Question 1

What species of hardwood is best for Long Island?

Accepted Answer

White oak, hickory, and maple handle LI's humidity swings best. Red oak is fine but darkens with age. Walnut is beautiful but softer — best in lower-traffic areas.

Question 2

Can I install solid hardwood over concrete?

Accepted Answer

No. Solid hardwood needs a nail-down over a wood subfloor. For concrete slabs (most LI basements) we install engineered hardwood — looks identical on top, 1/2" thick, glues or floats over slab.

Question 3

How long does hardwood last?

Accepted Answer

Solid hardwood: 50-100 years with periodic refinishing. Engineered: 30-60 years depending on wear layer thickness. Both outlast LVP and laminate by a wide margin.

Question 4

Will the floor scratch?

Accepted Answer

All hardwood scratches. Oak, hickory, and maple are harder and resist better. Walnut and pine scratch easily. Matte and satin finishes hide scratches better than gloss. Pets with trimmed nails are fine.

Question 5

How much does hardwood flooring installation cost on Long Island?

Accepted Answer

Hardwood floor installation on Long Island typically runs $8–$18 per square foot installed, materials and labor combined. The range reflects species, plank width, and pattern: standard 3/4" strip red oak is at the low end ($8–$10/sqft); wide-plank European white oak (5" format, pre-finished) typically runs $12–$16/sqft; site-finished solid hardwood with custom stain is $14–$18/sqft. Herringbone and chevron patterning adds 20–30% over straight-lay. We provide written fixed-price quotes after a free in-home measure — no change orders after signing. Nassau and Suffolk pricing is the same.

Question 6

Does Long Island's coastal humidity damage hardwood floors?

Accepted Answer

Yes, if you don't account for it at install time. Long Island's summer humidity (often 65–80% RH indoors without AC) causes solid hardwood to expand, and dry winters cause it to contract — sometimes producing visible gaps between planks. We address this at install by acclimating the wood for 5 days in your conditioned space, leaving proper expansion gaps at walls, and recommending engineered hardwood for any rooms that don't have central AC year-round. Coastal and waterfront LI homes within a half-mile of the Sound or ocean should use engineered hardwood throughout — the cross-ply construction resists moisture movement better than solid.

Question 7

What subfloor prep do 1950s Long Island homes need before hardwood installation?

Accepted Answer

Most 1950s Long Island homes — Levittown Capes, Hempstead ranches, Massapequa split-levels — have a wood-frame subfloor over a crawl space or basement, which is good news for hardwood. The typical prep work includes: checking for squeaks (we glue and screw subfloor panels from below where possible), leveling any low spots with a floor leveler compound, and confirming subfloor moisture is below 12% with a Delmhorst meter. Slab-on-grade sections — common in 1950s Cape additions and garage conversions — require engineered hardwood or LVP instead of solid. We identify slab vs raised sections at the walk-through and spec accordingly.

Question 8

Which hardwood species is better for coastal Long Island homes vs inland Long Island?

Accepted Answer

For coastal and harbor-adjacent homes (within 1/2 mile of the Sound, ocean, or bay): engineered white oak or engineered hickory — species with tight grain that tolerate humidity swings, in engineered form to resist movement. For inland Nassau and Suffolk homes with central AC: solid white oak, solid hickory, or solid maple are all good choices. Walnut looks great but is softer and better suited to lower-traffic rooms. Red oak is the most common original species in LI homes and refinishes well, but we now install white oak almost exclusively for new work — it handles LI's humidity better and the current market prefers the lighter, cleaner tone.

Question 9

What towns on Long Island do you install hardwood flooring in?

Accepted Answer

We install hardwood across every Nassau and Suffolk town. Our Island Park showroom (11558) serves both counties. In Nassau, our busiest markets are Garden City (11530), Rockville Centre (11021), Merrick (11030), Oceanside (11576), Syosset (11791), Jericho (11753), Woodbury (11797), Massapequa (11758), and Rockville Centre (11570). In Suffolk, we're most active in Huntington (11743), Northport (11768), Smithtown (11787), Setauket (11733), Port Jefferson (11777), Cold Spring Harbor (11724), Dix Hills (11746), and Commack (11725). Every town on the Island is within 40 minutes of our shop.

Question 10

How much does hardwood flooring cost in Nassau County vs Suffolk County?

Accepted Answer

Pricing is the same across both counties — we don't charge distance premiums. Standard 3/4-inch red oak strip typically runs $8–$10 per square foot installed. Wide-plank European white oak (5-inch, pre-finished) typically runs $12–$16/sqft. Herringbone adds 20–30% over straight-lay. For a typical 1,200 sqft first-floor job in Garden City, Syosset, Huntington, or Smithtown, expect $9,600–$19,200 all-in depending on species and pattern. We provide a written fixed-price quote after the free in-home measure.

Question 11

Do you install hardwood flooring in Levittown-era Capes and ranches?

Accepted Answer

Yes — Levittown Capes (11756), Massapequa ranches (11758), Hicksville split-levels (11801), and similar 1950s housing stock across Nassau and western Suffolk are our bread and butter. These homes typically have plywood subfloors over a crawl space or basement, which is ideal for nail-down solid hardwood. The main prep work is checking for squeaks, confirming subfloor moisture under 12%, and verifying that slab-on-grade additions (common in Cape Cod rear extensions) get engineered hardwood instead of solid.

Question 12

Can you match new hardwood to existing hardwood in a Long Island home?

Accepted Answer

Yes — color matching is one of the most common requests we get, especially in colonial-era homes in Garden City, Merrick, Rockville Centre, and Oceanside where homeowners are expanding hardwood from the living room into a kitchen renovation. We bring 40+ stain samples to your home so we can match under your specific lighting. For site-finished floors, the match is nearly perfect. For pre-finished, we select the closest factory color and install a transition strip if needed. We also refinish the existing floor to tie everything together when the age difference is noticeable.

Question 13

What type of hardwood flooring works best for Long Island basements?

Accepted Answer

Solid hardwood does NOT work in Long Island basements — the below-grade moisture will cause cupping, buckling, and mold within 2–3 years. For finished basements in Nassau and Suffolk, we install engineered hardwood (1/2-inch or 5/8-inch with a moisture barrier underlayment) or COREtec LVP. Both handle the higher humidity and occasional water intrusion that Long Island basements experience, especially in south shore towns like Baldwin (11510), Freeport (11520), and Oceanside (11572) where water tables run 4–8 feet below grade.

Long Island Hardwood Flooring Installation

Why Long Island chooses us for hardwood.

The specifics.

European White Oak

American Walnut

Patterns: Herringbone, Chevron, Strip

Solid vs Engineered

Armstrong Hardwood Flooring Long Island

How we do it.

On-site measure & moisture test

5-day acclimation

Install & nail-down or glue-down

Trim, shoe, transitions

Site-finish vs pre-finish

Real hardwood projects on Long Island.

Hardwood questions we hear a lot.