Philadelphia · Bucks · Montgomery · South Jersey
Hardwood floors and stairs in Philadelphia, with the wood in the truck.
Deco Hardwood Floor sands, refinishes and installs wood floors and builds custom stairs across the Philadelphia region. One number covers the material and the labor, and the samples come to your kitchen.
The owner quotes every job. In the flooring trade since 2008.
- In the flooring trade since
- 2008
- Registered in Pennsylvania since
- 2012
- Floors sanded, installed and rebuilt
- 2,000+
- Service radius
- 50 miles from Philadelphia
What we do
Four kinds of work, and one we are known for
Wood floors and stairs across the Philadelphia region, with the material supplied at distributor price so it lands in one number with the labor.
Stairs & Railings
Treads, risers, stringers, handrails and newel posts, built to a drawing instead of a catalog page. Most flooring crews subcontract this work or turn it down.
See the work →
Sanding & Refinishing
The old finish off, repairs made, a new finish down. The floor you already own, made new.
See the work →
Installation
Solid, engineered and luxury vinyl plank, with the wood in the truck.
See the work →
The Floor Itself
We resell what we install, direct from the distributor. Samples come to your kitchen.
See the work →Read the house first
Before anyone prices your floor, somebody has to read your house
The year a house went up decides what is under the carpet, how many sandings the floor has left, and whether federal lead rules apply.
Original strip oak, and probably thin
Most of the housing here predates 1940. Expect narrow strip oak laid straight over joists, often carrying only one more sanding. In this stock we measure the remaining wear layer before quoting, because the wrong answer costs you the floor.
Lead rule applies · 79.5% built before 1978Aggregated from census tracts. ACS 2023 5-Year. The pre-1978 share is approximate: the Census does not publish a 1978 cut.
The floor itself
We sell what we install
Straight from the distributor, at the price the store pays. Samples and larger offcuts come to the house, so you choose in your own light.
We show up with the wood in the truck. One number covers the material and the labor, and nobody is sending you to a showroom to figure out the rest.
Deco Hardwood Floor. Owner operated, in the flooring trade since 2008, and the owner still quotes every job.
Schedule of work
Twenty services, five categories, material included
| Service | When it is the right call | Material | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 · Sanding & Refinishing | ||||
 | Hardwood Floor RefinishingSand the old finish off, repair what needs repairing, and put a new finish down | The wood is sound and the finish is worn through | Finish only | Most asked |
 | Dustless Floor SandingVacuum-extraction sanding | Any house built before 1978. See the federal rule below | Finish only | Lead rule |
 | Screen & RecoatWhen the finish is worn but the wood is not | Finish is dull but the wood underneath is untouched | Finish only | Lowest cost |
| 02 · Installation | ||||
 | Solid Hardwood Floor InstallationSolid wood, nailed down over a wood subfloor | Above grade, wood subfloor, sandable for decades | Supplied by us | |
 | Engineered Hardwood InstallationReal wood over a stable core | Concrete slab or below grade, where solid does not belong | Supplied by us | |
 | Luxury Vinyl Plank (LVP) InstallationWaterproof, quiet, and it does not care about a wet basement | Basements, laundry, anywhere water is a question | Supplied by us | |
| 03 · Stairs & Railings | ||||
 | Custom Stair InstallationTreads, risers, stringers and skirt board, built to a drawing instead of a catalog page | New stair, or rebuilding one that was never finished | Supplied by us | Specialty |
 | Stair RefinishingStairs take more wear per square foot than any floor in the house, and they are sanded almost entirely by hand | Treads worn through at the nosing | Finish only | |
 | Carpet to Hardwood StairsPulling carpet off a staircase and finding out what is underneath | Carpet coming off, and what is under it is not a finished stair | Supplied by us | |
 | Handrail & Railing InstallationHandrail, balusters, newel posts | A railing that moves, or a stair opened up in a remodel | Supplied by us | |
| 04 · Repair & Restoration | ||||
 | Hardwood Floor RepairBoard replacement, weaving in new wood, squeaks, gaps and cupping | Damage is local and the rest of the floor is fine | Supplied by us | |
 | Parquet & Herringbone RestorationMulti-direction grain, thin wear layers and no room for error | Prewar houses, usually found under carpet | Finish only | Prewar stock |
What we are known for
Stairs, built to a drawing instead of a catalog page
Most flooring crews subcontract stair work or turn it down. Treads, risers, stringers, skirt board, handrail and newel posts, drawn and built in house. It is the part of a house everyone touches and nobody plans for.
Pulling carpet off a staircase rarely reveals a finished stair underneath. What is under there is usually construction grade, and the finished stair gets built on top of it. We tell you that before the carpet comes up, not after.
