Flooring in Vallejo, CA

What is under the carpet in a Vallejo Victorian?

Usually old-growth Douglas fir, and usually in better condition than anyone expects.

Carpet is unkind to the wood at its edges, where tack strip has been nailed through, and it traps moisture if there has ever been a leak. But across the field of the room it acts as a protective layer. We regularly pull carpet in the Heritage District and find fir that has not seen daylight since the Ford administration, with the original patina intact.

Fir needs a different hand from oak. It is considerably softer, so it sands fast and it is easy to take too much off. The mistake we are most often called in to correct is a floor that has been sanded aggressively by someone treating it like oak — flattening out a hundred years of character in an afternoon and leaving the boards thin.

Should an old fir floor be made to look new?

No, and this is worth being direct about. A fir floor from 1905 has dents, nail holes, and gaps that open and close with the season. Sanding all of that out, filling every gap and finishing it to a high gloss produces something that looks like a laminate imitation of the floor you started with.

What works is a light sanding, a finish that lets the grain show rather than burying it, and accepting the marks. The floor is supposed to look like it has been walked on since Theodore Roosevelt was president.

What about lead paint in older Vallejo houses?

Any house built before 1978 may have lead-based paint, and the great majority of the Heritage District and St. Vincent's Hill predates it by decades. Sanding near painted baseboards and door casings can disturb it, and the EPA's Renovate, Repair and Painting rule governs how that is handled.

Raise it at the estimate rather than on the day, so containment is planned rather than improvised.

Does Vallejo's humidity affect a wood floor?

Yes, and more than most of Solano County. Vallejo sits at the mouth of the Carquinez Strait, where marine air pushes inland, so relative humidity here stays consistently higher and swings less violently than in Fairfield or Vacaville.

Practically, that means two things. Wood needs longer to acclimate here — five days rather than three is a reasonable default. And crawl spaces under older Vallejo houses are frequently damp and unsealed, which is the most common cause of cupping we see in the city. Before laying a new floor over a crawl space, we check what is going on underneath, because a vapor barrier down there is cheaper than a failed floor up here.

What about Glen Cove, Hiddenbrooke and the newer subdivisions?

Different city, effectively. These are hillside developments from the 1970s onward, and many are slab-on-grade or built on shallow crawl spaces.

Solid hardwood over a slab is a bad idea regardless of location. Engineered hardwood with a moisture barrier is the standard answer, and it allows the wide-plank look that suits these houses' larger open rooms. Luxury vinyl plank works well in the kitchens and family rooms of houses with children and dogs, and we will say plainly when it is the better buy.

What about Mare Island?

Mare Island's historic officers' housing is a category of its own — federal-era construction, much of it now in private hands and under historic review. The floors are frequently original and frequently significant. Work there needs a conversation about what is permitted before anything is sanded, and we are happy to have it.

Getting an estimate in Vallejo

Vallejo is about 25 minutes from the showroom on Silverado Trail, straight down Highway 29. Estimates are free and there is no obligation. If you have carpet you suspect is hiding something, we will pull a corner in an inconspicuous place and tell you what you have — often on the same visit.