Hardwood Flooring in East Rochester, NY

Hardwood Flooring in East Rochester is mostly a refinishing story. Census survey data for 2019-2023, compiled by Point2Homes, put nearly half of the housing units here, 49.5%, at 1939 or earlier, with another 7.5% from the 1940s and 13.5% from the 1950s. That is about seven in ten homes built before 1960, an era when wood floors were standard. Under the carpet, vinyl or worn finish in many of these houses is a floor that can look good again.

A village built for factory workers

East Rochester was first known as the village of Despatch. It was laid out as a planned community along the New York Central Railroad mainline, with land drawn largely from Fairport businessman Walter Parce, to house workers of the Merchants Despatch Corporation and the Aeolian Piano Corporation. Aeolian's old buildings are now the Piano Works Mall. The result is a compact village of closely spaced homes, about 4,817 people per square mile in 2020, many of them modest houses from the same few decades.

What we usually find under the carpet

In houses like these, the original floors are often oak strip in the main rooms. Bedrooms and upstairs rooms in some homes may have a different species or a plainer grade. Common problems include dark water stains near radiators and kitchen doors, patched-in boards where a chimney or wall was removed, and old finish worn through in the hallway. Most of that can be handled with sanding, board replacement and refinishing.

Our process on an older floor

1. Measure the rooms and check board thickness at a register or threshold 2. Pull carpet, pad and tack strip if needed, and set or remove old nails and staples 3. Replace boards that are cracked, rotted or too stained to sand out 4. Sand to bare wood, working edges by hand around trim we are keeping 5. Apply stain if you want a color change, then multiple coats of finish 6. Walk the floor with you and go over care and drying times

Other work in East Rochester

Not every job is a full refinish. A floor with a dull but intact finish may only need a screen and recoat. Stairs in older two-story homes often get worn treads refinished or carpet replaced with wood. Kitchens and additions sometimes need new solid hardwood laced into the old floor so the two read as one. Where a room sits over concrete, engineered hardwood is the better choice.

Lead-safe planning

Almost every house here predates 1978, the year the EPA's lead renovation rule uses as its cutoff. The rule applies when work disturbs lead-based paint. Floor sanding works on the wood, not the walls, but older baseboards, shoe molding and door casings are often painted. We mark painted trim at the estimate and plan the job to leave it undisturbed where possible.

Owners and dry winters

About 61.1% of occupied homes in East Rochester are owner-occupied, per the same ACS data, so many floors here belong to people who plan to stay. Long Rochester-area winters dry indoor air, and wood shrinks as it dries. Seasonal gaps between boards are normal; a humidifier that keeps winter readings in the mid-30s to mid-40s percent helps limit them.

Close to our home base

East Rochester sits between Pittsford and Perinton, just southeast of the city, which makes it one of the easiest places for us to schedule. Call (585) 632-6150 for a visit. We will check the floor and give you a written estimate.

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