The short answer: most hardwood floor installations in a remodel run about one to three weeks from delivery to move-in. The wood sits in the house first so it adjusts to the room, the old floor comes out and the subfloor gets checked, the boards go down, and a site-finished floor then needs sanding and coats of finish with dry time between. Prefinished floors skip that last stage.
Step by step: how hardwood floor installation works
- Choose the floor. Solid hardwood or engineered (a real wood top layer over a stable core), prefinished or finished on site. See prefinished vs site-finished hardwood for which finish fits your remodel, and types of flooring materials for the other options.
- Let the wood adjust. The boards come into the house before install so they settle to the room’s temperature and humidity. How long depends on the product; we follow the maker’s written instructions, not a rule of thumb.
- Clear the room. Furniture, rugs and anything on the floor come out.
- Take out the old floor. Carpet, tile, vinyl or old wood comes up, with every nail, staple and patch of glue.
- Check and fix the subfloor. This is the step that decides whether the floor lasts. We check it for flat, for squeaks and for moisture, and fix it before a single board goes down.
- Install. Three common methods:
- Nail-down: solid hardwood over a wood subfloor.
- Glue-down: engineered wood, often over concrete.
- Floating: engineered boards click together over an underlayment.
- Finish (site-finished floors only). Sand flat, stain, then several coats of finish, each one drying before the next.
- Trim and clean. Baseboard or quarter round goes back, the room is cleaned, furniture returns.
How long each stage takes
| Stage | Typical time | What changes it |
|---|---|---|
| Wood adjusts in the house | A few days | The maker’s instructions, the season |
| Clear room, remove old floor | 1 to 2 days | Tile and glued floors take longer than carpet |
| Subfloor repair | Hours to a few days | What we find when the old floor comes up |
| Install | 1 to 5 days | Square footage, number of rooms, stairs |
| Sand, stain and finish | 3 to 5 days | Prefinished skips this; finish product and coats |
| Trim, clean, move back in | 1 day |
These are typical ranges, not a promise. Your schedule is set after we see the house.
A floor we put in: Pleasant Hill whole-house remodel
On our 1950s Pleasant Hill whole-house remodel, the hallway and living areas got DuChateau wood flooring as part of the full remodel, alongside Columbia cabinets, MSI countertops and Pella windows. Gino walks the finished floors room by room in the video.
Where remodel schedules really slip
- The subfloor. In older Contra Costa homes we often find patched or uneven subfloor once the old floor is up. It gets fixed first, and that time is worth it.
- Order of trades. In a full remodel the floor goes in after the messy work and before final paint touch-up, so it is not sanded next to new cabinets or walked on by every trade.
- Knowing your finish. Gino tells a story on The Mazzamuto Method about a hallway with a wax finish that turned milky after a well-meaning crew member wiped it with water. It cleared by morning, but the lesson stands: know what finish is on your floor before anyone cleans it. The story is in Episode 8.
Faster, cleaner installs
- Choose prefinished if you live in the house during the work.
- Pick the floor early so the material is in hand before the install date.
- Clear the rooms before install day.
Talk to us about your floors
Mazzamuto Construction supplies and installs hardwood, engineered wood, LVP, laminate and tile as part of kitchens, baths and whole-home remodels across Contra Costa. Our family has built here since 1958, with craft going back to 1938 in Sicily, and BuildZoom ranks us in the top 1% of California contractors. See our flooring sales and installation page.
FAQ
How long does it take to install hardwood floors? For a typical room or two, the install itself is a few days. With the wood adjusting, old floor removal and a site finish, plan on one to three weeks start to finish.
Can I stay in the house during hardwood installation? Usually yes with prefinished floors. With site-finished floors, plan to stay out of those rooms during sanding and finish coats.
Do new floors go in before or after cabinets? It depends on the floor and the job. We set the order for each remodel so the floor is protected and the cabinets sit at the right height.
Is hardwood hard to install yourself? Nailing, glue-down and the subfloor check all take practice and tools. Most problems we fix later start with a subfloor that was not flat.
