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Abner Flooring and Remodeling
Hardwood Floor Installation in Atlanta

Family-owned · Atlanta Local

Hardwood Floor Installation in Atlanta

Solid and engineered wood installed right from subfloor to finish coat.

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Hardwood Floor Installation for Atlanta-Area Homes

Abner Flooring and Remodeling specializes in hardwood floor installation across Atlanta and the Greater metro, covering everything from solid oak in a Decatur craftsman bungalow to wide-plank engineered hardwood in a Buckhead new-build. If you're comparing contractors and wondering what separates one crew from the next, the answer almost always lives in the subfloor: whether they actually prep it, whether they check for moisture, whether they let the wood acclimate before the first nail goes down. We do all three, every time. Call or text (404) 706-8999 to get a free estimate from Chucky Sarmiento and the Abner crew.

The cost of hardwood installation varies based on the species and grade of wood you choose, the square footage, subfloor condition, whether the layout requires intricate pattern work or stair integration, and the finish type you want. Solid hardwood and engineered hardwood are priced differently, and the scope of prep work on an older Atlanta home can add to the timeline. Across the region, installed hardwood projects range considerably, from straightforward rooms to full-home renovations. Every job is different -- contact Abner Flooring and Remodeling for an accurate estimate.

What Goes Into Every Wood Floor Install

The visible result is only as good as everything underneath it.

Before a single plank gets laid, we inspect the subfloor for levelness, soft spots, squeaks, and moisture readings. This step is non-negotiable. Skipping it is how floors buckle, cup, or develop persistent creaks six months after install. Once the subfloor is cleared and prepped, we acclimate your wood material to the room's humidity for the time the manufacturer recommends -- no shortcuts there either, because wood that hasn't equalized to its environment will move after installation. We then establish our layout lines based on the room geometry and the grain direction you've chosen. Straight runs parallel to the longest wall are standard, but diagonal patterns and herringbone layouts are options we handle as well. Fastening method depends on species and thickness: nail-down for solid hardwood over a wood subfloor, glue-down or float for engineered hardwood, particularly over concrete in Atlanta's basement-level spaces. We're not going to prescribe one method and force it on every floor -- the right approach depends on the job. After installation, we sand, stain if desired, and apply your choice of finish coats. We also offer wood floor refinishing for existing floors that don't need full replacement.
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Solid vs. Engineered

Which Wood Type Fits Your Home

The honest answer depends on your subfloor, your moisture levels, and your budget.

01

Solid Hardwood

Milled from a single piece of timber, typically 3/4-inch thick. It's the traditional choice in older Atlanta craftsman homes and can be sanded and refinished multiple times over its lifetime. Requires a wood subfloor and is not a good fit for below-grade installations or rooms with high moisture variation -- think basements or some ground-floor slabs.

02

Engineered Hardwood

A real wood veneer bonded to a cross-ply plywood core. Engineered hardwood is dimensionally more stable than solid, handles humidity fluctuation better, and can go over concrete subfloors. The veneer layer determines how many times it can be refinished -- a thicker wear layer means more life. For Atlanta's older homes with concrete slab additions, engineered is usually the smarter call.

03

Species and Grade

Oak is the workhorse -- it's durable, widely available, and takes stain predictably. Hickory and maple run harder. Walnut gives you deeper color with more character grain patterns. Grade affects how much character variation (knots, mineral streaks) appears in the boards. We'll show you samples and tell you which species performs best for your traffic load -- there's no reason to guess.

04

Finish Options

Site-finished floors are sanded and coated after installation, giving you the most customization -- stain color, sheen level (matte to satin to semi-gloss), and finish type (oil-modified polyurethane vs. water-based). Prefinished wood arrives with a factory coat already on, which means faster installation and less disruption. Each approach has tradeoffs we'll walk through with you before anything gets ordered.

Our Process

How We Handle the Installation

  1. 01

    Inspect and Prepare

    We assess the subfloor for levelness, moisture content, and structural integrity. Any issues get corrected before the wood arrives. We also protect adjacent rooms using dust-containment systems during sanding phases -- your furniture and HVAC don't need to absorb the job.

  2. 02

    Acclimate and Install

    Wood material stays on-site in the installation room until it's reached equilibrium with the space. Then we establish layout lines, cut the first rows, and work the install across the floor using the appropriate fastening method for the material and subfloor combination.

