Hardwood floors for Orono, from Crystal Bay to Stubbs Bay

Lake lots around Crystal Bay and Stubbs Bay, old and new

The shoreline in Orono is a mix. Some stretches have turned over to large new homes with walls of glass toward the water. Others still hold the 1960s and 1970s ramblers and the 1980s and 1990s two-stories that went up when lake lots cost less. Those two kinds of houses ask for different things from us. The new builds are wide plank white oak, usually engineered over in-floor radiant heat and finished on site so the color matches the cabinets and the stair. Big Island sits in the view from a lot of these great rooms, which means a lot of west- and south-facing glass and a lot of direct sun on the floor. We bring that up before the stain is chosen, because a dark floor under that much light will show every rug outline within a year. The older houses tend to have 2 1/4 inch red oak strip, sometimes maple, often under carpet. Many have been refinished once already, decades ago. We check the thickness above the tongue before we promise another full sand. A floor with a solid 1/8 inch left is fine. One that has already been sanded close to the tongue gets a buff and coat instead, or a careful light sand with a fine grit, and we say so before the job starts.

Humidity, winter heat and the lake

Orono houses see the same swing every house in Minnesota does. Forced-air heat drives indoor humidity below 25 percent in January, and a solid oak floor shrinks until the gaps between boards show. Summer brings the moisture back and the gaps close. The difference near the lake is that a lot of these homes have walkout lower levels, and some sit low enough that the lower level runs damp in a wet spring. Solid wood down there is a mistake. Engineered flooring on the lower level and solid or engineered on the main floor is the usual split, and we size the expansion gaps for the Minnesota range, not a national average. Acclimation matters more on a lake lot than it does inland. We deliver the flooring after the house is closed in and the heat is running, let it sit in the rooms where it will be installed, and check moisture content in the wood and the subfloor before the first board goes down.

What we do most in Orono

New-construction installs for builders working the shoreline, full refinishes of original oak in older homes, and water-damage repairs after a winter ice dam or a lower-level leak. The repairs are a bigger share here than in cities away from the lake. We cut out the cupped section and dry the subfloor, then lace in new boards and refinish so the patch disappears. Where the whole floor has been under water, we talk about replacement rather than pretending a sand will save it.

Refinishing hardwood floors in Orono

If the oak in your Orono house is original and tired, start with our hardwood floor refinishing page. It walks through the thickness check, the stain choices and the schedule, and most Orono refinishes follow that process exactly. How a refinish runs, start to finish.

Around Orono

• Lake Minnetonka
• Big Island
• Crystal Bay
• Stubbs Bay
• Highway 12

Hardwood services we bring to Orono

• Floor refinishing
• New Construction Flooring
• Engineered Hardwood Install
• Floor Installation
• Water damage repair
• Buff and coat

Every hardwood service, on one page.