PROOF
Same room. Same mantel. Different floor.
Forest Hill Edwardian, 8–12 inch black walnut, oil finish. The substrate was measured before a single board was laid.
The same Forest Hill room after a wide-plank black walnut install, oil-rubbed satin sheen, original mantel retained.
PROOF
Same loft. Same brick. Different floor.
Distillery District Victorian loft. White oak engineered, glue-down over a measured concrete slab.
The same loft after a white oak glue-down over concrete, matte oil finish, one lounge chair.
PROOF
Same slab. Same window. Different floor.
Yorkville loft, below grade. Moisture mitigated on the slab, then red oak with hard-maple accent stripes.
The same below-grade room after engineered hardwood: red oak field with hard-maple accent stripes, satin finish.
PROOF
Same condo. Different geometry.
Builder carpet out. White oak herringbone in. Pattern install is a different buyer than a straight-lay refinish.
The same condo after a white oak herringbone install, natural satin finish, one lounge chair.
Hardwood flooring in Toronto
The prices are on this page. So is the standard we work to, the protocol we follow, and the papers the protocol comes from — all of it free to read and free to use on any contractor in the GTA, including us.
Get a fixed written price for your install
The bands above are real ranges, not a starting-from number. Tell us the rooms and we measure, then write one price that does not move.
Before you call anyone
What hardwood flooring costs in Toronto
Fixed price in writing. It never moves after the free in-home estimate.
| Scope | Per square foot, installed | When this is the right scope |
|---|---|---|
| Screen & Recoat | $2.50–$4.00 | The existing finish is worn but sound and the wood beneath is undamaged. |
| Full Sand & Finish | $4.75–$7.50 | The floor is scratched, stained or previously badly finished. Back to bare wood. |
| New Hardwood Install | $11.00–$18.00 | New material over a prepared substrate, including stairs and transitions. |
What moves a quote inside a band: area, species, the substrate underneath, stairs, and the condition of what is already there. The cost guide sets each one out.
The part most quotes skip
Toronto air is the reason floors fail here
Indoor humidity in this city runs to roughly 18–25% in deep winter and above 60% in summer, against a band of 35–55% in which hardwood is dimensionally stable. Every decision below follows from that one fact, and a quote that does not mention moisture has not accounted for it.
Set out in full in the climate and moisture paper, free to read and free to cite.
Hold us to it
The Ecowoods Well-Installed Framework — 27 criteria, published
Six pillars, 27 criteria, version 1.0. Published under CC BY so you can take it to every quote you are holding — ours included. Any critical criterion answered “no” is an unresolved defect in that quote, regardless of the price.
- 1
Wood exchanges moisture with the air continuously and moves as it does. This pillar establishes that the movement was measured and planned for before anything was fastened down.
- 2
Installation method is determined by what the floor is going onto, not by preference, habit or price. This pillar establishes that the substrate decided the method.
- 3
The correct product is the one that will still look and perform correctly in twenty years. This pillar establishes that the house specified the floor, not the budget.
- 4
The question is never whether a floor will move. This pillar establishes that room for the movement was designed in rather than discovered later.
- 5
Sanding and finishing is a sequence of machines, each of which does something the others cannot. This pillar establishes that the sequence was complete and the dust was contained.
- 6
Every pillar above is only as good as the contract behind it. This pillar establishes that someone is accountable in writing when the floor is five years old.
What we do
Services
Hardwood Flooring Installation
Solid and engineered hardwood laid by salaried craftsmen — straight-lay, herringbone, chevron and custom patterns.
Hardwood Floor Refinishing
Bring tired floors back to life: sand to bare wood, re-stain and re-finish for a factory-fresh surface.
Dust-Free Floor Sanding
HEPA-sealed extraction at the machine and containment at the room, so most clients stay home during the work.
Hardwood Floor Restoration
Rescue and repair heritage and water-damaged floors — board replacement, feathering and colour matching.
Custom Inlays & Borders
Bespoke feature strips, medallions and borders routed and fitted by hand for a signature look.
Stair Refinishing
Treads, risers and nosings refinished to match your floors for a seamless, hard-wearing finish.
Proof, with the numbers
Four Toronto jobs, written up in full
Every one publishes the readings taken before the work started, not only the photograph taken after it finished. That is the difference between a portfolio and evidence, and it is the same difference the Well-Installed Framework asks you to look for in any quote.
