Hardwood refinishing & sanding in Kalama, WA

The town sits on a narrow strip of floodplain hemmed in by the Coast and Cascade ranges, about 75 river miles from the Pacific, and its elevation runs from sea level to 1,125 feet. The Port of Kalama is a significant Columbia River terminal for dry bulk cargo, and Marine Park runs along the river with a paved trail and the totem poles, one of them carved from a 700-year-old red cedar for the 1962 Seattle World's Fair. Downtown has five antique stores, the largest being First Street Antiques.

Two things follow for flooring.

The first is terrain. Where a town climbs from river level to over a thousand feet in a short distance, houses tend to work with the slope. Whatever the style of your home, a hillside site often means more stairs, more changes of level and sometimes a lower floor partly set into the ground. Stairs are one of the most visible parts of a flooring project and one of the most demanding to install well, so we plan treads, risers, nosings and any runner as part of the whole job rather than an add-on. Lower levels set into a slope deserve a moisture check before we suggest wood.

The second is what is in the rooms. A town with this many antique shops is a reminder that floors are a backdrop. If you are living with older furniture, a refinished hardwood floor in a calm, low-sheen finish, or a warm-toned wood that does not compete with the pieces, usually serves the room better than something busy or high-gloss. Area rugs matter here too: a well-chosen wool rug in the right size anchors a seating group, protects the floor and ties old and new furniture together. We are glad to help with size, construction and placement, not just the floor itself.

Kalama is part of our Cowlitz County area, north of our Vancouver showroom on I-5. Consultations are by appointment, and the full project, from removal to the last piece of trim, is planned before work begins.

If you are not sure where to start, start with the room you use most. A refinished living-room floor and one good rug often change how a house feels more than replacing every floor at once, and the rest can follow on a plan rather than all in one go.