Ray's Wood Floors

Ray's Wood Floors is a Salem hardwood specialist whose reviews describe the same thing over and over: a floor people had nearly given up on, coming back looking new. A floor with deep scratches from a black lab's nails, a condo in an 1824 building, a first-period colonial on the National Register, a floor from a 1949-built house, 110-year-old painted pine boards — reviewer after reviewer hands over a floor in rough shape and gets back something unrecognizable. Nearly every review names the same person: Josh, who does the hands-on sanding, staining, and installation work. In a 2022 review, one commercial customer described Josh working alongside Ray to fully restore 70-year-old flooring in a woodworking facility that had taken decades of abuse — gouges, dents, large deformations — and said it's no longer possible to tell the floor went through any of it. More recent reviews from 2024 through mid-2026 credit Josh working solo: matching new wood to old piece by piece on a large job, taking a dark walnut floor to a lighter natural color on a weeklong project finished on budget, and picking up a small flood-damaged guest-room floor that, one customer said, bigger contractors wouldn't bother with. The care shows up in the details customers mention: working through the unevenness of a 200-year-old condo building, explaining the tradeoffs between water- and oil-based finish coats, and preserving the character of a National Register colonial while still making the kitchen feel, in one reviewer's words, brand new. On Google, the business holds a 4.9★ average from 73 ratings, with matching 5.0★ averages on HomeAdvisor and Angi (6 ratings each); the Better Business Bureau lists floor installation and hardwood refinishing among its services. There's no real complaint on file to flag against any of this. For a hardwood floor that needs refinishing, repair, or new installation — especially in an older or historic home where matching and care matter — Ray's Wood Floors has an unusually deep, consistent record behind it.