How a job with Deco Hardwood Floor runs
It starts with a photo or a call, and nothing is priced until the owner has seen the floor.
You call, or text a photo
A photo of the floor, or of the stair with a corner of the carpet lifted, tells us most of what we need to ask the right questions.The owner comes to look
The room gets measured, the wood left above the tongue gets measured, and what is under the covering gets checked. The samples come along.One number, material included
The quote covers labor and material together, bought direct from the distributor at the store price. It is free, and it is firm only after the visit.The work, on agreed dates
You get the dates before we start. Sanding runs with vacuum extraction, and we tell you beforehand what it catches and what it does not.
Why we sand the way we sand
Machines that strip a surface coating at high speed are prohibited on painted surfaces unless they carry containment and a HEPA vacuum collecting the dust where it is made.40 CFR 745.85(a)(3), condensed. Verbatim text on the explainer page.
That paragraph describes a floor sander. A drum sander and an edger are both machines built to strip a coating at high speed. In a house built before 1978, the rule does not ask us to be careful. It tells us what the machine has to be attached to.
It is also why we will not promise zero dust. Extraction catches most of it and it is what the rule describes, but anyone who tells you a sanding job leaves none behind has not done one.
505 towns, 132 Philadelphia neighborhoods
Full coverage index →From the blog
All articles →How to decide about a wood floor in this region, written from the housing data of the towns we cover.
How long refinishing takes, and when you can walk on it
Sanding is the predictable part. The calendar is set by the finish, and walkable is not the same day as cured.
Read the articleWhy hardwood floors squeak, and the fixes that last
A squeak is two pieces of the floor moving against each other. Finding which two is the whole job.
Read the articleStair railing height: the code in PA, NJ and Delaware
Handrail and guard are two requirements on one railing, and the edition of the code that applies depends on which side of the river the house is on.
Read the article
Questions about Deco Hardwood Floor
What does Deco Hardwood Floor do?
Deco Hardwood Floor sands, refinishes, installs and repairs wood floors and builds custom stairs and railings. The company is owner operated and based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It supplies the flooring material together with the labor, bought direct from the distributor, so the quote is one number instead of two.
Which areas does Deco Hardwood Floor cover?
Deco Hardwood Floor works within 50 miles of Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and northern Delaware. That covers 505 towns and 132 Philadelphia neighborhoods. Each one has its own page on this site with the age of the housing there, because the age of the house decides what is under the floor.
Is the estimate free, and who does it?
Yes. The estimate is free, and the owner does it in person, with no salesperson in between. The visit is where the floor gets measured and the samples get looked at in your own light, so it is also the moment when the price becomes firm.
Can you give a price over the phone or from a photo?
Not a firm one. A photo tells us what is likely and what to ask, and it often saves a visit that would have gone nowhere. A firm price needs the remaining thickness of the boards and what is under the covering, and neither one shows in a photograph or in a description.
Do you supply the flooring material?
Yes. Deco Hardwood Floor buys the flooring direct from the distributor and passes the store price through, so material and labor land in one number. Samples and larger offcuts come to your house, which means the color gets chosen in the room where the floor is going to be.
Do you build stairs and railings yourselves?
Yes. Treads, risers, stringers, skirt boards, handrails and newel posts are drawn and built by our own crew. Most flooring companies subcontract stair work or decline it. Stairs are what Deco Hardwood Floor is known for, and every stair gets measured and drawn before any material is ordered.
Is floor sanding dust free?
No, and a contractor who promises that has not done one. Our sanders run with containment and a vacuum that collects dust at the machine, which catches most of it. Some fine dust still escapes and settles over the next day or two, and we tell you that before the job instead of after.
Does the federal lead rule apply to my house?
It applies to paid work that disturbs painted surfaces in housing built before 1978, and floor sanding reaches the baseboard, the shoe molding and the door casings. Approximately 82.8 percent of Philadelphia housing predates 1978. In those houses the rule decides how the sander has to be set up, and that is how we run it.
How do I send a photo of my floor?
Text it to (267) 322-2345. One photo of the whole room and one close to the boards is enough to start. For stairs, lift a corner of the carpet and photograph what is under it. We answer with what the floor is likely to be and what the visit needs to confirm.
Who will I be dealing with?
The owner. Deco Hardwood Floor is owner operated, with a crew of five, and the person who quotes your floor is the person responsible for the work. There is no salesperson and no call center. The estimate, the quote and the work can all be handled in English or in Portuguese.
Send a photo and we will tell you what you are looking at
Wood floor and stair work starts with someone reading the house. We quote every job ourselves, with no salesperson in between, and a photo of the floor gets you a straight answer faster than a form does.
