a 14% growth rate in their industry.
Floor laying is categorized as moderate to heavy work by the Social Security Administration, depending on what kinds of flooring is being laid. The job typically requires a good deal of heavy lifting, whether of rolls of carpet or boxes of tile. The job also requires that you be able to bend and kneel for long periods of time, and that you be able to perform moderately heavy work while in that position.
In addition to the back and knee strength that is required to perform well as a tile layer, you need to have reasonably good eyesight and manual dexterity. Part of the job includes being able to cut flooring materials to size, often using power tools such as a jigsaw, band saw or circular saw.
While any kind of chronic illness or injury which hinders you from performing heavy work is likely to leave you unable to work as a carpet layer, back injuries and knee injuries are particularly common among those who have spent any significant amount of time laying floors. This is mostly because floor layers spend so much time working on their knees or bending over to install flooring.
Working with a Disability as a Floor Layer
If you were a floor layer and can no longer perform full time at work because your injuries or other medically discernible problems cause you to be unable to do the job, you may qualify for Social Security Disability benefits. Of course, if you have had other jobs or performed other kinds of work in the past 15 years, the Social Security Administration will also consider whether or not you are still capable of going back to one of those kinds of jobs.
In order to qualify for Social Security Disability benefits, you must show that you are completely unable to perform any kind of work which is available and for which you either have experience or could be reasonably trained. Even if you can demonstrate that you are incapable of laying floors any longer because of your disabling condition, the SSA will still look at your residual functioning capacity to see if there is any other kind of work which you could reasonably be expected to do.
If you have a physical disability which causes you to have difficulty bending over, lifting heavy weights, or spending hours on your knees, you should have no problem demonstrating that you are physically incapable of laying flooring. Most people with physical disabilities have little trouble showing the SSA that they can’t lay floor any longer, as the job is very physically demanding.
Where most people have trouble is in demonstrating that their disabling condition makes it impossible for them to perform other types of work. This is especially true for younger floor layers who become disabled, as the Social Security Administration often determines that younger workers are more readily able to be trained for other kinds of work than older disabled workers.
Filing for Disability as a Floor Layer
The social security disability application process can be long, drawn out, and somewhat convoluted, especially if you don’t have an adequate understanding of how it works. Your best bet is to contact a Social Security Disability lawyer right from step one. You are entitled to a representative from the time you first make your claim and throughout the entire Social Security Disability claims and appeals process.
Having a qualified Social Security attorney can save you months of frustration. On top of that, it has been statistically proven that claimants who have representation are more likely to win their claim at each step of the process.
If you’re one of the many floor layers who find that you can’t bend over or kneel long enough to get the job done anymore, you don’t have to take it lying down. With the right Social Security Disability lawyer in your corner, you can successfully navigate the Social Security Disability claims process and start collecting the disability payments you have coming to you. Best of all, your disability attorney won’t even cost you anything unless you win your claim.
For more information, submit a free disability evaluation and indicate that you would like to speak to a qualified Social Security Disability representative.