Distillery District, over concrete
A condo over a concrete slab. The moisture test decided the entire assembly, before a species was chosen.
Rosedale estate, stairs over radiant heat
Stairs and a main floor over radiant heat, where the two assemblies move differently and had to finish to the same colour.
Forest Hill, wide-plank walnut
Wide-plank walnut, and how the colour was kept uniform across boards that age photochemically.
Midtown townhouse, three levels
Three storeys, three different substrates, one continuous floor. The hardest kind of match there is.
Every case study publishes what was measured, not only what was achieved — all of them are here, and each one names the substrate, the species, the readings and the protocol it followed.
The three questions that move the price
What you should settle before anyone quotes
Each of these is published free, in full, with the reasoning rather than a recommendation: solid or engineered (the substrate decides it, not the budget), what actually moves a quote inside the bands above, and how to choose a contractor in this market. If your floor is already cupping, gapping or lifting, start at what your floor is telling you instead — that is a diagnosis, not a purchase.
Straight answers
Questions people actually ask
- How much does hardwood flooring cost in Toronto?
- Fixed price in writing. It never moves after the free in-home estimate. A new hardwood installation runs $11.00–$18.00 per square foot installed. Refinishing an existing floor runs $4.75–$7.50 per square foot for a full sand and finish, or $2.50–$4.00 for a screen and recoat where the existing finish is sound. What moves a quote inside those bands is area, species, the substrate underneath, stairs, and the condition of what is already there.
- How do I tell a good hardwood quote from a bad one?
- Ask whether the moisture readings were taken and written down before the price was given. The Ecowoods Well-Installed Framework v1.0 sets out 27 criteria for exactly this, published free for anyone to use on any contractor in the GTA — including Ecowoods. Any critical criterion answered "no" is an unresolved defect in that quote, whatever the price says.
- Does Ecowoods use subcontractors?
- No. The crews are salaried employees of Ecowoods Hardwood Flooring Inc.. That is the difference between a company that can enforce a protocol and one that can only hope the crew followed it.
- Is the estimate a fixed price?
- Fixed price in writing. It never moves after the free in-home estimate. The price is fixed in writing before any deposit, and it is given after the moisture readings rather than before them — because a price quoted before anyone has measured the subfloor is a guess that gets corrected later, at the homeowner's expense.
- What areas does Ecowoods cover?
- 100 municipalities and neighbourhoods across Toronto and the GTA, Barrie, Innisfil, Hamilton, Niagara, Guelph, Cambridge, Kitchener and Kawartha Lakes, and the Buffalo and Rochester areas of New York State, including Downtown Toronto, North York, Etobicoke, Scarborough, East York, York and more. Each has its own page describing the housing stock there and what it means for a floor.
- Solid or engineered hardwood for a Toronto home?
- The substrate decides, not the budget. Plywood over joists takes nail-down solid; a concrete slab or a condominium takes glue-down engineered; radiant heat takes a floating engineered assembly. Toronto indoor humidity swings from roughly 18–25% in deep winter to above 60% in summer against a stable band of 35–55%, which is why the construction of the board matters more here than the species on the label.
- What reviews does Ecowoods have?
- 177 reviews at 5.0 out of 5 on HomeStars, read from the live profile on 2026-08-22. They are published there rather than reproduced here, because reviews we cannot edit are the only ones worth reading.
Coverage
100 areas across Ontario and New York State
Each area has its own page describing the housing stock there and what it means for a floor — a 1920s semi in Leslieville and a 2018 slab condo downtown are different jobs.
Field catalogue
Take the catalogue with you
The same facts as this page, in a document you can print or forward. Not a quote, and nothing on it asks for your email.
New Hardwood, Laid to the House
Why Toronto is a hard room for wood, and how the substrate rather than the budget decides between nail-down, glue-down and floating — with the moisture readings and the acclimation that come before any of them.
6 pages14 × 10 inEcowoods_03_Hardwood_Installation.pdf, opens in a new tabCatalogue No. 06 · PDFHow Much Does Hardwood Cost?
The three published bands, each with a thousand-square-foot worked example, and what a material box price leaves outside it. Not a quote — the number is fixed in writing after the measure.
6 pages14 × 10 inEcowoods_06_Cost_Guide_Toronto_Buffalo.pdf, opens in a new tabEvery field catalogue — the company, the services, the stair case, the framework and the decisions, indexed by series.