Service area
Wood Floors in Kensington, Old, Philadelphia
We sand, refinish, install and rebuild wood floors and stairs in Kensington, Old, Philadelphia. The median home here dates to 1997, and 25.8% of the housing was built before 1940, which is what decides whether your floor is a refinish or a restoration.
- Neighborhood of
- Philadelphia, PA
- Population
- 6,177
- Housing units
- 3,051
- Median year built
- 1997
- Built before 1940
- 25.8%
- Built before 1978
- approximately 42.1%
- Owner occupied
- 41.4%
What is usually under the floor here
Prewar and postwar housing sit side by side, so the right answer changes house to house and sometimes street to street.
Places with this mix were built across a long stretch, and the floors follow. One block holds original strip oak over joists with a thin wear layer left, and the next holds postwar red oak over a plywood subfloor with most of its thickness intact.
That is why we do not quote this kind of address over the phone. The same service can be a straightforward refinish on one side of a street and a restoration decision on the other, and the only way to know is to look at the edge of a board.
Worth knowing here
Additions are the common surprise. A kitchen bumped out in the 1970s often carries a different floor from the rest of the house, and matching the two is its own conversation.
Whether the federal lead rule applies depends on the house
Approximately 42.1% of the homes here predate 1978, so it comes down to the specific address.
This is a place where the housing stock straddles the 1978 line the EPA rule draws. Roughly half the addresses are covered and roughly half are not, which means the answer is per house rather than per town.
Where it does apply, the rule governs how the sander is set up: containment and a HEPA vacuum collecting dust where it is generated. We check the age of the house before deciding how the work is staged.
What the work here usually looks like
A majority of the homes here are rental. Turnover work runs to a different clock than owner work, and screen and recoat is often the right call where a full refinish is not.
Pennsylvania registers home improvement contractors through the Office of Attorney General rather than licensing them, and the registration number belongs on contracts, estimates and advertising.
What we do in Kensington, Old
Hardwood Floor RefinishingSand the old finish off, repair what needs repairing, and put a new finish down
Dustless Floor SandingVacuum-extraction sanding
Solid Hardwood Floor InstallationSolid wood, nailed down over a wood subfloor
Engineered Hardwood InstallationReal wood over a stable core
Luxury Vinyl Plank (LVP) InstallationWaterproof, quiet, and it does not care about a wet basement
Custom Stair InstallationTreads, risers, stringers and skirt board, built to a drawing instead of a catalog page
Stair RefinishingStairs take more wear per square foot than any floor in the house, and they are sanded almost entirely by hand
Hardwood Floor RepairBoard replacement, weaving in new wood, squeaks, gaps and cupping
Questions
Can you tell me what my floor needs over the phone?
We can tell you what is likely, and this page is most of that answer. What we cannot do is quote a floor we have not seen, because remaining thickness and what is under the covering both decide the job and neither is visible in a description.
Do you bring the material?
Yes. We buy direct from the distributor and the material lands in the same number as the labor. Samples and larger offcuts come to the house so you choose in your own light.
Nearby neighborhoods
Send a photo and we will tell you what you are looking at
Wood floor work in Kensington, Old starts with someone reading the house. We quote every job ourselves, with no salesperson in between, and a photo of the floor gets you a straight answer faster than a form does.
