Hardwood Flooring Installation in New Jersey

Hardwood is the specialty here, and the other services on this site sit around it. If you are putting wood down in a new room, replacing a floor that has reached the end of its life or finishing an addition, this is the page that matches your project.

Morais Construction is fully insured, with general liability, workers compensation and employers liability coverage. At the estimate, Leo looks at the space, measures, checks what is under the current floor and talks through the options with you. You see the person who will be responsible for the job before you decide anything.

Most of our hardwood work falls into three kinds of job. The first is a new installation over a prepared subfloor, where the room has never had a wood floor or the old covering is coming out entirely. The second is replacement, where tired or damaged flooring is removed and wood goes in its place. The third is new space, such as an addition, a finished attic or a basement conversion that needs a proper floor.

In each case we remove the old flooring, prepare the subfloor and install the boards. If the stairs or the neighboring rooms need to match, that is worth raising at the estimate, because our staircase and floor services are planned together with the main floor.

A good hardwood installation is mostly decisions made before the first board is nailed. This is the general method a careful installer follows, and it is the standard to hold any estimate against.

First comes the walk through and measurement. The installer looks at the room layout, the traffic, the direction of the light and the way the floor will meet doorways, stairs and the next room. Then the subfloor is checked. It has to be flat, dry, solid and clean. Loose areas are fastened, high spots are flattened and low spots are filled. Old flooring and the nails, staples and adhesive it leaves behind come out before anything new goes down.

Wood is a natural material that takes on or gives up moisture, so boards are normally allowed to adjust to the conditions of the house before installation. The layout is planned from the longest or most visible wall, so the first row is straight and the last row is not a thin sliver. A gap is left at the walls so the floor can move with the seasons, and baseboard or shoe molding covers it afterward. Boards are fastened by nailing or gluing depending on the product and the subfloor, and transitions at doorways are fitted so the floor ends cleanly.

Solid hardwood is a single piece of wood from top to bottom. Engineered hardwood has a real wood surface layered over plywood or composite layers, which makes it more stable when humidity changes. Neither one is better in every house. The choice depends on the room, the subfloor and how much moisture the space sees.

Over a wood subfloor in a living area, either type is a reasonable choice. Over concrete, or in a basement, engineered construction is the more common answer because it handles moisture movement better, and the slab has to be tested for moisture first. A surface layer that is thick enough can be sanded and refinished later, which matters if you want the floor to last through several decades of use. Ask any installer how thick the wood surface is on the product they propose, and how many times it can be refinished.

If you are weighing wood against vinyl plank or laminate, our LVP and laminate page lays out where those floors fit and where hardwood is the better call.

Most failed hardwood floors fail from below. An uneven subfloor shows through the boards as dips and squeaks. A damp subfloor makes boards cup, crown or open gaps. Installing wood into a house that has not settled to normal humidity, such as right after plaster or paint has been drying, invites the same trouble.

New Jersey houses add their own conditions. Humidity swings between summer and winter, basements and shore-area homes can hold moisture, and older houses often have subfloors that have settled unevenly. Hardwood still works in these houses, as long as the moisture checks and subfloor preparation happen. Our subfloor preparation and leveling work is covered on the staircases and floor services page, and it is often the part of the job that decides how the floor looks in five years.

Prefinished boards arrive with the stain and coats already applied at a factory. Installation is faster, there is less sanding dust inside the house and the floor can usually be used sooner, with the finish manufacturer's cure instructions followed for furniture and rugs. Site-finished boards are installed raw, then sanded smooth and finished in place, which lets the seams sit flat and lets you choose the stain color on the floor itself.

Prefinished boards have small bevels at the edges that show the seams. Site-finished floors read as one continuous surface but need the finishing steps and cure time inside your home. We walk through both options at the estimate and match the choice to your rooms and how you live in them. If you later want the floor sanded and refinished, that is covered on the sanding and refinishing page.

Whoever you hire, a useful estimate answers a handful of plain questions. What will be done about the subfloor, and how will it be checked for flatness and moisture? How will the boards be fastened? How will the layout be planned? How will the room be protected, and who cleans up? What does the finish need before furniture and rugs return? Who exactly will be on site?

If an estimate cannot answer those, get another one. At Morais Construction the owner walks every estimate, so these questions go straight to him.

We work out of Oakhurst and install hardwood across Monmouth County, Ocean County, parts of Middlesex County and South Jersey. If you are not sure whether your address is in range, ask when you call. The service areas page lists where we work.

To start, request a free estimate by phone or through the form. Leo will set a time to walk the space with you.