Polk County and surrounding areas
- West Des Moines, newer building west of the river, mostly engineered plank with a lot of LVP in finished basements
- Ankeny, the fastest-growing suburb in the metro, which means subfloor prep matters more here than sanding
- Urbandale, 1960s ranches with oak strip under the carpet, and newer building north of Hickman
- Waukee, almost entirely post-2000, so engineered over slab and basement moisture questions
- Johnston, split between older Beaver Drive housing and new development, and the two need different floors
- Clive, 1970s and 80s two-storeys, usually red oak under three decades of finish
- Altoona, an older core with genuine 1920s oak and newer edges out toward the interstate
- Norwalk, fast new growth south of the metro, mostly slab-on-grade
- Grimes, new construction almost throughout, so the questions here are product rather than repair
- Pleasant Hill, 1970s onward with basements throughout, so a moisture reading comes first
- Windsor Heights, small, old, and almost entirely 1940s and 50s oak strip worth saving
- Indianola, a college town with genuinely old housing stock and floors still under carpet
- Bondurant, one of the newest towns in the metro and still growing fast
- Polk City, lake housing north of Saylorville, much of it seasonal use with wide humidity swings
- Carlisle, older small-town stock to the south-east, mostly narrow oak strip
- Adel, a historic square and 19th-century houses, the oldest floors in the metro
- Huxley, the new-build corridor along Highway 69
- Granger, small and on the rural edge, with older farmhouses and some wide-plank pine
- Van Meter, rural west of the metro, older houses and outbuildings
- Dallas Center, a small historic core with original floors still in place
- Mitchellville, an older east-metro small town
- Slater, the north edge of the metro, old housing stock
- Elkhart, small, north of Ankeny, and mostly older
- Alleman, rural north of the metro, farmhouse floors
- Cumming, rapid new development to the south-west
- Berwick, a small unincorporated area north-east of Des Moines
- Beaverdale, the Beaverdale brick bungalows, 1920s and 30s red oak strip, almost always worth saving
- Sherman Hill, Victorian and turn-of-the-century houses with the oldest and most delicate floors in the city
- Drake Neighborhood, student rentals over original oak, usually neglected rather than damaged
- South of Grand, the largest concentration of 1910s to 1930s quarter-sawn oak in Des Moines
- Waveland Park, 1920s bungalows with narrow strip oak under the carpet
- Merle Hay, post-war ranches, 2¼ inch oak, often with one sand left in them
- Highland Park, older north-side stock in mixed condition
- East Village, converted lofts and rehabbed older buildings
- Ingersoll Park, 1920s two-storeys along the Ingersoll corridor
- River Bend, some of the oldest surviving housing in the city
Not on the list?
Call anyway. If you are near the edge of this map we will usually still
come out, and we will tell you honestly on the phone if you are not.