Roslyn grew up as a coal-mining town, and plenty of its houses and cabins have been standing a long time. That’s a big part of what people love about the place. It’s also why a floor job in Roslyn rarely starts with a flat, square room.
We’re just down the road in Cle Elum, and Swiftwater Houseworks installs hardwood floors in Roslyn’s older homes, cabins and second homes. Here’s what tends to come up in an older house, and how we handle it.
Old houses, uneven subfloors
Older floors settle. Framing sags a little, boards work loose and squeak, and a room that was level once now slopes toward a corner. Many older homes have board subfloors instead of plywood, sometimes with a layer or two of old flooring on top.
New hardwood is only as flat and quiet as what’s under it. Before anything goes down, we pull up the old carpet or vinyl, fasten loose boards, fix the squeaks we can reach and flatten the high and low spots. If a dip comes from something structural underneath, we’ll tell you before we cover it up, not after.
If we pull up carpet and find original wood floors underneath, we’ll tell you that too, before anything new goes over them. Sometimes those old boards are worth keeping.
Matching older floors
Sometimes the job isn’t replacing a floor but adding to one: a room that never had wood, or a hallway where the original boards stop.
Old wood has aged and darkened for decades, and new boards won’t match it exactly on day one. What we can do is get close. We match board width and direction, help you choose a species and stain that sit well beside the old floor, and plan where the new floor meets the old so the change looks deliberate, like a threshold at a doorway, instead of a seam across the middle of a room.
Solid or engineered in an old house
Solid hardwood belongs in houses like these, and it can be refinished many times. Engineered hardwood is more stable, which helps in older homes with drafty corners, crawl spaces and uneven heat. For a lot of older Roslyn houses, engineered is the safer bet. Our Cle Elum hardwood floors page goes deeper on the trade-offs and on finishes that hide wear.
Brandon & his team are fantastic. The crew is cheerful & personable. Many homes in our neighborhood use Swiftwater Earthworks for jobs large & small.
Second homes in Roslyn
Plenty of Roslyn houses are weekend places, and that changes the plan.
- Acclimation needs heat. Wood has to adjust to the house at normal living conditions before it’s installed. For a weekend place, that means turning the heat up before the flooring arrives and keeping it there through the install.
- Pick a forgiving finish. A house that sits cool between visits sees bigger swings, and a matte or textured finish hides the wear from guests, dogs and boots.
- You don’t need to be here. We’re local and bonded, and we’re glad to work while you’re away. Come back to a finished floor.
If you’d like someone looking in on the place between visits, ask about vacation home care. If the new floor is part of a bigger refresh with paint, trim and fixtures, see small remodels. Weighing LVP, laminate or tile for a kitchen or entry? Start with our flooring installation page.
Tell us about your Roslyn place. Ask for a free quote or call 509-260-3659.