Hardwood Floor Installation in Murfreesboro, TN
From bare subfloor to finished trim, we lay new wood floors in Murfreesboro houses one room at a time.
- Quotes in writing
- 18 areas covered
Want real wood under your feet instead of carpet, tile or worn vinyl? We lay new hardwood floors in Murfreesboro homes, and we start every job by looking at what sits underneath.
Start with what's under the boards
The subfloor is the layer your new wood sits on, and we walk it before we quote, whether yours is plywood, boards or concrete. We look for soft spots, high and low patches, and loose sheets that squeak, and we fix those before any wood goes down.
If your house sits on a concrete slab, we test the slab first and talk you through the boards that suit it. If you have a crawl space, we check the subfloor above it for damp.
Then there's moisture. Wood is hygroscopic, which the U.S. Forest Service's Forest Products Laboratory explains as wood taking on moisture from the space around it. So we take moisture readings on the new boards and on the subfloor, and we wait until both match the board maker's instructions before we start laying.
Choosing boards for your house
The solid hardwood floors we fit are one thick piece of wood from top to bottom. The engineered hardwood floors we fit have a thin top layer of real wood glued onto a core of thinner sheets. We fit both kinds, and we can help you pick the species, such as red oak, white oak or hickory.
Since the engineered boards we fit are held together with glue, we think it pays to ask what's in it. The EPA describes composite wood as strands, fibers, veneers or boards of wood held together with glue. It names flooring as one of the common uses. Those glues can contain formaldehyde, a chemical with a strong smell that the EPA says can bother your skin, eyes, nose and throat.
There's a federal label to look for. The EPA says regulated composite wood, and goods made with it, built in or shipped into the U.S. after March 22, 2019 must carry a TSCA Title VI label. TSCA Title VI is the federal rule that caps how much formaldehyde these products can give off. We'll find that label on the boxes with you before we open them.
The EPA also says heat speeds up how fast formaldehyde comes out, and humidity may play a part too. Its advice is to run the air conditioning, and a machine that dries the air, to keep rooms at a moderate temperature with less damp. So if your engineered floor goes in during a hot Middle Tennessee summer, we'd leave the AC on.
A day on the job
We clear the room, pull off the strip of trim along the bottom of each wall and lay the boards in rows. We cut them to fit around door frames, floor vents and kitchen cabinets. Then we put the trim back on. If your boards come unfinished, we sand and coat them in your house. If they come finished from the factory, we skip that step.
Our sanding and sawing make wood dust. OSHA, the federal agency for job safety, says the dust turns into a health risk once those jobs put it into the air. It says breathing it in may lead to allergies, other breathing problems and cancer. We seal off the room we're in with plastic and set up our saw away from the rooms you're living in.
Pulling up carpet first? Our carpet to hardwood work covers the carpet, pad and tack strips. We can also do your stairs so they match.
Old flooring and leftovers
When we rip out an old floor, we're left with a big pile of scrap. The City of Murfreesboro's trash service won't take anything left at the curb and only empties what's inside your garbage cart. So the quote should say who hauls the old flooring away. With us, that goes in writing.
What sets the price
We price your floor after we measure it, and we give you that number in writing.
We set that price by the square footage, the boards you choose and how many cuts the rooms need. We also count in tearing out an old floor, fixing the subfloor, and sanding and finishing on site when the boards come raw.
Before you sign with anyone, check the quote names:
- The board type, species, grade and width.
- How moisture will be tested, and what happens if a reading comes back high.
- Who fixes an uneven subfloor, and what that costs.
- The finish by brand and the number of coats, if it's applied in your house.
- Whether furniture moving, tear-out and haul-away are included.
- How the wood will meet tile or carpet at each doorway.
Questions about hardwood floor installation in Murfreesboro
Will I need a city permit for a new wood floor?
It depends on the job. The City of Murfreesboro says you need a permit to build, alter, repair, enlarge, move or tear down a building or any part of one. It also lets normal maintenance repairs go ahead without one, and it puts floor finishing on that list. If your project changes walls, stairs or anything past the floor itself, we'll check with the city before work starts.
Do you keep the stair railing in place?
Yes, we leave it up. The City of Murfreesboro says stair rails are required wherever there are more than two steps, and that taking one off breaks the code. So when we cover stairs in wood, we work around the railing.
Why do you leave a gap at the walls?
The Forest Products Laboratory says the moisture in wood tends to settle into balance with the humidity of the air around it. We leave a small space at each wall, hidden under the wall trim, so the boards have room to swell and shrink as the air gets damper or drier.
Will my doors still close?
We measure how much taller the new floor will make each doorway before we start. If a door would drag, we tell you up front and plan for it in the quote.
Can you lay wood in a basement or over a slab?
We can, after we've tested the concrete for moisture. We'd talk you through which boards fit a below-grade room or a slab, and which ones we'd steer you away from.
Where can old oil-based paint go?
Rutherford County takes old oil-based paints at the Leanna Convenience Center, 4303 Sulphur Springs Road in Murfreesboro. We point people there when they turn up old cans while emptying a room for us.
Is there anything I should do before you arrive?
Clear small things, rugs and anything fragile out of the rooms. We'll go over with you in the quote whether we move the big furniture or you do.
Do you work outside Murfreesboro?
We do. Along with Murfreesboro, we lay floors in nearby towns such as Smyrna, La Vergne and Rockvale.
Ask us for a quote
Call or send the quote form with your ZIP code and the rooms you have in mind. We'll come out, measure, show you board and finish choices and send a written quote. You can see the rest of what we do on the Murfreesboro Hardwood Flooring home page.
Ready to talk about your hardwood flooring job?
Call us or send the quote form with your ZIP code and what you need. We will get back to you with a written quote.