Hardwood Floor Refinishing in West Duluth
West Duluth is an official neighborhood district in the west-central part of the city, and it is working housing: modest homes built close together for people employed in the mills, the yards and the port, most of it from the same turn-of-the-century window as the rest of Duluth.
Plain Floors, Same Good Wood
No inlaid borders and no patterned work here. These were laid as working floors: narrow plain-sawn oak and a great deal of Douglas fir, installed when the house went up and expected to be walked on rather than admired.
A century later that plain material is the same old-growth stock the grand houses on the hill have. It refinishes just as well and it cannot be bought new at any price.
Most of It Is Still Covered
More than anywhere else in the city, West Duluth floors are under something. Carpet went down through the 1960s and 1970s, and kitchens and back halls picked up linoleum laid straight onto the boards. Pull back a corner in a closet or look at the edge of a floor register and you will usually find wood.
Carpet protects what is under it. Shielded from light and traffic for decades, the floor is often in better shape than the exposed areas around it. Uncovering and restoring a hidden floor is one of the most common jobs we do here. Where the covering is linoleum rather than carpet, old adhesive and backing get tested before anything is sanded, because material from this era can contain asbestos.
Staying in the House
These are compact houses, which makes moving out for three days a genuine imposition rather than an inconvenience. They also predate 1978 by a long way, so old finish and paint layers may carry lead. Both point at dustless refinishing, which captures the dust at the sander instead of putting it through a house that has been sealed shut since October.