  3. 03

    Sand, Finish, and Walk

    Site-finished floors get sanded smooth, stained if you've chosen a color, and coated in finish layers with proper dry time between each coat. We won't call the job done until we've walked the floor with you, confirmed the grain, the color, and the edges all look right, and you've signed off.

The Full-Renovation Advantage

Flooring is rarely the only thing that needs doing -- we cover the rest too.

Most homeowners doing a floor replacement are also dealing with baseboards that need to come off, walls that need patching, or trim that no longer matches the new look. Most flooring-only crews leave that to you. We don't. Abner handles baseboard installation, interior painting, and drywall repair under the same project, same contact, same crew. For properties with stairs, we cover stair flooring as a natural extension of the install. If you're in Sandy Springs, Dunwoody, Brookhaven, or other metro-area communities, you're in our service area -- and you're getting one crew for the whole job, not three different contractors who've never met each other.
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What Makes a Floor Last 30 Years

  1. 01

    Correct moisture barrier installation

    Wood and moisture are a bad combination. We install vapor barriers and underlayments appropriate to the subfloor type and the ambient conditions of the space -- especially critical on slab foundations common in many Atlanta-area builds.

  2. 02

    Proper board acclimation

    Wood that goes in too dry will swell. Wood that goes in too wet will shrink and gap. Acclimation to the room's temperature and humidity before installation is the cheapest insurance you can buy on a wood floor.

  3. 03

    Consistent fastener spacing

    Nail spacing that's too wide creates movement that eventually shows up as squeaks or loose boards. We follow the manufacturer's specification -- not our own shortcut -- for every species we install.

  4. 04

    Finish coat application by surface condition

    Finish coats applied to a floor that hasn't been sanded flat enough, or applied too thick, or applied in the wrong ambient temperature will peel, bubble, or wear unevenly. Getting this right requires actual experience with the product -- not just reading the can.

Hardwood Floor Installation FAQ

What's the difference between nail-down and glue-down hardwood installation?
Nail-down fastening is the standard method for solid hardwood over a wood subfloor -- cleats or staples are driven at an angle through the tongue of each board. Glue-down is used when the subfloor is concrete, as with many Atlanta basement-level rooms or slab-foundation homes: a full-spread adhesive bonds the wood directly to the slab. Each method has specific requirements for subfloor prep and wood species. Using the wrong one is a common reason floors fail prematurely.
How long does acclimation take before hardwood can be installed?
Most hardwood manufacturers specify a minimum of 3 to 5 days for acclimation in the room where the floor will be installed, though some engineered products require less time. The number varies by species, board thickness, the moisture content of the wood when it arrives, and your home's humidity level at the time. We measure the wood and the subfloor with a moisture meter before we start -- not after something goes wrong.
Can hardwood floors be installed over a concrete slab?
Engineered hardwood can be installed over concrete using a glue-down or float method, provided the slab's moisture vapor emission rate is within the acceptable range for the product. Solid hardwood is not recommended directly over concrete. If you're working with a slab-foundation home or finishing a basement-level space, we'll test the slab moisture before recommending a product -- some slabs in the Atlanta area require a moisture barrier or self-leveling compound before any wood product can go down.
How many finish coats does a site-finished hardwood floor get?
Standard practice for site-finished floors is three coats of polyurethane: a sealer coat followed by two finish coats, with light sanding and tack-wiping between each application. Some finish systems require more coats depending on the product and the desired sheen level. Each coat needs adequate dry time -- rushing this is one of the fastest ways to end up with a floor that scratches or peels within the first year.
When does an existing hardwood floor need full replacement versus refinishing?
If the existing floor has more than 3/4 inch of solid wood above the tongue and groove, it can typically be sanded and refinished multiple times. Full replacement becomes necessary when boards are structurally damaged, heavily cupped due to moisture intrusion, have pest damage, or when the wear layer on engineered wood is too thin to sand again. We assess existing floors honestly -- if refinishing is the right call, we'll tell you so. Our wood floor refinishing service covers most of those situations without the cost of a full install.

Schedule Your Hardwood Floor Estimate

Call or text Chucky and the Abner crew any day of the week.

Call (404) 706-8999

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