Hardwood Floor Installation in South Dakota
Solid or engineered oak, laid board by board in the rooms where a family actually lives.
Wood is the floor most older houses around here were built with, and it is still the floor many people want back. We install solid hardwood and engineered hardwood in living rooms, dining rooms, bedrooms and halls, and we fit it so it looks like it has always belonged to the house.
A hardwood job starts well before the first board. We look at what is under the current covering, check the base for flatness with a long straightedge and plan which wall the rows start from, so the boards run the length of the room and the cut pieces at the far wall are not thin slivers.
Solid or engineered
Solid boards are one piece of wood from top to bottom. They can be sanded and refinished several times over the life of a house, which suits a home you plan to stay in for a long time. Engineered boards have a real wood top layer over a layered core. They stay steady when the house air changes from a dry January to a humid July, and they can go in places where solid wood is less comfortable, such as over a concrete slab.
At the visit we bring sample boards in a few widths and tones. Wide planks suit an open farmhouse room, while narrow strip oak matches the original floors in many older homes and makes it easier to tie a new room into an old one.
How the boards go down
The old covering comes up first and leaves with us. We sweep the base, fix low spots with a leveling compound or high spots with a sander, and roll out the underlayment the boards call for. The boards sit in the house for a few days before work starts so they settle to the room.
Then the floor goes down row by row. Joints are staggered so no two seams line up, every board is fastened or glued to suit the product, and a small gap is left at each wall so the wood can move with the seasons. That gap disappears under the baseboard or quarter round at the end.
Rooms and houses we see
Most of our hardwood work is in two-story farmhouses, older homes in town and newer family houses with an open main floor. In older houses we often lift carpet and find narrow oak strips underneath, and sometimes the simplest plan is to refinish those and add new boards only where a wall once stood or a room was added. We talk through both options at the visit.
Questions about hardwood floors
Can new oak be matched to an old oak floor?
Often, yes. We match the width and species, then the new and old boards are sanded and finished together so the color reads as one floor.
How long does a room take?
A single average room is often one to two days of laying, plus finishing time if the boards are unfinished. The written estimate lays out the days for your rooms.
Can we stay in the house?
Yes. We work room by room and keep a clear path through the house. Furniture from the room goes into another room or the garage while we work.
Prefinished or site finished?
Prefinished boards arrive with the finish already on, so the room is ready sooner. Site finished boards are sanded and coated after laying, which gives a smoother, more uniform surface. We explain both at the visit.
Tell us about the floor
Name the rooms and what bothers you about the floor. We call or email back on a weekday to set up a visit and put the plan in writing.