Hardwood Flooring in Canandaigua, NY

Hardwood Flooring in Canandaigua usually starts with a floor that is already there. Census figures compiled from the 2019-2023 American Community Survey put 39.5% of the city's housing units at 1939 or earlier, so a large share of homes here were built when solid wood was the standard floor. When those boards are worn gray in the hallways or hidden under old carpet, refinishing them is often a better choice than tearing them out.

What we look at first

Before we talk about stain colors, we check whether the floor can take another sanding. Older floors may have been sanded several times already, and the wear layer above the tongue gets thinner each time. We pull a floor register or look at a threshold edge to see how much wood is left. If there is enough, we sand to bare wood and refinish. If the floor is thin in spots, we may suggest a lighter approach or replacing only the worst boards.

The full list of work we do in Canandaigua

• Hardwood floor refinishing: sanding to bare wood, filling, staining and new finish coats
• Screen and recoat: a light abrasion and fresh topcoat for floors with worn finish but sound wood
• Repair and board replacement: pet stains, water marks, cracked or loose boards, patched floor-register holes
• Hardwood stairs: refinishing old treads or replacing carpeted stairs with wood
• New solid hardwood installation in additions, kitchens and rooms that never had wood
• Engineered hardwood where a solid floor is a poor fit, such as over concrete

Historic streets and older trim

Canandaigua has three districts on the National Register of Historic Places, including the Canandaigua Historic District and the North Main Street Historic District, along with individually listed homes such as the Granger Cottage and the Thaddeus Chapin House. Homes on and around those streets tend to have original trim, baseboards and doors that people want kept as they are. We protect those pieces during sanding and plan edge work around them rather than pulling trim off by habit.

Paint is the other concern. The EPA's lead renovation rule covers homes built before 1978 when work disturbs painted surfaces. Sanding a floor is not the same as stripping trim, but shoe molding and baseboards in older homes are often painted. We note painted trim at the estimate and plan the job so it is left in place or handled with care.

Owners, landlords and long stays

The city is close to evenly split between owners and renters: the Census reports a 50.7% owner-occupied rate for 2020-2024. For owners who plan to stay, a full sand and refinish makes sense. For rental units, a screen and recoat between tenants can restore the shine without the downtime of a full sanding, as long as the finish has not worn through to bare wood. We can quote both so a landlord can choose by unit.

Lake country winters and dry air

Canandaigua's average January low is 17.8°F, according to the city's Wikipedia climate table. Once the heat runs for months, indoor air dries out and wood floors shrink. One Great Lakes flooring guide notes that indoor humidity can fall to 20 to 30 percent in winter without a humidifier, and that gaps open below 30 percent. Those seasonal gaps usually close again in spring, so we do not fill them in January. Whatever the season, we take moisture readings before sanding so the boards are stable when the finish goes on.

How an estimate works

Call (585) 632-6150 or send photos of the rooms. We measure, check board thickness, look for old repairs and water damage, and write out a quote that lists each room and each step. If you want the living room and dining room this year and the upstairs bedrooms later, we can split the quote that way.

Get a Free Estimate