Getting there
Our shop is in Cokato, about 45 miles west of Plymouth. We take Highway 12 east and come up Highway 55 or 494 depending on where in the city the job is. Crews come out for full days on site, so the drive does not change how we schedule.
Plymouth's 1990s and 2000s maple and oak floors are due
A large share of Plymouth's housing went up between about 1990 and 2008, in subdivisions around Medicine Lake, Parkers Lake and Bass Lake. Builders in those years put down a lot of maple, both factory-finished and site-finished, and a lot of 2 1/4 inch and 3 1/4 inch red oak. After twenty to thirty years the finish is worn through at the kitchen sink and the back door, the sheen is gone in the traffic lanes, and the color has gone orange where the oil-based coats ambered. The wood underneath is usually in fine shape. A full sand takes it back to bare, and from there you can keep the natural look or go to a different color. Maple is the one to be careful with. It blotches under dark pigment stains, so if you want a dark floor on maple we will show you what the stain does on a sample board before anyone commits. On red oak a medium brown or a lightly whitened tone works well and covers the pink cast.
Buff and coat or full refinish in a Plymouth home
Not every worn floor in Plymouth needs a full sand. If the finish is dull and scratched but still covering the wood everywhere, a buff and coat abrades the old top coat and lays a fresh one over it. It takes a day, you are back on the floor the next, and it buys years. Once the finish is worn through to bare wood anywhere, or you want a color change, a buff and coat will not fix it and we will say so. Factory-finished maple from the late 1990s often has a very hard factory coat that resists abrading, and the micro-bevels between boards hold dirt, so those floors usually go straight to a full refinish. We look at the floor in person before quoting either one. A full refinish in an occupied Plymouth house runs several days for sanding, stain if any, and coats, and we use dust containment on the sanders so the rest of the house stays livable.
Installs, additions and stair treads
Plymouth also keeps us busy with installs. Kitchen remodels where the old vinyl comes out and the new hardwood has to lace into the existing oak in the family room, additions that need a floor to match the rest of the house, and whole-house replacements where carpet is finally leaving. Matching a new install to a twenty-five-year-old floor is a stain and sheen job as much as a species job. Stair treads are the other frequent request, since a lot of these houses have carpeted stairs between hardwood levels. Winter matters for all of it. Forced-air heat in January pulls indoor humidity low, so new wood needs to acclimate in the house before it goes down and the expansion gaps have to be right or you will see gaps in February and cupping in August.
Refinishing hardwood floors in Plymouth
Most of our Plymouth work starts on the hardwood floor refinishing page, because the typical call is a 1990s maple or oak floor that has finally worn through. That page explains what a full sand involves, when a buff and coat is enough, and how we handle the stain decision on maple. How a refinish runs, start to finish.
Around Plymouth
- Medicine Lake
- Parkers Lake
- Bass Lake
- Highway 55
Hardwood services we bring to Plymouth
Every hardwood service, on one page.
Questions from Plymouth homeowners
Can you refinish the maple floors in my 1990s Plymouth house, or do they have to be replaced?
Almost always they can be refinished. Solid maple from that era has plenty of thickness left for a full sand, and most engineered maple can take at least one. We check the wear layer at a vent before we commit. Replacement only comes up with water damage, pet damage through the wood, or a floor sanded several times before.
How long will my family be off the floors during a refinish?
Plan on about a week for a typical Plymouth main level, counting sanding, stain, coats and cure. You can walk on the floor in socks a day or so after the last coat, furniture goes back after the finish cures, and rugs wait longer. Water-based finishes shorten that, oil-based stretch it.
Can you stain my maple floor dark like the photos I keep seeing?
We can, but we will show you a sample first, because maple blotches under dark pigment stains and rarely matches a photo of white oak. A medium tone or a natural finish on maple looks clean. If you want a dark floor, white oak and red oak take it evenly, and on maple a dye gets closer than pigment.
Do you work in occupied homes in Plymouth or only new construction?
Both, and in Plymouth it is mostly occupied homes. We use dust containment on the sanders, seal off the rooms we are working in, and plan the job room by room when you cannot leave the house. New construction and remodels with builders are the other half of our work, scheduled the same way.
Nearby
We also work in Maple Grove, Wayzata and Minnetonka. Everywhere we work.