Getting there
Excelsior is about 40 miles from Cokato. We come east on Highway 12 and drop south to Highway 7, which runs along the edge of town. We book Excelsior in full days and pair it with Minnetonka or Chanhassen work when the schedule allows.
Cottages, winterized lake houses and the floors inside them
The blocks between Water Street and the lake, and the streets around Galpin Lake, hold a lot of small older houses. Some began as summer cottages and were closed in and heated later. Some were built as year-round homes in the 1920s through 1950s. The floors in them are narrow strip oak and maple, often fir in the oldest, and they have seen a lot. Several layers of finish, a kitchen remodel or two, and in winterized cottages, a subfloor that was never meant to carry a hardwood floor through a Minnesota heating season. Refinishing these floors is restoration work as much as sanding. We fix loose boards and replace the sections that rotted near old doorways before any sanding starts. Thickness is the gating question. A floor that has been sanded three times since 1930 may not have another full sand in it, and we measure before we promise. When the floor is too thin, we talk about a light screen and recoat, or about replacement with new solid oak of the same width so the character stays.
New builds and additions on the south shore
Older houses on the south shore come down and larger ones go up, especially on lots with a view toward the lake or near Christmas Lake. The new ones follow the same pattern we see around the whole lake. Wide plank white oak, engineered over radiant heat where the house has it, site-finished so the floor, the stair treads and the built-ins share one color. Sun is the thing to plan for. A great room with glass toward the water takes direct light for hours, and a dark stain under an oil-based finish will show a rug outline within a year. We push toward natural or lightly toned white oak under a clear water-based finish in these rooms. Additions on existing houses are their own puzzle. Matching a new wide plank to a 1940s strip floor rarely works, so we usually run a border or a threshold detail at the transition, or refinish the old floor and the new in the same stain so the width change reads as intentional.
What Excelsior calls for most
Full refinishes and restoration work lead, then repairs after a plumbing leak or a dog, then new-construction installs. Stair treads come up more than you would expect because so many of these houses have a narrow original stair that gets opened up during a remodel. We install new solid treads and risers finished to match the refinished floor, which is a better look than carpet on the stair and oak everywhere else.
Refinishing hardwood floors in Excelsior
Most of what we do in Excelsior is covered on our hardwood floor refinishing page, including how we handle thin, many-times-sanded floors and when a buff and coat makes more sense than a full sand. How a refinish runs, start to finish.
Around Excelsior
- Lake Minnetonka
- Water Street
- Galpin Lake
- Christmas Lake
- Highway 7
Hardwood services we bring to Excelsior
- Floor refinishing
- Floor restoration
- Floor repair
- Floor Installation
- Stair Treads
- New Construction Flooring
Every hardwood service, on one page.
Questions from Excelsior homeowners
Our Excelsior house was a summer cottage. Can the original floor be saved?
Often, yes, if it is thick enough and the subfloor is sound. We check thickness at a register or threshold and look for rot near exterior doors and under old plumbing. If the wood has 1/8 inch or more above the tongue, a restoration and refinish usually makes sense. Thinner floors get a lighter touch or replacement.
Will new hardwood match the old oak in the rest of the house?
Width and species can match if the old floor is standard 2 1/4 inch red oak, and a shared stain and finish will pull the two together. New wood and 80-year-old wood never match perfectly in grain and patina. Where the old floor is a narrow strip or fir, we usually plan a visible transition instead.
We're adding a great room with big windows facing the lake. What floor holds up to the sun?
White oak in a natural or light tone under a water-based finish shows the least change. All wood shifts in direct sun, but lighter floors with a clear finish fade evenly rather than leaving sharp lines where rugs sat. Avoid dark stains and oil-based finishes on that wall, and plan to move the rugs the first year.
Nearby
We also work in Minnetonka and Chanhassen. Everywhere we work.