Under most of this city's carpet is old-growth fir worth uncovering, and under some of it is a subfloor that has been quietly moving since 1915. What you can install depends on what's already there. Describe the rooms and we'll match you with flooring installation crews in Portland who check before they quote.
If the existing fir or oak has enough thickness left, refinishing costs a fraction of replacement and looks better than anything you can buy new. If it's been sanded three times, patched at old wall lines, or soaked at some point, replacement is the call. Luxury vinyl plank and engineered wood both float or glue over a prepared subfloor and tolerate moisture better, which is why they dominate basement and kitchen work here.
Century-old joists sag toward the middle of the house, and most click-together floating floors have a flatness tolerance they genuinely require. Ignoring it produces bouncing planks and separated joints within a year. A proper quote includes subfloor prep — self-levelling compound, sistered joists, or a new underlayment layer — as a named line, not a hope.
Wood flooring installed straight off the truck in a Portland winter will move. Material needs to acclimate in the house, and the crawlspace below needs a ground vapour barrier if you don't want humidity cycling through your floor twice a year. On slab or basement installations, a moisture test is standard practice and worth insisting on.
Describe the project once and we match it with vetted local pros who actually do this work — you choose who to hire, or nobody at all.
Homes built roughly 1900 to 1940 across inner Portland were routinely floored in vertical-grain Douglas fir, later covered by carpet, linoleum, or both. Pull a corner in a closet before you order anything. Fir is softer than oak and dents, but it refinishes beautifully and buyers in this market notice it immediately.
Portland basements are damp by design — below grade, in clay, with slabs poured long before vapour barriers were standard. Solid hardwood does not belong down there. Vinyl plank, tile, or a properly detailed engineered product over a moisture barrier is the durable answer, and the slab should be tested rather than assumed dry.
Refinishing existing hardwood commonly runs $4–$8 per square foot, less per foot on large open areas. New solid hardwood installed typically lands between $10 and $18 per square foot including material, engineered somewhat less. Luxury vinyl plank frequently falls in the $5–$10 range installed. Subfloor repair, levelling, stair treads, and removing old adhesive or tile are all separate costs and are where cheap bids quietly diverge. Ask specifically what happens if the subfloor turns out to need work.
Pulled the carpet in our 1924 house and found fir in decent shape. They refinished it instead of selling me new flooring, which they easily could have.
Basement had a damp slab. They tested it, put down a barrier, and the vinyl plank has stayed flat through two winters.
The upstairs subfloor dipped almost half an inch across two rooms. They flattened it before anything went down, and there are no hollow spots underfoot a year later.
It depends on how much wood sits above the tongue. An installer can pull a floor vent and measure. Many Portland floors have been sanded once or twice and still have life; some have been taken too far and any more sanding hits the nails.
Typically three to five days for sanding, staining, and coats, plus cure time before furniture returns. Water-based finishes are faster and lower odour than oil-based, which matters if you plan to stay in the house. Most people move out for at least a couple of nights.
Tile and quality vinyl plank both handle spills and the humidity swings well. Solid hardwood in a kitchen is common in older homes and does fine if leaks get caught quickly. Sheet vinyl remains the budget answer and modern versions look far better than their reputation.
Ask. Some crews include moving furniture and hauling old flooring, others price it separately, and disposal of old carpet or tile can add real money. Clarify before comparing bids that look identical on the material line.
Tell us the rooms, the square footage, and what's currently on the floor. Portland installers will quote for free and tell you what they'd check first.
Find Your Contractors Today100% free · No obligation · Takes about 2 minutes — only matched pros ever see your number