Carpet in Kelso, WA

Kelso sits on the Cowlitz River directly opposite Longview. Peter Crawford established it in 1847, the original plat was filed in October 1884 and the city incorporated in 1889. The 2020 census counted 12,720 residents. For decades its identity came from the river; in 1956 the chamber of commerce coined the slogan Smelt Capital of the World.

The river and the hills have also given Kelso a more serious history with the ground under its houses, and that is the reason this page reads differently from our others.

In 1980, Mount St. Helens, 24 miles away, deposited large amounts of volcanic ash on the area, both from the air and carried down the rivers. In March 1998 the Aldercrest-Banyon landslide began shifting the foundations of 64 homes. It kept moving, eventually destroyed 129 houses and was declared a federal disaster in October 1998, and it is described as the second-worst landslide disaster by cost in the United States.

Most Kelso homes were never near that slide, and we are not suggesting a floor should be chosen out of fear. But a town with this history is a good place to practise a habit we follow everywhere: check the structure before you choose the surface.

Once the structure is understood, the choices open up. Carpet is often the most comfortable and forgiving answer for bedrooms and stairs, especially in older houses where a little unevenness is part of the character. A refinished original wood floor, where one exists, can be a better result than anything new. For kitchens and entries, a well-installed plank over a properly prepared subfloor is practical and durable.

Kelso is part of our Cowlitz County area, up I-5 from our Vancouver showroom. Consultations are by appointment, and preparation, removal and installation are planned together as one project.