Hardwood floors in Port Hadlock

Port Hadlock and Irondale grew up around a sawmill and an iron works, and the oldest houses here were floored in what the mill was cutting: narrow Douglas fir strip, tight-ringed and hard. The town filled in again after the war and again from the 1990s, so a single street can hold a fir floor from 1895, a rambler with oak strip from 1962, and a 2005 build with prefinished engineered board. We work on all three, and the first question is the same for each: does this floor need a sand, or does it need a recoat?

Irondale fir

The 1890s and early-1900s cottages in Irondale and along the old Port Hadlock waterfront are the same old-growth fir story as Port Townsend: soft early wood between hard rings, a century of patina in the surface, and no supplier for replacement stock. We sand it light, finish it coarser than oak, and keep the history. A fir floor sanded to look new looks wrong.

Ramblers and the carpet under which they hide

The mid-century houses around the Kivley and Irondale Road neighbourhoods often have oak or fir under wall-to-wall carpet laid in the seventies. Pull it up before you commit to new flooring. The perimeter tack strip sands and fills, and every so often the pad has protected a finish that only needs a coat.

The newer stock

The 1990s-onward houses toward Oak Bay, Chimacum and Port Ludlow are mostly prefinished oak and engineered board. That is recoat country: intact finish, wear in the traffic lanes, a day of work, and the wear layer kept for later. Engineered floors with a thin veneer may have no sanding in them at all, so we measure at a register or threshold before saying anything.

Crawlspaces and Oak Bay air

Houses near the water on Oak Bay and Port Townsend Bay sit low over vented crawlspaces, and summer humidity under the floor runs well above the living room. Cupped boards are usually a moisture problem first and a sanding problem second. We meter the crawlspace on every estimate and say so when a vapour barrier and a dry season have to come before the machine.

Being local

A Port Hadlock, Irondale or Chimacum estimate usually happens within the week. Because the crew is not losing a day to the Hood Canal Bridge or a ferry, local jobs slot into the calendar first, and a one-day recoat can often be done between larger jobs elsewhere.