Hardwood & engineered floor installation in Brooklyn

New wood floors for Brooklyn homes

Brooklyn housing is a mix of 19th-century brownstones, limestone row houses, prewar walk-ups, newer condos and converted lofts, and each one asks something different of a new floor. A brownstone parlor floor may have joists that dip toward the center of the room. A walk-up on the fourth floor means every box of boards is carried by hand. A condo tower may want a sound-rated underlayment and proof of insurance before anyone starts. We look at the building first and choose the product and method around it.

Our Brooklyn work covers whole-house installs, single rooms, additions that need to blend into an older floor, and gut renovations where nothing is left but joists. Recent installs have included wide plank boards in Bed-Stuy and red oak in Brooklyn Heights, and you can see both in the photos further down this page.

Solid or engineered: picking the right board

Solid hardwood is one piece of wood from top to bottom. It is fastened with nails or staples into a plywood subfloor and can be sanded many times over the decades, which makes it a natural choice for an above-grade brownstone floor with a good wood base.

Engineered hardwood puts a real wood surface on top of a layered core. That construction moves less when the air turns humid in August or dry once the radiators come on, so it is often the smarter pick for garden-level apartments, rooms over a concrete slab, or floors over radiant heat when the manufacturer approves it. Engineered boards can be nailed, glued or floated. If you are weighing wood against vinyl for an apartment, our guide to engineered hardwood vs LVP lays out the tradeoffs.

Oak is the species most Brooklyn owners land on. White oak shows a tight, modern grain and takes gray or natural tones well; red oak has a warmer pink cast that suits traditional rooms; maple is harder and paler. We bring samples so you can judge them in your own light, and we help you settle on grade, width and whether to buy prefinished or site-finished boards.

How a Brooklyn install runs, step by step

Timing, access and building rules

Most homes are done in two to four days. Bigger footprints, heavy tear-out, subfloor repairs, patterned layouts, site finishing and tight access all stretch that, and we give you a realistic schedule once we have measured.

Co-op and condo boards in Brooklyn Heights, DUMBO and Williamsburg usually want a certificate of insurance, set work hours and protected hallways. We are licensed and insured and can send the paperwork your managing agent asks for. For brownstones and row houses, we think about where the truck can park, where boards can acclimate, and how to keep dust and debris off the stoop and stairs. Every install carries our 5-year workmanship warranty, as written on your job.

What affects the cost

Every installation is quoted to the room in front of us. These are the things that move the number up or down:

• Size and layout: total square footage, how many rooms, closets and hallways, and how many cuts the plan needs.
• Material: solid or engineered, species, grade and board width.
• Finish: prefinished boards, or unfinished boards that need stain and several coats on site.
• Stairs: treads, risers and nosings are quoted as their own line.
• Repairs: removing old flooring, fixing or leveling the subfloor, and adding underlayment.
• Access: walk-up floors, elevator bookings and co-op work windows.

For a quick planning figure, try our Instant Preliminary Estimate. We confirm the final quote after a free on-site measure.

Baseboards, shoe molding and quarter round

The edge of a new floor is where a careful install shows. We can take off and reset existing baseboards, put in new baseboard, and add shoe molding or quarter round along the bottom to cover the expansion gap that wood needs at the walls. Shoe molding is slimmer and tends to look right against older brownstone trim; quarter round is a little fuller. Tell us which look you want, and the trim work is written into the same estimate as the floor.

Patterns, borders and stairs

Straight strip and plank are the most common layouts, but a Brooklyn parlor or foyer is a good place for herringbone, chevron, a border or a medallion. Pattern work needs a very flat base and takes longer than a straight lay. Stairs that match the new floor are quoted separately. See our herringbone, parquet and stairs page for Brooklyn, and if your existing floor just needs a new surface rather than new boards, read about hardwood floor refinishing in Brooklyn.

Photos from our work

Photos from real Gemini installs, labeled by the type of work. Full gallery →